If you care nothing at all about makeup, skin care, or getting the most use out of what one purchases, this post won’t be for you. But if you are interested anyhow, stick around. Just know that this post will be a vast diversion from regularly scheduled programing. But it will look a bit similar to the weekly lists I used to post in order to try to stay motivated during the week.

So as I’ve mentioned, Miss Butterfly is totally interested in makeup right now. And, since that’s something we could share and do together, I got totally into makeup too. The trouble is, she’s 13, and I haven’t cared about makeup ever really, so we have no clue what we are doing. We don’t know what products we like or what products are good. We wouldn’t know a good deal if it smacked us in the face. So we’ve been doing a ton of research and a ton of trying samples.

And then I came across the concept of “project pan” which is basically to use up your makeup and skincare before purchasing more. I quickly realized that just like crafting, there’s certainly a desire to buy more and more stash. Well, I don’t need another hobby with stash. Plus, these products have actual shelf life.

So-the first thing I did was get rid of old makeup. I knew it was old, but I didn’t know just how old. And how old? Anywhere between 8-20 years old. That got dumped. Then, I signed up for a subscription box that delivers various samples to our door to try. And then there’s the shopping, where Miss Butterfly and I, after researching various products, go check them out in stores and sometimes get a thing or two. Already we are accumulating stash. And that’s ok, we just also need to use it up.

So I am going to do my own little project pan here on the blog. I am posting two photos of products that I hope to make progress toward “panning” in the next month. These products will be in very regular rotation during the month. In 2 weeks I’ll do a check in and mention how far I’ve gotten, if there’s been discernible progress. If not, I’ll just do a monthly wrap up when I pick the next month’s products. I will mark that which can be marked to see if we can actually see some progress on some things.

Skin care and hair care up first. The Origins set just came in as freebies. I’ve never tried this brand before. I don’t like the smell. It’s not a hate, but the fresh fake citrus with a sweet overtone isn’t pleasant to me. So, I want to get these used right up and moved back out and I won’t have to worry about purchasing them ever in the future.

The hair balm came in a subscription box. It’s fine. Keeps hair nice and smooth. It does exactly what it says it should. It’s just that…I don’t like my hair smooth. I like wild hair. Hair with texture. So, it does exactly what it says, which is exactly not my style. This month I’ll try to wear my hair nice and straight and smooth and then once it’s gone, no purchase necessary.

Then there’s the Mary Kay product. This is about a year and a half old. It’s a lip scrub, but honestly I don’t think it’s scrubby enough. Now’s the time of year to use it up, when lips aren’t that dry anyhow. I have an elf lip scrub I like a lot more, so I will just put away the elf scrub for this month.

And from left to right again, the first thing is a Clinique cleansing gel that we got around christmas time to try. This works super well for both Miss Butterfly and I. So well in fact that there’s now a full size in the main bathroom. I tend to have dry to combo skin, and she tends to have the same with the bonus of teen forehead acne. This stuff really doesn’t dry us out overly much but still feels like it has some serious cleaning power. So-since we’ve got a full size, no sense keeping this travel size around, time to use it up! Shouldn’t take much time really.

Next is the Clinique CC cream, that’s about 2 years old and probably past it’s life. I purchased it right before my 2016 big conference, as I felt like I should attempt to pull myself together for such a large event. The woman at the counter when I purchased it gave me a color that has never looked great on my skin, it’s a little light. And-it doesn’t make my skin look great anyhow. So, I won’t be going out and getting this again. However, I would like to get a little more use out of it, and now is the time, before I get darker due to the summer sun.

In front of that is a sample highlighter from a subscription box. So-I don’t really get highlighters in general. Their purpose is a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe they are for young people. Furthermore, I can tell you that a liquid highlighter is totally not for me, I don’t think. Not that I’ve even used this product yet. Anyhow, my point is I need to try it, and then hand it over to Miss Butterfly if I don’t like it, and/or use it up. We’ll see.

Then there is my perfume. That perfume is 10 years old. It’s good, it smells fantastic. But, 10 years is OLD, and it’s not even the color it was originally. It’s time to use it or lose it. I’ve been wearing it daily lately and want to continue to do so until it’s gone. It’s a good scent, wears well for summer, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

In front of that is a Wet n Wild eyeshadow palette. It’s nicely neutral, but Miss Butterfly convinced me to buy a beautiful big palette and now that’s all I use for eyeshadow. So, I want to concentrate on this little one this month. I can pair it with other things to jazz it up, but this one needs to be in heavy usage. AND I just realized that I forgot to add something to this photo. A sample size of a matte lipstick in hot pink. I figured I could use that up this month as well, since the eye theme of the month will be so neutral. I’ll try to get that into the mid month update.

Miss Butterfly wanted to try a brow pencil and so she picked one up from elf. That is pictured above. Because she thinks it’s too dark for her even though it’s the lightest shade. She gave it to me, and now I am trying to not let it go to waste.

Behind that is another one of Miss Butterfly’s purchases, an elf setting spray. She gave it to me when she didn’t like it. It’s close to being gone, but it’s not particularly useful unless I use it to put on an eyeshadow brush to set eyeshadow in a more highly pigmented manner. Since the eyeshadow of the month isn’t particularly pigmented, the spray may just get some use this month.

What will I get through this month? I think I’ll be able to use up the hair balm and the cleanser for sure. Maybe the setting spray and eyebrow pencil. It’s possible I’ll get through the origins products, but I find that those sizes generally last me more than a month. No matter, I’ll just use them until they are gone, I can add them to the next month’s project pan.