Project Use Up Update #7 and Other Products

As I thought last month, the progress this month has been very slow on the use up front and I can't see any of these products disappearing in the next few months.

I'm going to start with the one product were there has been the most progress and were I have finally got into a habitat of using regularly.  That is the Argan Oil hair treatment which I put on my hair every time I wash my hair.  This still won't be finished by the end of this year as I only wash my hair twice a week but at least I'm getting through it.

The NYX Dark Circle Concealer Corrector in Light / Pale is showing a little more progress as I've been concentrating on one side of the product where there is now a definite dent.  I'm hoping this will be gone by the end of the year.

As with last month I've been concentrating on the Gosh Velvet lipstick in Matte Rose, which means that there's a little progress in this lipstick but none in the others.  I am not sure if any of these lipsticks are going to be gone by the end of the year, but I'll keep going through them.  Then MUA lipstick in Raven is actually the easiest to go through so I might actually concentrate on that from now on.

The Living Nature eye liner in Midnight is making a slow and steady pace (not really much to write about here).

As is the Barbara Day even smoother eye primer in Vanilla.

Another product I finished this month is the Jane Iredale PurePressed Base Mineral Foundation in Warm Silk.  I use this mainly as a setting powder with a slight cover rather then a foundation, but I like that I can increase the coverage of this if I want.  This is my favourite foundation and I will buy it again in the future as my only foundation.  It is a pricey foundation, but I think it's worth the price for the quality of it, the fact is offers protection from the sun and is cruelty free.  I also believe this is a vegan product from the ingredients list, though please let me know if I'm wrong.

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 #6 and Other Products

Project Use Up update #2 and Other Products

So this month went a lot better then I thought it was going to and I promised myself by actually finished a few items (with one little accident).  The items I finished were roll overs from last year, so I'm glad to finally get them done.  I've decided to just chuck the items once they're done, after taking a photo, as I don't really have anywhere to store them this time.

The first item was the Neal's Yard lipstick in Persimmon.  It was almost finished at the end of last month, but it was still very satisfying to finish it by the end of the first week of February.  This is a good lipstick, was easy to put on, was moisturising, and came off my lips pretty evenly.  It didn't last very long, but the colour was nice though not one I would normally choose.  Neal's Yard is cruelty free, but as I'm downsizing I won't buy this again.

The second item I finished was the Pacifica Transcendent Concentrated Concealer in Light.  I probably could have classed this as finished last month but there seemed to be a lot still in there.  I pushed the stopper into the container (I couldn't pull it out as I normally would) and managed to get another month out of it.  It was a nice concealer and it covered well, but I prefer thicker concealers and this was definitely too little for me.  It also went into the fine lines around my eyes.  Pacifica is a cruelty free brand.  I'll now be starting on my NYX correcting concealer.

The last item that is being moved out of my makeup is the one item that I had a little accident with and that's the Jane Iredale blusher in Barely Rose.  The accident happened when I was putting my makeup on Thursday and watched it slip off my lap (I was putting my makeup on on my bed) and land on the floor........face down.  I tried to see if I could salvage any of it, but it wasn't possible.  On the plus side I didn't have as much product as I thought I had, but it is still a little upsetting.  Jane Iredale is a cruelty free brand and some of their products are vegan (and the website will tell you which).  

Now lets move onto the other products.  We all know the drill for the Barbara Day eye primer by now.  This seems to be never ending and it will probably be another couple of years before this is done.  It's basically doing its job though, so I can't complain.

The Living Nature eye pencil in Midnight is moving along at a snails pace.  It's a nice pencil and is easy to put on, but doesn't necessarily have the best staying power so I set it with eye shadow. 

The lipstick I've been concentrating on since I finished the Neal's Yard one is the Gosh Velvet matte in Plum.  This has pretty good staying power so I don't have to reapply it very often.  Even so, I have managed to make quite a dent in it and, you never know, I might even get it finished by the end of next month (when you wish upon a star). I have also used the Gosh lipstick in Rose to add a bit of variety, but not enough to make any noticeable difference.  I haven't even touched the MUA lipstick in Raven yet. Haven't quite built the nerve.

The Pacifica perfume in Island Vanilla is also moving along at a snails pace, but I'm pretty sure it'll be done by the end of the year.  The scent definitely doesn't last all day and I'm thinking about taking it with me to reapply during the day to keep it going and to help use it up.

I've finally been remembering to actually use my Argan Oil Hair Treatment, but as I only need about one pump at a time it really not moved very much at all.

The soap at my work really dries out my hands so that's been a good reason to keep my hand cream in my bag to use.  Because of this I've actually managed to use quite a lot of this this month and will probably get this finished by the next update.  I'm not usually a rose scent person, but this is quite a delicate scent and I actually quite like it.  I've left my Neutrogena hand cream at my parents for now (hence it's not in the photo) but I think I'll be starting on that soon.

Lastly, the Burts Bees Hand Salve.  I've finally gotten round to using this as well, but as with the Hair Treatment the difference is not very obvious at the moment.

The other product I'm getting rid of this month is the Barry M Wet Set Quick Dry Topcoat.  I've had this topcoat for quite a while and it's done a really good job, especially for the price of it.  It is meant to be clear, but got a little discoloured from one of the nail varnishes I was using up.  As I no longer have any nail varnish I no longer need this and it has finally started to get a little bit gloppy, but only a little bit.  Barry M is a cruelty free brand, but not a whole lot of chemicals free.  

Project Pan Update #8 and Other Products

I was a little worried that I wouldn't get too many of the products in my project pan used up this month as my allergies were particularly bad and there were quite a few days where I couldn't wear eye makeup at all.  However, I have actually managed to get through a few items and, under the circumstances, I'm quite happy about that.

Firstly, let's start with that never ending teal Elf eyeliner.  I thought this was never going to stop and, to be honest, there are still some uses in this pencil, but I haven't been able to sharpen it anymore and it's now got stuck in the lid.  There is no amount of hitting this on the table that has got this out of the lid and so it can stay there.  I've now moved onto the Electric Purple Elf eyeliner and I don't think this is going to take anywhere near as long as it's not as pigmented and I have to use much more to get the same look.  This could be due to the age of the pencil though, rather than the actual product itself.  Elf is, of course, cruelty free.

Next is the Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain in Forever Pink.  This was much brighter than I was expecting from the colour of the bullet and was unbelievably bright on the cheeks (I only wore it as a cheek stain a couple of times and it didn't seem to last particularly long).  It works really well on the lips, is moisturising, and does add a stain that doesn't transfer.  It's also not particularly hard to get off at the end of the day, I just used my coconut oil as normal.  Once I've finished all my lipsticks and am looking buy more I will have a look at these as they now have the colours Forever Peach and Forever Red.  These products are cruelty free but not vegan as they contain beeswax.  I will now be moving to using up the Mac lipstick in Creme Cup for the rest of the year.  I'm hoping this will be long enough.

 The last used up products from the project pan is the yellow section of the Lily Lolo eye primer that I've been using as a primer on my face.  It was moisturising and did help the mineral foundation I put on top last longer, though not the full working day.  I've now started using the pink section as a face primer as well as just the eye primer I'd been using it for before.  This also helps my eyeshadow last longer than just on it's own, but still not a full working day so I'm expecting this will be the same for the foundation.  This is a cruelty free and vegan product.

The eyeshadows are still carrying on at the same pace as before, so nothing really exciting to write about there.  The most obvious have been the white, which I'm also using as a very obvious highlighter, and the silver, which I was actually beginning to give up on.  I'm still not sure if I will actually going to manage to finish these by the end of the year, but I'll keep plodding along with them anyway.  If these eyeshadows are not finished by the end of the year then I'll decide whether or not I'm going to keep them.  Other than the Natural Collections eyeshadow, none of these are cruelty free.

The nature Coconut lip butter and Wella System Professional Polish Cream are another two products which are just going slow but steady.  I should hopefully finish the lip butter in the next couple of months and will then look for a more natural replacement.  As for the Wella System Professional Polish Cream, it's unlikely that it'll be finished by the end of this project pan year but I'll give it a go.  I'm not going to replace it with anything though as I think my oils already do something similar and I definitely wouldn't say it's a needed product.  As far as I'm aware neither of these are cruelty free.

The last three products are the Pacifica Stellar Gaze Mascara, Urban Decay / Gwen Stefani lipstick sample in Rocksteady, and Zoya Base Coat Ztanor.  The Pacifica mascara I've had to stop using as my eyes have now start having an allergic reaction to it.  It may be that my eyes are just sensitive at the moment, but this wouldn't be the first mineral mascara that my eyes have reacted to do. As for the lipstick, I really like this.  It's a cream lipstick and a beautiful wine, red colour that is pretty good on the pigment front.  You can see my lips through this a little bit, but I have only been wearing it on it's own with only a bit of primer on the outside to prevent feathering.  For me, this is a very easy, everyday red (though obviously not for everyone) that has good staying power even when eating a drinking.  It was also very comfortable to wear.  The Zoya base coat does work well and appeared to help protect my nails from drying.  I'm trying another base coat at the moment, but when I need a new one I will look at this again.  These are all cruelty free, but only Pacifica is definitely vegan.  I believe this Zoya base coat is vegan but I'm not sure about their other colours.

This month is probably not going to be best month for using up products as I will hopefully be doing an outdoor, manual job for which wearing makeup for would just be ridiculous.  I will still be wearing makeup on the weekends though.  I will also carry on working on the non-makeup products so you never know.

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2
• Project Pan Update #3
• Project Pan Update #4
• Project Pan Update #5
• Project Pan Update #6
• Project Pan Update #7

Product Review: Mascaras

 

When it comes to makeup mascara has been the one product that I've found it difficult to find a 'natural' alternative that actually works for me. I am not someone who goes for a natural look with mascara (for that I just don't wear any at all) and when I put it on I want to have full, thick, long lashes. As with all my other cosmetic, my aim this year is to only own and use cruelty free mascara, but I'm also trying to find mineral and vegan products. 

 

The first mascara here is a product I have used for years and that is the Natural Collection Lash Build mascara in Black (I've also added the Natural Collection Lash Care mascara in Clear that I've been using for my eyebrows). This is not a 'wow' mascara, but it does thicken your lashes, is fragrance-free, has never stung my eyes (a regular problem I have with sensitive eyes), and stays put all day despite having watery eyeballs and oily lids. It can clump easily, so you do have to do a lot a wiggle motions when putting it on, but it's easy to find and only costs £1.99. Natural Collection is also a cruelty free brand – yay!

  

The next is a cult favourite, the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara. Contained in a surprisingly heavy container, this does give you ridiculously long, thick lashes. It's also very black (which I know sounds weird, but you'll be surprised how gray some mascaras are). The problems I have with this is, once it has dried a little, it becomes a bit clumpy to apply and flakes all over your face. I find myself having to wipe under my eyes regularly during the day and for the price of this mascara I found this a bit irritating. Too Faced is cruelty free.

  

Like the Too Faced mascara the Bourjois Volume Glamour Push Up mascara in Wonder Black starts off great, building lovely, thick, long lashes, but then becomes really clumpy after a couple of weeks. The quality of the Too Faced is definitely better, but price wise the Bourjois is definitely more pocket friendly. I actually started using this with another mascara I'm going to be mentioning later on in this blog, which produced a mascara look I actually liked. Bourjois is a cruelty free brand.

Now to get into the more 'natural' mascaras.

 

The first one I tried in this group was the tester Jane IredaleLongest Lash mascara in Black Ice. I was really excited about this mascara as I have loved other Jane Iredale products. Unfortunately I wasn't overly impressed with this product. It did do some thickening and lengthening to my lashes, but not as much as I would hope for the price of this product. I think if you had short lashes you might notice the difference a little more. On the plus side it didn't irritate my eyes at all and had pretty good staying power. Jane Iredale is a cruelty free brand, but this does cost £26 for the full tube so I don't think I'll be purchasing this again.

 

Next is the one that was my biggest disappointment and that is the BWCFull Volume mascara. I really wanted this to work as I like the ethos behind BWS, but this stung my eyes like you wouldn't believe. I can't remember if it made my lashes thicker or longer, but that it hurt my eyes and I couldn't wait to get it off after work. Such a shame that I can't give you more information, but BWC is a cruelty free company.

 

The Lily Lolo Lash Alert Natural mascara in Black. This is the mascara that I coupled with the Bourjois mascara to get the look I was wanting. On it's own I'm afraid the Lily Lolo isn't much to write about. It didn't irritate my eyes, but nor did it do much else other than slightly darken my lashes. In fact, sometimes my lashes even looked shorter. However, it was great under the Bourjois to help make it less clump and increased its staying power. Lily Lolo is cruelty free.

  

The last mascara is another cult favourite and that is the PacificaStellar Gaze Length & Strength Mineral mascara. Firstly, I have to give them points for the packaging, which is much smaller than most other mascaras despite basically having the same amount of product. The mascara itself is one of the best natural mascaras I've tried, it hasn't irritated my eyes, thickening and lengthening my lashes a little as well as keeping them curled all day. It also hasn't flaked over my face. Pacifica is also a cruelty free brand. However, this hasn't wowed me either and it is also quite pricey at £15.49. I am using a second tube right now, but I think I'm going to try something else once this is used up.

So it looks like I'm going to have to keep looking.

Do you have any recommendations on natural mascaras? If so please comment below.