Project Use Up Update #10 and Other Products

So, another month is done and I'm now on the final stretch.  I'm not expecting to use up many more of the products that I have left, but I am glad that's I've finally used up another item after a couple of months of stalling. (Apologies for the lighting in these photos, it's just so dark today it was difficult to get the right light.)

And let's start with that.  This month I had to say goodbye to the Gosh Velvet lipstick in Matte Rose.  I hadn't completely finished it but got ill whilst wearing it.  When I put it on again after getting better I got a really sore throat again, so I decided I had the throw it away.  I only had one more days worth of wear in it so it's not too bad, but a shame to not get the satisfaction of finishing it properly.  I really like this product, it feels good on the lips, isn't too trying, and is a really lovely colour.  Basically, if you're looking for an affordable, easy to find, cruelty free, nude lipstick I would recommend this one.  However, I'm not really intending on buying nude lipsticks in the future and I want to test more 'natural' lip colours anyway so I probably won't buy this again.  I had also hoped to use up my MUA lipstick in Raven this month as well as I had a few extra days off work, but unfortunately I got really ill for a couple of weeks and haven't been wearing lipstick at all during that time.  It would have been fitting to finish it on Halloween, but there's always next month and I do think I'll get it done by then.  I'm not sure if I'll get my Gosh lipstick finished by the end of the year, but I will have at least 1 month to concentrate on it.

I've been doing a lot of smokey eye looks this month and that has helped me use a good amount of the Living Nature eye liner in Midnight.  However, there was also no eye liner wearing whilst I was ill so the progress on this is a little lower then I was hoping for.  This is a really easy eye liner to use, very soft and smudge-able, but that does mean that it's not necessarily the longest lasting eye liner I've ever used and definitely needs setting.  This one is definitely going to be a roll over to next year.

The NYX Dark Circle Concealer Corrector in Light / Pale is going a long quite well.  In fact I've used much more then I was actually expecting.  It seems to be that once I hit the side of the product the rest seems to come away quite easily.  I might even be able to finish this by the end of the year, but I think I'm being a bit hopeful on that front.  It's a lovely product to use as it's so creamy and the colour is actually pretty good for what I want it for.  Just going to keep plodding on this one.

You know the drill on the Barbara Day Even Smoother eye primer in Vanilla.  Slow and steady, slow and steady.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, but this might actually be one of the products I just have the throw away at the end of the year as I've had this for so long and it is going right by my eyes.

The same can be said on the Argan Oil hair treatment.  This is going to take a while to use up, but it is quite a good product and smells really nice so I'm not too bothered if it takes a couple of years to get through.

The other products I used up this month are......

My Jura Diurachs Own Fragrance Hand Cream.  This product is lovely, smells really, really good, and works very well.  I've been using it every day after work and it's definitely helped stop my hands from turning into a leathery, flaky mess.  The only issue with this for some people is that it contains bees wax and I'm not sure if it's cruelty free, though I assume this line would be.  I can't find this hand cream on line so I think you can only buy it on Jura (what a shame, just have to take another trip to Jura).  The packaging is also glass which makes it easy to recycle.

I really like the Lush Dirty Toothy Tabs.  They are very easy to use and a great space saver in your toiletry bag (something very important for me as I have literally been living out of that thing).  The flavour is also good and this product is also vegan and cruelty free.  I would prefer the packaging to not be plastic, but at least it's recycled and recyclable and that's really stuck in my head after I heard someone say 'If you're not buying recycled products you're not really recycling' (which I believe is attributed to Ed Begley Jr).  For convenience these are great and will probably buy them again, especially if I'm travelling, but I love the Georganic products better so those will probably be my main dental products.

The last item is the Younique Moodstruck Epic Mascara.  A friend of mine sells Younique products so I brought this off her when I was coming to the end of my mascaras.  I've probably been using this way longer then you're supposed to use a mascara but the scent of it hasn't changed so I kept using it until the product was basically gone.  This product it lovely and made my eye lashes look really long and think.  It also held them at a sweeping up angle and didn't flake on me (a reoccurring issue I have with most mascaras).  Apparently they are working towards getting a cruelty free status as they don't test their products on animals, but I haven't had confirmation on that yet.  It is a little bit of a pricey mascara as well at £20, but isn't the most expensive mascara out there and it does have a very good effect.  As with the lipsticks, however, I am wanting to go down a more natural route and so it's unlikely I will be buying this product again.

And that's it.  Let's see what I can get through in November.

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 #7 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update #8 and Other Products
• Project Use Up Update# 9

Project Pan 17 Update #9 and Other Products

This month has definitely been a month where I haven't been wearing makeup as much as I should have been to use it up for a project pan.  I have made some progress, but it's been really slow.

It almost seems pointless showing this photo as there really isn't much obvious change.  There is a dip going on in Toasted probably because I use it every time I do my makeup as an undereye shadow.  Other than that, everything is moving quite slowly as I'm trying to use all the shades equally.  Urban Decay is a cruelty free brand.

This shadow is the one that has gone down the most.  This is the Sable shadow from a duo eye palette by Natural Collection and is a really good shadow for both setting your eye primer and under the eye to set my concealer.  Both of the sides are now gone and the lower section should be used up within a week.  I might actually be able to complete the top section by the end of October, which would be great.  It is beginning to crumble a little bit now that the side sections have gone, but hopefully it won't fall out before I've finished it.  Natural Collection is a cruelty free brand.

I finished the Black Barry M Nail Paint in the first week of September.  Since then I've been working on Bright Red.  I haven't got a far as I had hoped or expected, but I think I'll definitely get it finished by the end of October.  That will leave me with one last nail varnish by Zoya to finish to be nail polish free.  Barry M is cruelty free.

And now for the world of the never ending makeup.  Here are the Barbara Day eye primer, MUA powder foundation in Shade 4, and Bourjois blusher in Ceidre.  All of them are going down, but not fast enough for it to be obvious on the photo.  I'll be very lucky if these are finished by the end of this year.

The last product is not part of my project pan but is something I finished this month and it's The Neal's Yard Organic Eye Make-up Remover.  I really wanted to like this product but unfortunately it didn't really work out.  Because I have watery eyes I regularly wear waterproof mascara.  Despite it saying it's for waterproof mascara and me holding a cotton pad dampened in the product over my eyes before wiping I still had to rub my lashes quite hard to get the makeup off my lashes.  It also made my eyes a little bit soar.  However, I do have sensitive eyes and so it might not be the same for someone who doesn't have this and who doesn't wear waterproof mascara.  It's a shame but that's how it goes.

To see my progress so far:

• 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
• Project Pan Update #8

Project Pan 2017 Update #6 and some decluttering

Throughout this month the words that have run through my head have been ' slow and steady' and that is precisely what this project this year has been.

Let's start this month with the one product I have managed to finish and that is the Barry M nail paint in Cyan.  This is a beautiful colour and I've actually quite enjoyed wearing it everyday (probably because blue is my favourite colour).   I wasn't able to reach right down to the bottom as the polish became too thick to use, but as I'm not wanting to worry about using thinner or anything like that this is now being classed as done.  I have already moved onto the Barry M nail paint in Black.  Barry M is cruelty free and I love the colour, but as I want a more natural polish and am looking to only own one or two in the future I won't be buying this one again.

As I am no longer doing my face makeup on a daily basis there isn't a lot of obvious change in my eyeshadows.  When I have been wearing makeup recently I have been using my Urban Decay Naked original palette.  You can't see any actual changes in this, but it has reminded me just how much I love this palette.  For my single eyeshadows in the Z palette I have only really been using the Natural Collections shadow in Sable (there is an obvious change there) and The Body Shop shadow in Coconut About Me.  I did try the Max Factor shadow in Untamed Green but it really didn't have good staying power nor did it suit my skin tone at all so I'm just going to get rid of it.  I'm also going to get rid of the other single eyeshadows as well (apart from Sable) as I've made good progress on them and I feel happy just letting them go now.  They are also not my favourite products to use and I don't want to keep using products I don't like over others when I'm no longer wearing makeup everyday.

I had hoped to have finished my Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum by the end of this month and I'm so close!  But unfortunately I still have a little bit left at the bottom.  I will carry on using this on a daily basis and hopefully it will be gone my next month's update.

The progress on my Barbara Day eye primer has (not surprising) slowed considerably.  There is still some sign of movement at the top but still not enough for me to be able to mark a line on it yet.

The MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 and the Bourjois blusher in Ceidre 48 are still the never ending stories when in comes to progress.  I am getting a little bored of using them so I might bring some other products next month to give myself a break.  At the end of the year, if not before, I will definitely think about decluttering these.

And that's it.  This blog is definitely getting shorter to write about now that the products are going down.  I've started looking at other products I want to add to the list as I work my way through and will hopefully get to them before the end of the year.

To see my progress so far:

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

Project Pan 17 Update #5 and Other Products

With the swap over this month from one type of job to a completely different one I wasn't sure how much I was going to get through and, as expected, there hasn't been a huge difference in most of the products.

Apart from one and that is the Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof Eyeliner in Superblack, which is now finished.  I thought I had a little more to go and, as I'm only now wearing makeup on the weekends, I thought it was going to be a while before it went.  However, when I was putting it on last week the last part of the eyeline fell out and landed on the floor.  So, I'm calling it done.  It is a good dark colour and is really easy to apply, but the staying power isn't as good as I remember (thought that could be due to the age of it) and it's on the grey area list on Logical Harmony so I'm not going to get anymore of their products for now.

I have been able to get a bit more use on my eyeshadows.  I've now used around half of the Coconut About Me and The Body Shop purple eyeshadow which I used more of this month.  The eyeshadow in Sea Shell has also finally shown some actual movement with the pan being much larger than before and I'm going to carry on using this over the year.  There's also been a lot more movement in Sable as I am now using it as an undereye powder and a base shadow on my eyelids.  I'm not expecting a lot more movement in these shadows for the next while as I want to get some more use out of my Urban Decay Naked 1 palette for the next couple of months.  One thing I have decided to do is to get rid of the gold shade from my H&M palette (middle of the very right column).  This is because I have golds in my Urban Decay palettes that are much better quality and are less powdery, with much better staying power.  It is unlikely that I will ever reach for this (H&M is also in the grey areas of Logical Harmony) so I might as well get rid of it.

You can't really see any movement in my Urban Decay and it'll be interesting to see how much I get through over the next few months, but it may be that I need to do a 'Pan that Palette' on this palette specifically next year.

I've actually been quite enjoying wearing the Barry M nail varnish in Cyan this week, mainly because blue is my favourite colour, so it hasn't been too much of a chore.  My use has been pretty consistent, but I have noticed that the formula has begun to get a little thicker now so we'll see how it goes over the next month.  Barry M is a cruelty free company, but I want to look at more natural nail polishes in the future so I probably won't buy this again.

There is much more progress showing on the Barbara Day eye primer (again at the top) so it looks like there is finally some actual movement in this.  I will keep using it throughout the year, but it is very unlikely that I will finish this by the end of the year.

As before, there is no obvious change in my MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 and the Bourjois blush in Ceidre 48.  I'll be amazed if I hit pan on either of these by the end of the year.

I didn't manage to finish the Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum by the end of this month, but it is very near to being finished.  I will carry on putting this on every day but, as it won't be as much as before, it'll probably take a couple more months before this is completely finished.

The other product is the Soap and Glory Thick & Fast Super Volume Mascara in Super Jet Black.  I was actually quite disappointed with this product as I was expecting thicker lashes which lasted.  Unfortunately, while it did make my lashes a little thicker it also flaked everywhere and I was constantly having to clean it up carefully (it smudged a lot across my skin when I tried to move it) throughout the day.  I got around this by putting a waterproof mascara over the top, but I'd rather not have to do that.  This and the fact that whether or not Soap and Glory is cruelty free is a grey area I won't buy this again.

To see my previous posts on my 2017 Project Pan:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2
• Project Pan Update #3
• Project Pan Update #4

Project Pan 17 Update #4 and Other Products

 This month has been a little more successful than I thought it was going to be.

Let's start with the product I'm most happy about finally finishing and that's the Wella System Professional Polish Cream.  This product does help a bit with frizziness and smells nice, but it isn't as good as the oils I usually use and is not cruelty free so I won't be getting it again.  I am happy that this has finally gone, but it is a reminder to not buy something, just because.

I've also used up the NYX Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee.  I didn't manage to get absolutely all the product out of the container, but I did take out the stopper so that I could get as much as possible.  It's not really my colour (I seem to have been going through a pink phase for some reason), but the texture and smell were nice.  It is a good product, but I won't buy it again as I'm not a lip gloss type of girl.  There is also the whole are they, aren't they when it comes to cruelty free.  I've moved on to some of the other lipsticks that I have and am hoping to use another two products by the end of the year, which should take the number down to 4.

The eyeshadows are doing well.  Now that I'm doing a type of brown, smokey eye The Body Shop eyeshadow in Coconut About Me is moving along a lot quicker.  I've also been using Sea Shell on my eye as well as a highlighter and this has helped move it along, but obviously hasn't helped with two purple eyeshadows which have been put on the back burner for this month.  I had watched a YouTube channel by MakeUp Geek about covering up undereye circles which recommends using an eyeshadow as the powder rather than your usual face powder.  So I've been using the Natural Collection eyeshadow in Sable for this and have now managed to hit pan.  The rest have remained the same.

The smokey eye look has also helped me work through Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof Eyeliner in Superblack.  I am much more hopeful that this will be finished by the end of the year, but, as I won't be wearing as much makeup come the end of May, things will slow down on that front quite a lot.  However, good progress with this one so I'm happy.

I'm now using the Barry M nail varnish in Cyan as my main nail varnish.  All the Barry M varnishes I've had have always been liquidy but very pigmented, which means you don't need a lot to get the colour.  This, of course, means there's not as much progress as I would hope, but I still managed to get through a fair amount this month.  Even though I won't be wearing face makeup on a day to day basis I will still be wearing nail varnish, so I'm hopeful that I will still be able to get through them all this year.  I wasn't sure about this colour, if I'm honest, but since I've been wearing it on a daily basis I have to admit I actually really like it and it does go well with my skin tone.

I'm finally seeing some progress in the Barbara Day eye primer (just at the top).  I think this one is going to take a very long time to use up and I'm definitely not going to get it finished by the end of the year.  However, I'm not actually that bothered about that.  It's quite a good eye primer, especially for my oily eyes, and is the last one I have so if it takes a couple of years that's fine.

As before the MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 and the Bourjois blush in Ceidre 48 are showing no real change.  Slow and steady with these.

As for the Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum I am getting through it and might actually have it finished by the time I start my new job.  I will keep using it at my new job (if it's not finished), but not to the extent.  It will definitely be finished by the end of the year.

As for other product, I've been testing the Neal's Yard Wild Rose Moisturising SPF30.  It smells really nice and I was able to put it all over my face, including over my eyelids, without having any reaction to it.  However, I found it a bit too thick to use.  Even with warming it up in my hands first I still felt like it was pulling on my face.  It also didn't feel like it was very moisturising and, in fact, my skin seemed to get drier quicker when I was using this.  The outer packaging doesn't really hold up to constant use either, but the things that means the most to me is what's inside and I don't think I'll get this one again.

To see my previous posts on my 2017 Project Pan:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2
• Project Pan Update #3

Project Pan 17 Update #3 and no other products this time.

I wasn't sure how many of the products I was going to be able to get through this month, if any, so I wasn't expected this month to be a particularly successful one.  This is especially true as I wasn't wearing any makeup in the last week of March.  That being said, there is one product that I am getting rid of and a couple where I am very close to finishing.

The product that I'm getting rid of is the Max Factor Glossfinity nail polish in Raspberry Blush.  This is the polish that I've been concentrating on over the last 3 months and, though it isn't completely finished, it has become so thick it is now too difficult to use.  The colour is quite nice, but isn't one I would normally go for and, of course, Max Factor is not cruelty free so I won't be buying this one again.  It also didn't last particularly long with all the typing I do.

There has been the same steady progress in the three shadows I have been concentrating on this month, which are The Body Shop purple eyeshadow, The Body Shop shadow in Coconut About Me, and the Natural Collection shadow in Sea Shell.  Even though I have been using Sea Shell every day that I've been wearing makeup as a highlight I haven't seen as much progress as I would have expected, so I'm going to concentrate on it more over the next month.  These are all from companies that are cruelty free, but as I'm trying to downsize everything I own it's unlikely I will buy these again.

There has been more progress this month on the Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof Eyeliner in Superblack than in the past (even with missing a week) and I'm expecting to see even more over the next month.  It is a good product, but doesn't seem to have as much staying power in my waterline as I remembered it used to - or maybe my eyes are just more watery at the moment.

I have made a lot more progress in the NYX Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee then I was actually expecting and you can see right through parts of it so I am expecting it to be finished by the end of the upcoming month.  However, I'm not holding my breath as I've found in the past the products I thought were almost finished lasted for ages.  This is a very nice product and very easy to apply.  NYX is also cruelty free, but I won't buy this again as I have realised I'm really not a lip gloss/ butter gloss type of girl.

The Wella System Professional Polish Cream is another product that is very close to being finished.  I've been remembering to apply this to be hair on a regular basis this month and I think I only have another weeks worth or product in here, as long as I carry on remembering to apply it as before.  With regular use I can now definitely say that, while it does help a little with frizz, it's definitely more to do with the products I am using to clean my hair rather than this item in particular.

As before, and despite using them on a daily basis, there is no obvious progress in the Barbara Day eye primer, the MUA powder foundation in Shade 4, and the Bourjois blush in Ceidre 48.  The blush is obviously getting old as I am regularly having to scratch off the top layer that has hardened, but this doesn't seem to have increased the progress by any significant amount.  I will keep using them and hope to at least reach pan by the end of the year.

There is no significant progress in the Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum.  Thankfully I do really like the scent of this, in fact it's known as my signature scent, so using it on a daily basis has not been a problem.  This will definitely be a product that lasts until the end of the year, but I'm happy to keep using it until then.

I haven't finished any additional products this month and actually that's a good thing as the reason is because I have now gotten rid of practically all the additional products I used to have.  A couple of items may appear here and there, but these should now be few and far between.

To see my previous posts on my 2017 Project Pan:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2

Project Pan 17 Update #2 and Other Products

I have to admit that I really thought that this month was going to be one of those months where I didn't finish anything.  So I'm very happy that I have managed to get rid of one product as least.

And that product is the Bourjois Color Boost in Orange Punch.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this product.  The colour was lovely and very vibrant, but it was a little too glossy for me and didn't have a very long staying power (even when drinking through a straw).  I also had to wear my Urban Decay lip liner in Ozone to make sure that it didn't migrate into the very fine lines I have around my mouth.  But it you like glossy, lip balm like products I think you would like this.  I actually didn't use the NYX Butter Gloss this month at all as I didn't notice any further change in the products smell.  It will be what I'm using in March though.  While I've been trying to up date my information on products that are cruelty free I have found that, while Bourjois is meant to still be cruelty free itself, it does sell products in China.  So I won't buy anymore products from them.

As with the eyeshadows before, I have been concentrating on using up the pink / purple shadow from the H&M palette, the purple Body Shop shadow I can't remember the name of and the Body Shop shadow in Coconut About Me, with the Natural Collection shadow in Sea Shell as a highlighter.  The progress has been steady and I will keep using all of them except the purple H&M shadow throughout March as I start wearing a more smokey look to go with the NYX Butter Gloss.  I've stopped working on the Natural Collection shadow in Sable for now as I've been using the H&M shadow as a base shadow.

There's not much I can say about the Barbara Day eye primer, the MUA powder foundation in Shade 4, and the Bourjois blush in Ceidre 48 as, despite wearing all these products on a daily basis, there is no evident progress.  I'm hoping at some point one of these will suprise, but for now I'll just keep plodding along.  I'm not sure about Barbara Day and can't really find much information about it, but MUA is cruelty free (though it is in the grey area section in Logical Harmony so I will keep an eye on that).

The progress on the Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof Eyeliner in Superblack has been very similar to that during January.  At this rate it will definitely be finished by the end of the year, but I'm hoping to see more progress during March as I change my make up look to that with a smokey eye.  Soap & Glory is cruelty free according to their website, but is in the grey area on Logical Harmony's cruelty free page. Will keep looking on this as well.

My progress on the Wella System Professional Polish Cream has been much better this year than lasts and carrying it in my bag to apply whenever I remember is probably what has been helping.  It is an old product and does help at reducing the amount of frizzy, but other than that I don't notice a huge difference in my hair and the oils I would normally use are much more effective.  It is so close to being finished though, so I will keep going.  Wella is not cruelty free and I won't buy their products again.

As last month I've been just wearing the Max Factor Glossfinity nail polish in Raspberry Blush.  I usually have to reapply this every three days as it doesn't seem to last the admin work much longer.  Theoretically I should have been further down than this, but, as before, I don't always want to wear polish.  Must do better this month.  The colour is nice, but I won't buy this again as Max Factor is not cruelty free.

The Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum is also a product I've been using on a daily basis, but as the scent is such a strong, long lasting one I don't have to reapply at any point so the progress is slow.  I am hoping to get this finished by the end of the year, but I won't hold my breath.  I still can't find if Jean Paul Gaultier is cruelty free but will keep searching.

The last products aren't in any specific project, but are items that I've been working on as a general downsizing of all my products.  The first is one of my favourite moisturisers, The Body Shop's Body Butter in Smoky Poppy.  I succumbed last year and brought another two when they went on sale, and this is the last one.  The body butter is great for my dry skin and I love the smelly, just the right amount of lightness and sweetness.  Unfortunately they don't make this anymore or I probably would have continued buying this and part of me wished I'd brought even more.  I am now just down to using my shea butter as a body moisturiser.  It's very oily, but is exactly what my dry skin needs and that's now just one body moisturiser.  I also used up the last of my Dr Organic Organic Virgin Coconut Oil lip balm.  This was one that I used during the day as it had SPF.  It was very effective at keeping my lips soft and doesn't seem to have any ingredients that actually dry out my skin.  The only thing that I didn't like about this was the slightly odd taste it left in my mouth.  According to their packaging Dr Organic does not test on animals and is in the pending section on Logical Harmony.

It seems to be the month of using up the back ups of the same products.  A little while ago I wanted to try Bioderma Micellar Water that everyone is talking about and brought a double pack off Amazon.  This is the last one and while it did a very good job at removing my make up without hurting my eyes I won't be buying this again as Bioderma is not cruelty free.  Lastly is the Desert Essence Tropical Breeze Deodorant.  This was one of the deodorant's that a friend of mine sent to me from Canada to help me try and find a more natural deodorant.  Unfortunately this wasn't very effective, I usually had to reapply it at around lunch time and, as before, the tea tree smells too similar to my natural smell, which I find disconcerting.  I couldn't use it on a daily basis as it became less effective after each day and I had a reaction to it.  There isn't any biocarb in it so it must have been the corn starch.  So, back to looking for another natural deodorant.

To see my previous posts on my 2017 Project Pan:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1