Project Pan 2020 Update #4

This is my last blog of 2020 and it seems almost appropriate that, after such a year, it's something as mundane as a project pan update.  Especially one this short.

This quarter I only had the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette to work on, except it didn't exactly go to plan in as much as I basically stopped wearing make-up.  That being said, I still managed to hit pan on Skimp (it's small but it is there), but not on Zone as I had hoped.  I did really like a number of the colours in this pan, especially Steady and Baby, but the actual quality of the shadows is not great as they're quite chalky and I find them difficult to blend.  I'm going to wear this for one more week and then I'm going to move it out of my makeup bag.  It has had a good round so I don't feel too bad about not using it up completely before letting it go.  Urban Decay is a cruelty-free company and most of their products are good quality items, this one just falls a little bit short on that front. 

One thing this palette has shown me is that I don't really like using eye shadow as an eyeliner, I much prefer a pencil.  Not the most important revelation this year, but good to know none the less.  I am going to do one last project pan next year and then that should be me down to the amount of makeup I actually want to have now.  I just need to decide exactly what it is I want to work on. 

Project Pan 2020 Update #3

Exactly as I was expecting, this quarter has slowed down quite a bit as I basically only have the palette to work on now and I haven't even been wearing make up that regularly these last three months.  

That being said getting through the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette has been going quite well.  Now that I've reached pan on Blonde I've moved onto Skimp as my highlighter colour, which I'm hoping to pan on by the end of the year.  I've also managed to get quite a good pan in Stark, so I'm not going to work on it anymore as I want to reach pan on other colours.  The one colour I was expecting to see more progress on was Anaheim as I use it as my contour colour, but I do use it more evenly so maybe there's more progress happening then it actually looks.  What I'm hoping is that the pan will suddenly appear........in the next three months.  These are not the easiest shadows to work with as they are quite chalky, but I'll keep working on them and we'll see where we are by the end of this year.  After using it for nine months though, I think I'm pretty certain I'm going to be decluttering it by the end of this year.

The good thing about all this hand washing is that I've had to put on more hand cream, which has made using up this Welsh Lavender Ltd Farmers' Hand Cream much easier.  This was one of my add on items and I wasn't expecting to finish it this quarter so I'm quite happy that it's gone, even if the reason for it isn't that great.  I really like this product.  It works really well, smells amazing, is in a reusable /recyclable packaging, supports a UK farm, and this product is vegan.  However, I couldn't find anywhere that said if it was cruelty free or not.  I would like to buy this again, and other products they have, but I think I'll find out from them if they test on animals first.  Would recommend otherwise.

All this means last quarter is going to be all about the eye shadow palette.  However, depending on what job I manage to get, if I manage to get a job, I'm not sure how much of an opportunity there will be to actually wear make up.  So, how much I'll get through this quarter is going to be anyone's guess, but if I can get a couple more pans before the end of this year I'll be very happy.

Project Pan 2020 Update #2

As expected after last quarter's many use ups, this quarter has been pretty slow with only one original product gone along with an add on one.  Lockdown has meant that I've basically worn makeup every day as I haven't been able to work, do any other outdoor activities that really don't require any form of makeup, and it's been good to have something to add to my day to help the time pass.  There's not really much else to say so let's just get to it.

The Mistine Cosmetics OHH Lipstick No. 01 is now completely finished.  This was my final lip colour and I'm going to go lipstick free until the end of this year to decide what I want to do next.  This was a really nice colour, good texture, and had pretty good staying power.  It also didn't dry out my lips too much which is always good for a matt lipstick.  However,  I won't be buying this lipstick again as I can't find out anything about its cruelty-free status.

The last original product left is the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.  As with all palettes, this is taking its time, but I am getting to every shadow and using a number of them for more than just eye colour.  I was using Bathwater as my highlighter but now that I have a good pan on it I've moved to Blonde.  Zone is now my all-over base eyeshadow instead of Anaheim as I've started using Anaheim as my contouring shadow, and it's actually a really good colour for that.  I've also started using Stark to set my concealer as well as it's not a bad match for my skin tone and, now that I no longer have a lipstick to wear, I've started doing much darker eye looks, which means me using much more of the shadows then were being used before.  This includes using Danger as my undereye liner as the blue coincides with the blue of my eyes and it's a subtle but nice pop of colour.  This should mean that I get through a number of these shadows pretty quickly by the end of the year, hopefully.

Now for the two products that I've added to this project pan as an incentive to use them up.  There's nothing wrong with either of these products specifically, they are just getting a bit old.  The first is the Fair Squared Shea Lip Balm, which I started really working on at the beginning of June and managed to finish in June as there wasn't nearly as much as I thought there was.  It's a good moisturiser, but it does leave a weird feeling film on your lips and, even if you put on just a little bit, leaves white bits in the corners of your mouth.  There is also a slightly weird taste, which is probably why I was put off using it, to begin with.  The other balms that came in the pack were really good though and I would recommend them overall.  They're also fairtrade, vegan, and cruelty-free.

The last item I've added is the Welsh Lavender Ltd Farmers' Hand Cream.  I didn't really feel like I needed this too much at the moment as I'm not doing my usual manual work.  However, I am doing a lot of hand washing and I've noticed that there are some dry patches forming so moister would be a really good thing right now.  It's a good incentive to use this up as I have had it for quite a while now.  It's also a really nice cream, so if you can get it I would recommend it.

So that's it for now. I can't believe how few items I actually have left in this project compared to the projects I've had over the last few years.  The number of beauty products I own has definitely gone down and I'm really happy about that.  I'm thinking I probably will do another project next year just to work out what I actually want to keep, but that will be the last one and, hopefully, I won't find myself in another situation where I need to do this again.

Project Pan 2020 Update #1

So this quarter turned out to be more effective than I thought it was going to be, a lot more effective.  It's actually been quite satisfying, but does mean that things are probably going to slow down quite a lot now for the rest of the year - ops.

Firstly, lets start with the blusher brushes and Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes I wanted to test.  After testing all the blushes I realised I actually liked them all and am going to keep them all.  Not necessarily the best outcome, but it does mean I probably won't have to buy another blush for the rest of my life. 😂 As for the blush brushes, I really love using the EcoTools Travel Kabuki brush, but felt like the Real Techniques Blush Brush doesn't really deposit a whole lot of the colour to my cheek.  I did try using it as a contour brush, but I prefer my EcoTools Blush Brush for that as well, so I'm going to be donating this.  It's a shame as it's super soft, but there's not point in keeping something I don't use.

This was a bit of a surprise finish as I was expecting it to last until about half of the year.  Instead the Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Blondie was the first product to go and pretty quickly too.  It's a really nice foundation, but I find loose powders a bit irritating to use especially with the fact that my life is a bit nomadic at the moment.  It tends to be a bit messy and I was always worried I might drop it everywhere.  It was a lovely colour and texture, and, even though I'm a bit tanner now, it still matched my skin tone pretty well.  You don't need a lot of the product for the coverage to be pretty good and Lily Lolo is cruelty free.  However, this product does contain mica so even if it does come in a compact form I don't think I'll buy it again.  This has been replaced by a concealer product. It wasn't the RMS "Un" Cover-Up I was hoping to get as it's a little bit out of my price range at the moment. It's the Essence Coverstick in Matt Sand, and so far I really like it. Essence is a cruelty free brand and this cost me less than £3.

The Burt's Bees Matte Lip Crayon in Napa Vineyard is a lovely moisturising lip product and I really liked the colour, which suited by skin tone.  However, this product did have a tendency to go onto my teeth and I had to keep an eye on that.  I don't normally like the glossy look on my lips, but this wasn't too bad, but the size of the crayon did mean that it was difficult to get an exact line. I didn't want to go and buy a lip pencil or lip brush just to finish this product, so I just angled it the best that I could. I do like the product but I don't think I'd get it again just because of the application issues.  However, Burt's Bees is cruelty free so I will look at other cosmetic products in the future - if I feel I need them.

I also finished The Body Shop Eye Definer Crayon Kohl in Black sooner than I was expecting, mainly because it turned out it finishes a lot higher up then you might expect.  It's not the worse thing ever, but if the actual crayon had carried on as far you would think you would have gotten another couple of weeks to a month use out of it (depending on how much you use with each application).  The kohl is a pretty soft pencil that is easy to use and smudges well (which is good or bad depending on what you're going for).  However, it's not very black when you apply it, even if you go over the same line a few times.  I also noticed there was a transfer onto my upper lid sometimes.  It's not necessarily the kohl fault as I have oily lids, but it's something to bare in mind if you're getting it.  The Body Shop is cruelty free, however there is a question as to whether or not their parent company is depending on how far up the chain you want to go.  This product has now been replaced by the matt black eyeshadow Blackout in the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.

I'm now using the Mistine Cosmetics OHH Lipstick No. 01 as my lipstick.  I haven't used it too much so I don't really have much I can say about it other than that so far I like the colour, texture, and feel of this product.  It also stays on well.  However, I can't find anywhere that says about it's cruelty free status and that's really annoying.  So far I've used 5mm of it, so this one will probably be a slow burner.

Lastly, the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.  I've done what I planned and have hit every eyeshadow this quarter and they weren't as scary as I thought they were going to be.  Unfortunately that's actually because the quality of the eyeshadow isn't what you normally expect with Urban Decay eyeshadows and so the colour pay-offs of the more bold shadows didn't actually really show up.  I would say this is probably the case of all the shadows here so if you're wanting real quality then I would suggest going for a different Urban Decay palette.  I am going to keep using this throughout the year and see how far I can get in finishing some of the colours.  Then I'll decide if I'm going to keep it or not.   

Really not a bad start for the year, though I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll be able to carry on using up items this quickly in the next quarter.  If I finish the lipstick and manage to hit pan on two of the eyeshadows I'd be a very happy bunny.  Realistically I don't think that's going to happen, but a girl can dream.  I'm just going to keep wearing the items as much as possible and I think I am definitely going to be able to reach my goals for the end of the year of everything fitting nicely into my one makeup bag.  It will only get less from there.

So stay tuned for the next update, where probably absolutely nothing will have changed. 😂

Project Pan 2020

I have to say that last year went pretty well when it came to my project pan.  At least, much better than how I was expecting it to go.  I'm expecting this year to be pretty similar as I don't have a lot of items this time and this year is mainly the year where I go through the last of my products to really downsize and simplify my makeup.  However, though there aren't too many items (5 really), most of them are going to take a while to use up so this is going to be a pretty slow project pan.  Because of that I'm going to do the quarterly updates that I did last year otherwise there's going to be some pretty boring posts.

Starting with the one item that I know is definitely going to take at least this year to go through and that's the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.  There are 15 shades here, though they're not the biggest eyeshadow pans I've seen which gives me a little bit of hope.  They are a little powdery, but I do really love most of the colours so it shouldn't be too difficult to make myself wear this every time I wear makeup.  However, I definitely don't need this many eyeshadows and there are some colours there that I don't normally gravitate to, at least not anymore.  So, to push myself out of my comfort zone I'm going to make myself hit every single one of these colours at least once this year.  In fact, let's say at least once every quarter.  I think that should be do-able.  I'm not expecting to finish it but I am hoping to hit pan on at least five of the shadows.

Powder foundation is definitely my foundation of choice.  That's probably quite strange for a dry skinned girl, but I just find it much easier and less messy to use, and I don't feel like it's sitting on my skin like an unpleasant layer.  This is my last foundation and it is the Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Blondie.  I really like it and it suits my skin, but if I'm honest I much prefer the compact foundations or the loose powder.  Just so much less mess involved.  I've already gone through quite a lot of this but getting it finished by the end of the year is still going to be a challenge.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do once it's used up as, as with all these types of products, there's always the issue of mica.  I guess I'll just have to do my research and make a decision when the time comes.  For now, I'm just going to concentrate on getting this finished.

This The Body Shop Eye Definer Crayon Kohl in Black is also my last eyeliner.  It's a very soft product and, whilst the colour is good, I do end up putting on a few layers when I use it so I'm not expecting this to take that long at all.  I don't think it's a product I'll get again once it's gone as I prefer a liquid or gel eyeliner, but once it's gone I'm going to use up the black eyeshadow I have in the UD x Gwen Stefani palette before I make any decision on buying another eyeliner.  Right now The Body Shop Kohl is 9.5 cm long.

The Burt's Bees Matte Lip Crayon in Napa Vineyard is one of the last two lip products I have and, as you know, I'm thinking about not owning any lip products once they've gone other than a lip liner.  We'll wait and see on that front, but for now this is the first lip product I want to get through this year as I'm already using it.  It's a beautiful colour, however, I find it difficult to apply this neatly as the crayon is so thick and it was difficult to keep the point it had at the start.  To be honest, it probably needs a lip brush to really apply it properly, but I can't be bothered buying one of those so I'm just going to persevere with it as it is.  I also think that the texture and colour would make it a good cheek colour and will be using it there as well.  That should probably reduce the amount of time it'll take to use it up.  This lip crayon is 2.4 cm at the moment.

This was a naughty buy I really shouldn't have done when we stopped off at Bangkok on the way to New Zealand.  I just really want to try an Asian brand.  However, if I'm honest, a liquid eyeliner or mascara probably would have been better, I'm just more obsessed with lipsticks.  Any way, this is the Mistine Cosmetics OHH Lipstick No. 01.  I can't really say too much about it as I haven't started using it yet and won't until the Burt's Bees product it finished.  It seems like it will be a lot more matte in texture and pigmented than the Burt's Bees.  I guess I'll find out.  At the moment it's 2.8 cm in length.

Lastly are the Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blushes in Royal, Genius, Pop, and Vibrant.  I'm not going to try and use these up (that would be insane) but I am going to try each one and decide if I want to keep all of them or if there are any that really don't suit me and can be gotten rid of.  I also want to play with the two blush brushes I own as I really don't feel I need both and could probably get rid of one.  I think I know which one it's going to be, but I still want to give both of them a fair go.  I should probably have this one completed by the end of the first quarter.

There is one extra thing I'm going to be doing whilst I go through this project pan and that is basically going on a no buy for 2020.  I will let myself buy mascara when I need to and concealer once the foundation has finally run out (I've basically got my eye on the RMS "Un" Cover-Up), but for everything else I'm not going to buy anything new until I have used everything else up.  So no eyeliners until the one I have and the eyeshadows are completely gone; definitely no blusher, highlighter, or contour probably ever - that stuff is going to last me for years; and definitely no lip products until these are all gone and I've gone a few months without any lipstick at all.  I actually feel like I want to use up most of the eye shadows before I let myself even look at another lip product.  I don't actually think it'll be too hard and I like the challenge of it.  

So possibly the last year of project pan here we go.  Good luck everyone, I hope yours all go well.  Let me know what you're planning to get rid of.