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  This has been replaced by a concealer product.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 Use Up Update #6 and Other Products

So the slowing down of using up has begun.  I have managed to finish another product, but the rest are moving very slowly and will probably take a few months before the next product is finished.

Starting with the item I finished, the Burt’s Bees hand salve.  I've been using this pretty much every night on my nails to help keep the skin moistured from the work I've been doing.  It did a very good job at keeping my skin healthy and I have definitely noticed a difference since I've stopped using it.  Burt's Bees is a cruelty free brand again, but obviously it's not vegan.  I did like this product but I want to see if I can use something simpler.

The next product I've used the most is the Gosh Velvet lipstick in Matte Rose.  This is the lipstick I've been concentrating on and I haven't really touched the other ones at all.  This is taking a little while to use up and I thought I would use up more based on my week off, but it was too hot to wear too much makeup during that time anyway.  I might wear one of the other lipsticks during July just for a bit of a change.  No change to the other lipsticks.

 The Living Nature eye liner in Midnight is a slow mover as before.  I really need to start using this more, but it does smudge around my eyes a bit (even when I set it with eye shadow) so I don't always want to add more.  I think this one is going to take a couple of years to get through.

The Barbara Day even smoother eye primer in Vanilla and NYX Dark Circle Concealer Corrector in Light / Pale are both plodding along slowly.  I'm not sure either of these will be finished by the end of the year, but I live in hope.  Both work well enough, but aren't really working their best in this weather and probably with the oils and SPF I use on a daily basis.

The last item is the Argan Oil hair treatment.  I am actually remembering to use this everytime I wash my hair, but seeing as I only wash my hair twice a week I don't use very much. It's a good oil mix though and works very well at moisturising and defrizzing my hair without being too much.

The other product I finished was the Physicians Formula Organic Wear CC Mascara in Black.  This is a good natural mascara and, once it had dried out a little, gave quite good volume and length.  But, like most mascaras I use that aren't waterproof, it did smudge under my eyes during the day so I won't buy this one again.

My progress so far:

• Project Use Up 2018
• Project Use Up Update #1 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #2 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #3 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #4 
• Project Use Up Update #5 and Other Products

Project Use Up Update #5 and Other Products

So it's June already, hasn't this year gone fast.  I thought using up the products would slow down but I've actually managed to use up two products this month. Go me. 😁

Let's start with the Neutrogena anti-aging hand cream.  I didn't think I was going to use this up this quickly, but the amount of sun we've been having this month and the fact I have been outside all day long has meant that there has been a lot of reapplying.  Having the extra moisture of this with the SPF has been great, but as Neutrogena is not cruelty free and there are other options I won't be getting this product again.  I've also reached my goal of having only one hand cream now.

The next item was the Pacifica roll-on perfume in Island Vanilla.  The more I used this the more product the ball released at each application (hopefully that makes sense), so I used proportionally more of it each time.  I do like the smell, but I don't like the roller ball application and the scent doesn't last so I wouldn't buy this product again.  However Pacifica is a cruelty free company so I will try other products of theirs.

Whilst I haven't finished the Burt’s Bees hand salve I have used a lot of this over the last month.  My work does dry my hands a fair bit so they do need moisture at night and, at the moment, this is what I'm using.  I think it'll be gone by next month.

And now for the other products.  Barbara Day eye primer is still plodding along nicely.  I can actually see into the tube now and there's a fair amount gone - yay, finally!  It will still be a long time before this is finished and will probably last all through 2018.  I don't know if the product has started to deteriorate or if it's a change in the face products I'm using or heat, but the eye shadows are definitely not staying on as long as they used to.

The NYX Dark Circle Concealer Corrector in Light / Pale has gone down a little, but as I don't use it a lot as it only goes on my undereyes I'm not expecting it to be a fast mover.  It does help hide the darkness under my eyes, but possibly not as much as I would like.

The Living Nature eye liner in Midnight is moving along in the same steady fashion.  It is going a little faster now that I am also using it in in my lower lash line, but there is no way I'm going to use this up by the end of the year.  Not unless I start eating it.

I've only photographed the Gosh Velvet lipstick in Matte Rose here as that's the only one I've really been wearing this month.  I have been putting the Gosh lipstick in Plum on my cheeks just not enough to make any difference to the length of it.  I'm going to really concentrate on the Rose lipstick this month (this should be especially easy as I'm off for a week this month) and hopefully get it almost finished.

I have actually been remembering to use the Argan Oil hair treatment this time, but you only need one pump each time so it is definitely a slow mover.  I think this will be one that lasts for a few years, unfortunately.  It does make !y hair very soft so I guess that's not a bad thing.

The last two products are not part of my project use up but which I am no longer using and decided to just get rid of.  The first is the travel sized Superdrug nail polish remover.  This works very well and I had almost finished it, but as I no longer have any nail polish to remove it seems pointless to keep it.  The other is the Barry M Iron Mani nail hardener.  I had thought that I would carry on using this even after I had stopped using nail polish.  However, in the end I haven't used it at all and my nails are doing fine without it.  So it's going, which is a shame as I haven't used that much of it.

My progress so far:

• Project Use Up 2018
• Project Use Up Update #1 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #2 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #3 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #4 

Finding the Right Face Wash

I've spent a while trying to find the right face wash that is not only as natural and ethical as possible, but also suited the needs of my dry skin.  I've tried a few and I thought I would write about some of them here.

I'll start with the most well known, the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish (the one in the picture is travel size).  This product is cruelty free, vegan, made in Great Britain, and I do love it as a product.  It works very well at cleansing your skin, removing all makeup and grim (as someone who volunteers outside my face can get very grimmy) without drying out your skin.  At no point have I had any problems with tightness around my nose when using this and the smell is nice, but not overpowering.  The biggest issue I have with products that you are meant to be able to use on your eyes to remove makeup is that I usually end up with puffy eyes the next day, but I didn't find this with the Cleanse and Polish.  This is a product I would recommend and I will probably still use it when I go travelling, but the reason I don't still use it is because I've been looking for something more natural.

The next product is the Superdrugs' B Revealed Glycolic Cleansing Peel.  I brought this when I was having a particularly bad time with dry skin, especially around my nose and mouth.  It contains alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) and is designed to be used as a mask 2 to 3 times a week, but can be used as a cleanser on a daily basis.  This product is also cruelty free, vegan, and made in the UK, and I had learnt about it through the YouTuber Rhian HY (WifeLife).  This is another great product and was very effective in removing the dead skin on my face without overly drying my face.  It was also very good at making sure I had removed all my makeup.  The main issue I had with this product was that I couldn't use it to remove my eye makeup.  So, while it was very effective at helping my get soft skin again, the fact that I couldn't use it on my eyes and the fact its not very natural it is not a product I would carry on using.

The last of the more conventional cleanser is the Burt's Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream.  While the packaging says that it is 100% natural and they have the cruelty free bunny, their own website says that it is 99.9% natural and they have not been given cruelty free status by Logical Harmony.  However, this product is free of parabens, phthalates and petrolatum.  Not surprisingly, Burt's Bees isn't normally vegan, but I believe this is as it doesn't contain any animal products.  I did feel it helped clean my face very well, removing the last of the makeup, and you definitely feel like it's done a deep clean (I didn't get any spots while I was using it).  However, while it is meant to make your skin feel soft, I did feel tightness around my nose after a few days.  I think this would be a great product if you have oily skin and need to deep clean your face without stripping it, but it was a bit too drying for my skin.  This, coupled with the fact that you can't use it to cleanse your eyes and the question mark about it's cruelty status means that I won't use it again.

After hearing so much about the wonders Dr Bronner's Magic Soap (this one is Hemp Green Tea) I thought I would give it a go, not just as a face wash but also as a shampoo and body wash.  This product is certified organic and fair trade, cruelty free, made from vegetable oils and contains no synthetic detergents.  The package is also made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic.  A little of this goes a very long way and it was great being able to use this for everything.  It was great as a body wash, but it did feel like it dried out my skin a little bit after a few uses and I wasn't able to use it to remove makeup from my eyes (though it was good at removing makeup from my face).  It also felt like it left a film on my hair when I used it as a shampoo.  I have heard that you can use apple cider vinegar to remove this so if I choose to use this in the future I will give this a go.  As a face wash, the dryness made me decide to try other products and I prefer to use soap instead of a body wash.  However, this is a good product to use when travelling.

Naturally Thinking is a company that I haven't heard too many people talking about and which I only found by a google search.  I am surprised by this though as, ethically, this is a great brand.  They are vegan and cruelty free, palm oil free, paraben and SLS free, handmade in Britain and a number of the products are grown here too.  They also pay their employees the living wage and act proactively on a number of environmental issues.  While they have a number of face cleansers I decided to get the simple Clay Facial Cleanser as it was the simplest cleanser and a non-irritant.  I also liked that you could tailor this by adding your own essential oils.  The bottle is small but you only need a pea size amount per application. This is a very nice product and felt great on the skin.  However, I didn't feel that it completely removed my makeup and I started using this after I had done an initial cleanse with coconut oil.  Once I started doing that doing that my face felt very clean, but still moisturised.  

I decided to try some balms so see if they would be more effective at removing makeup as well as not drying out my skin, so I ordered some samples from Naturisimo.  The first one is the Pink Boutique Hydrating Deep Cleansing Melt.  This product is cruelty free, vegan, 100% natural, 87% certified organic, made in England, and paraffinum, paraben, and SLS free.  This melt is designed for those of us with sensitive skin and can also be used on your eyes.  While it is difficult to get a complete idea with such a small sample, I did really enjoy using this product.  The texture felt really nice on my face and did a very good job of removing my makeup effectively, including my eye makeup, and didn't leave that much of a residue.  It also left my face feeling moisturised without any issue of dryness.  It is quite a pricey product, £40 a tub, but I would think about buying it as I think a little goes a very long way.

The next product is Balmology Neroli and Sweet Basil Cleansing Balm.  This is another British brand which is made with 99% organic ingredients, hand made in small batches, the raw ingredients are brought from growers who are fairtrade and ethical, and cruelty free, but not vegan.  Cheaper at £27, this felt great on the skin and was also very good at removing makeup easily.  It did leave a slight residue on the skin, but nothing unpleasant, and the smell was also nice but mild.  The main issue I had with this balm was that I couldn't use it on my eyes to remove makeup and I am looking for a product that I can use all over my face.

The next product I tried was the Herbfarmacy Wash Off Cleansing Mousse (now known as the Refining Cleanser).  I thought it would be interesting to try a product that was more like a mousse than a balm and I had heard good things about Herbfarmacy.  Made in Britain, the ingredients are also ground in Herefordshire.  This product is paraben and SLS free, 80% organic, and cruelty free (but not vegan).  The good thing about this product is that you don't need a muslin cloth or face towel to wash this off, unless you feel you need to remove the excess.  At £16 it is quite tempting to buy a fall amount, but I think you would need to use more of this then the other balms.  This felt great on my skin, was really easy to work in, smelt great, and I liked the fact that I could use it to remove my eye makeup as well.  The only problem I had as that it didn't remove my makeup as well as I first thought and I was still able to remove more makeup afterwards.

The last item is the Suti Facial Cleansing Balm.  Suti is another British company which makes products containing organic ingredients, of which this product is 84% organic.  It is cruelty free but not vegan as they use beeswax.   This balm also melted well onto the skin and was good at removing my face makeup, only leaving a small film on your face.  However, out of all the balms I tried this cleansing balm was my least favourite as the smell was a little overpowering and I also wasn't able to use this to remove my eye makeup so didn't do the multi-tasking I was hoping for. 

So, what am I using as a cleansing and makeup remover.  

Well, funnily enough it's the very simple, quite cheap Organic Coconut Oil (this time I'm using the brand ).  Not only is this easy to get, it works really well at removing my makeup and any other grim on my face.  It's safe to use on your eyes and I've never had any issues with it causing puffiness the next day or any irritation.  It does leave a slight film on your face and can cause spots on some people (though this has never been an issue for me).  Either I would leave it like that and then use oil to moisturise afterwards or I wash my face with the Friendly Soap Cocoa Butter Facial Cleansing Bar.

I got this from one of The Vegan Kind subscription boxes and, worked with the coconut oil, works well as a double cleanse without drying out my skin.  I have used this soap on its own when I didn't actually need to oil cleanse.  It has a nice texture and I like that it doesn't have too many ingredients in it, but it is a little drying on my skin and wouldn't be something I could use on a daily basis without the oil cleanse. I believe this is only because I have dry skin though, and this would work well on normal to oily skin.