I started makeup stash shopping posts and then quickly forgot about them when I had spinning or knitting posts that could take their place. There were two additional factors as well, first they seemed boring while I was trying to pan items, like I was just showing readers exactly what I intended to pan, just as I was doing with the project pan intro and updates. How many times do you want to see the same makeup anyhow?! And finally, I stopped being particularly organized about my makeup choices, kind of just grabbing things on a whim in the mornings.

Well, I’ve decided not to do that anymore. We’ve increased our eye shadow palettes, and I’ve decided I want to choose one per week to specifically work with. This is one per work week really, as weekends don’t necessarily count. So, last evening I decided to grab a shop my stash photo, pulling out that which I want to use this week.

We’ll start with the eye shadow palette since that’s the star of the show. This is Alamar cosmetics, a new palette from a new company. We just got this in our boxycharm, and it is STUNNING! There are four matte shades and four shimmer shades. The matte shades blend beautifully and I am surprised at how little kick up there is to them, for them to also be so pigmented. This palette is going to last forever. Until today, I had only created one look from this, basically using all the shadows on my eyes on a Saturday when I was just playing and not going anywhere. I am looking forward to playing with this palette this week. I think I can easily create fully matte eye looks with this. But, today I used the green shimmer on my lid. Now, those shimmers show up so pigmented and dark when swatching. But, I am at work today and while I can easily get away with whatever eye look I create, I do try to keep things to a reasonable roar with my makeup. I used the green shimmer with a dry brush, and it gave me a gentle wash of shimmer color. Paired with both the oranges and the brown, it was easily toned down. I love today’s look. And I can’t wait to play with more looks. And, I can tell you this, when she comes out with her next palette, I will be getting it. The quality on this one is so amazing. I can’t help but hope it happens to arrive in a boxy charm box, but even if it doesn’t, I’ll want it in my collection.

You’ll recognize quite a few of my project pan items if you have been following along. The urban decay all nighter foundation is featured here. I had a funny moment this weekend. Miss Butterfly had decided she was going to use it even though it didn’t match her skin tone in order to see if she could wear warmer colors and still look good. I had this moment of irritation with her for using it without asking. Then I realized that was super dumb, since I don’t even like the stuff, and her using it brought me one use closer to being done with the thing.

Actually, I struggle with this a lot. Despite the fact that I have made it clear that the makeup is ours collectively, and that she can use it, I find myself having to stamp down irritation when she does use it. I don’t think I make that visible to her. Upon further reflection, I think it’s because she isn’t actually allowed to wear it out of the house yet, so any time she uses it, it feels like a waste. But, I am trying to retrain myself, realizing that it’s practice, and practice is good. Plus, who really pans eye shadow anyhow? It’s not that easy to do in a proper palette. Anyhow-that’s a tangent.

The things which are not in my current project pan, you’ll see a new blush. Miss Butterfly and I picked that out together while I was on vacation last week. We are giving it a try. I have to really build it up on my skin, but it shows up well for her. I am working on using up my bare minerals concealer, it’s my current oldest concealer, and not my favorite. So, I figure it’s time to concentrate on using it up. In doing so, I seem to be finding ways to make it work better for me.

I also picked up a brow tint from ulta to try, prior to this I’ve only used pencils to fill in brows so I am going to see what this situation is like. But, I am still primarily trying to use up the elf pencil. And, while I’ve got the style sepia pencil that I am working on panning, the lovely teal color silkissime liner happens to match the eye shadow palette perfectly so I have put that in this week’s stash shop as well.

And that’s it! We’ll see how this week goes, and I’ve got an entire week to think about what palette I want to use next week.

 

We are about 3 weeks in to my 3 month long summer project pan, and I am ready to talk about where I am with all of this. I am going to jump right in with the intro photos and my progress, and I’ll have some additional thoughts along the way.

Intro photos:

Update photo:

My progress-in case you missed it, the Elbow Grease broke me out, and that’s in addition to how much I already disliked it, so it got trashed.

The moisturizing serum in the square tin is completely gone. I ended up bringing it to work for the moments in the dry building where I needed a hand moisturizer. I can get away with a really thick product at work because it’s just THAT dry sometimes. I actually enjoyed using it this way, it really stuck nicely to the skin, and would continue to moisturize even if I washed my hands. But it also got used up VERY quickly that way.

No progress was made on either hair product. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was unwise to put as many hair products in my project as I did. But, there’s still a couple months left.

However, the shampoo bar I used as both shampoo and soap, and I think Miss Butterfly worked on panning it too. All we are left with are tiny scraps of it, and it’s probably time to call it quits.

I’ve used one of the PureHeals masks, I got two uses out of it.

I decided that I am not going to pan the second smaller porefessional tube. It’s great for travel, so I am going to keep it. The larger porefessional tube I cut open and depotted into a small plastic eyeshadow container, as I no longer had any control over that tube. If I could manage to squeeze out any product, I’d be squeezing out too much.

I am working consistently on the FAB serum and the estee lauder serum, I am switching between them so they’ll both get used up at around the same time. Both weigh in as one gram used.

Much progress has been made on the toner.

Out of the origins 3 pack, I am done with the night cream, and I am using the other two consistently. I’ve marked the moisturizing gel, as that’s all I really need even at night this time of year, so this one will begin to show significant progress more quickly than before. The eye cream weighs as one gram used. The moisturizing gel had 7 grams used, so I think it is safe to say that’ll be gone by next update.

No progress at all on the Kiehl’s.

Next intro photos:

Update photos:

I’ve continued to work on the eyeshadow palette, the pan I hit on the transition color is much larger now. I think this is one of those situations where once I finish the transition color, I can let this little palette go. It was $3. I certainly will have gotten my money’s worth at that point.

I am still working on the urban decay eyeshadow primer potion, but have cut that and depotted it too. It’s just the tiniest little bit left now. No progess on the wet n wild one, as that’s my back up.

The green/brown liner-I am dumb. I thought that it would be super easy to use because there was very little product in it, but it didn’t occur to me that it’s an actual pencil, and I can actually sharpen it. Which I did. Surprise, way more product! I probably need to be cognizant of this, just because it is not a traditional style wood looking pencil, it still may be something that is intended to be sharpened. Actually, it went on much smoother after a sharpening, which was pleasant. I ended up liking the product more. That being said, I failed to get a measurement on paper at the beginning of the project, so I had to add that in this round.

I am still working my way through the eyebrow pencil. Daily. It continues to not finish. I should be satisfied with progress being made. You can see an indication on the paper of how much I have used up. I am getting there.

The clinique setting powder got used, but not a ton, as I have also been using what is in the wet n wild contour palette. However, Miss Butterfly has also been using it. We used 3 grams.

The dandelion twinkle-I’ve hit pan! It’s not a lot, and I can’t help but think that maybe my kid dug in there, as I am not sure HOW I hit pan that fast. But, that’s what happened. Can you see it? It’s just the tiniest pan.

The blush is being used daily-no pan. And that’s fine with me. Still shows as one gram used.

The contouring palette-pan hit on both sides! The light side is probably why the clinique powder hasn’t been used much, I feel like working that palette evenly gives me the best use of product, so I am using the light side as an underye setting powder.

The urban decay all nighter foundation, when looking at my progress, please keep in mind it is an airless pump, so the markings should be viewed as working my way UP the bottle. I am using this very consistently. 4-5 times a week. I get a bit frustrated, just because I don’t even like it. And I listen to youtubers say that they can use up a foundation in 6 weeks, I’ve been working on this consistently for at least that long if not longer! But-I am at a point where I can make it work for me for the work day. It’s looking sketchy at the end of the day, but it is getting used. Miss Butterfly and I just had a discussion about this product, which was basically her telling me that she doesn’t see why I am hitting it all that hard. She says that maybe I should slow down and like my foundation look better from time to time. I did take her advice today, but I still do want to get this product out of stash.

The makeup forever blurring stuff with sunscreen is being used as just that. Sunscreen. On days when I intend to be outdoors. It doesn’t get used often, but it is getting used. No discernible progress.

No progress on the nude lipstick. But that’s ok, I threw that in there for when my colorful palettes arrived in my subscription boxes. They just arrived. So I’ll get to work on the nude lipstick in the upcoming weeks.

As for the clinique chubby stick-I am pretty much done. I get annoyed when these crayon like applicators reach the end, and they get all over your face because you can no longer control the product placement. I can’t believe I was able to use this up completely! And I am glad to have gotten use out of it and can toss it. I did like the tinted balm situation, it was easy to throw on at work consistently with my neutral eye look and call it good. Low key. But, no more clinique lip products. No more sore throats from lip products.

Despite almost daily use, no discernible progress on the mary kay lip mask and balm.

Other miscellaneous stuff-I tossed the 11 year old dior perfume. The prada sample beside it is almost gone. The elf setting spray is gone. The ulta brush cleaner is getting closer to gone, though Miss Butterfly was wrong, it didn’t get finished in June. I think this is because sometimes I washed my own brushes instead of leaving it to her, and I suspect she’s more generous with the spraying of those brushes, plus uses it as an opportunity to clean her own brushes with my product. In any case, I am glad it isn’t gone yet. No progress on the pureology. Because, as I mentioned, TOO MANY hair products in this project pan! I am going to remove this product from my summer project pan, leaving myself better able to concentrate on the two remaining hair products.

Because I have removed some haircare from this summer project, and because I tossed some things, I am subbing in two items.

The first is a cleanser from trader joe’s. I purchased this awhile back during the winter. It didn’t really work for me, and it ended up in the linen closet. I pulled it out during our recent decluttering, and I think I am going to give it another try. At the time I purchased it, my skin would have been naturally drier than the summer, and also, at the time I wasn’t taking care of my skin. Between the winter and what was likely quite dehydrated skin, it didn’t work. I’ve used it a few times in the recent days and it seems to be working just fine now. So, it’s time to use it up, and get my money’s worth out of it.

The other addition is a buxom lip gloss that I received in a subscription box. This is the gloss that started my obsession with buxom lip gloss and made me purchase the full size. However, it’s only slightly tinted, instead of giving a nice vivid color to the lips. It’ll be a good one to finish this summer.

That’s all from this update! In one month, 5 products were used up and 2 products were used enough to know it was time to toss them. I feel like I can manage another 7 or 8 in the next update. That’s my prediction, as there are 7 or 8 products that are really close to finish. I will also acknowledge that it’s pretty easy to use up sample sizes. However, for us to keep trying subscription boxes, we have to keep using the samples we receive. It could get out of hand quickly if we settle on some products, purchase full sizes, and then still have sample sizes coming in.

Now-the real trick will be continuing to use the foundation. It’s the one product I am REALLY tired of and am having trouble incorporating into my daily routine. Let’s see how that goes….

Just a quick check in. What started all my decluttering on Sunday was this. I grabbed these three items to get a photograph because they aren’t working for me. When that photograph was taken, I trashed them and began to declutter more hardcore.

For me, part of project pan is to use items regularly to get a good idea as to if that item works or doesn’t work for my routine. Only two of these items are in my summer project pan, the other can’t even make it into a pan.

On the left, my 11 year old Miss Dior perfume has got to go. It is so old it’s discolored, and it doesn’t smell like it used to. To be perfectly honest, the reason it lasted this long was that it wasn’t my favorite fragrance in the first place! And furthermore, it kind of brings back memories that aren’t the most pleasant, from way back when I received it. So it’s not working for me, I gave it over a month of every day use and now it has to go. I tossed it.

In the middle is It Cosmetics bye bye under eye concealer. I tried using this for a bit, figuring I’d use it up. It’s a sample size after all, and there was a lot of air in the container so I knew it wouldn’t take long to use despite the fact a little goes a long way. Then every day during work I’d get annoyed because I’d have severe mascara transfer to the under eye area. I switched mascaras, I even almost threw out bad gal bang, my most favorite lower lash mascara! Until I realized that it didn’t matter which mascara I wore out of the three I was switching, I got transfer with all of them despite the fact that I set the concealer with powder. The culprit HAD to be the concealer. So that’s it, a concealer that does this to me isn’t even worthy of a project pan appearance. I tossed it.

Then there’s the Elbow Grease from Lush. I decided I was going to work on using this, despite the fact I do not like the strong fragrance. Lush advertises that in addition to using it on super dry elbows and feet during the winter, one can use it on tattoos to make them look particularly nice. So, since it’s summer and I am not having a particular problem with dry elbows and feet, I decided to use it on my tattoo. And that’s when the problems started. If I used this in the morning, by the afternoon I’d have HUGE whitehead zits all over my tattoo. It was so weird! And…ugly. And not particularly comfortable. I let everything straighten out, tried again, and the same thing happened. So I can honestly say this is a product that my skin hates, and as such, it doesn’t belong in a project pan, it belongs in the trash.

When panning, if the decision is to completely let go of the item, that still counts as a success, in my opinion. So, current pan count for summer is up by 2 items, and one item decluttered from my collection.

I’ll probably post a summer project pan update next week sometime, despite the fact it’ll be a little bit on the early side. I will be on vacation, and as such, it’ll be a good time to pull everything together, get things weighed, and get photographs if necessary.

Just a couple more photos for you. Miss Butterfly spent Sunday morning practicing makeup. She’s now mastered a winged eyeliner. For her next trick, she’ll have to try making them match.

I’ll have to remind her at some point that winged liner on hooded eyes means no eyeshadow can be seen. But she’s just having fun practicing, so I am not going to put too fine a point on it.

That’s it for today! Happy Tuesday!

So, a one month project pan was a great starter for a newbie. But now it’s time to get serious. I think I’d prefer a seasonal format with updates instead. As such, I’ve decided to do a 3 month long project pan, June-August, and it’ll be the summer edition. I’ll do updates every once in awhile, 3 weeks to a month in, and a final post before starting the fall project.

Now, this one was a big one to organize, but I learned a few things from last month. First of all, weigh or measure your products in some way to start out with! There were some products last month I didn’t manage to do that with. So, Miss Butterfly and I went through the house, chose a bunch of products (So many!), then brought them outdoors to photograph, then back in to weigh or measure them. Then, we cleaned up our makeup table, putting away anything we really truly didn’t think we’d use this summer and/or products we might choose instead of the products we want to pan, setting us back. Those products are still there if we need them, but they aren’t front and center, easy to grab. So, we are limiting our selection somewhat.

Ok, here goes. There’s a TON, but there are so many little things we’d like to make progress on.

I am starting with the above photo for a reason. I would say that for Miss Butterfly and I, our “gateway drug” to makeup was the Lush store. I believe that started last summer. Miss Butterfly was super into bath bombs and we tried out tons of various products. Now that we are more into makeup, we don’t wander into Lush all that often. Since their products are pretty natural, they need to be used up before they go bad. So, we’ve decided to concentrate on some of this. Left to right as usual, the little light pink bar is a moisturizing serum. I have decided to take this to work as this is just the type of thing I’d use when my hands get dry in the dry building, even in the summer. Above that is elbow grease, a product I HATE. The smell is what gets me in this case, it’s just too strong, too sicky sweet. I can tolerate it, but barely. But when I wear it to work, I’ve got a coworker who cannot tolerate it at all. So, I would like to use this up and move on. The pink cracked stuff is a Jason and the Argon Oil shampoo bar. When my hair was short, shampoo bars worked fine. The longer it gets, the worse that goes for me. Miss Butterfly and I have committed to using this up in some manner even if it’s as a hand soap until it’s really too small to use. Above that is Hair Custard, a product I really do like. It doesn’t weigh down my hair, but it keeps the fly aways to a minimum. I’d like to finish getting use out of it until it’s gone. And then there’s a sample of R&B hair moisturizer. I hate the smell on this one too, but a few uses would have that sample out of stash. And it does work nicely, serves its purpose just fine. In the future we’ll be far more discerning about our Lush purchases. Actually, to be fair, we have been as after all the Lush products we tried last year, this is all we’ve got hanging around still, save one more shampoo bar that I’ll have to think about using up someday, but doesn’t have to be today.

Next up, skin care. At the top there are calming masks from a subscription bag, Pureheals is the brand name. That’s only 2-4 uses so I shouldn’t have any trouble there. Below that there’s a back up of an eye cream if I manage to work through the Origins. Then there’s the porefessional. The larger sample is the one I was working on panning last month, and then right next to it a smaller sample I received in a subscription box this month. So, let’s keep that moving. Next to that I’ve got two serums. First Aid Beauty, and I can’t remember what it is. Then Estee Lauder’s advanced night repair sample, which I don’t think does a lot for me. Then there’s a clinique toner that has been in my cupboard for far too long. I am not really a toner fan, I don’t understand what it does really, and I don’t feel like I see a difference when I use it and when I do not. Then there’s the pesky origins products from last month. I shouldn’t have any issue finishing those off in a 3 month project pan.

Eye products. We’ll start with top row. I am leaving the eyeshadow in the summer project pan. But, while I plan on using it, I don’t plan to be working on it so seriously. I anticipate a couple of new palettes to hit our stash this month and I’ve got other stuff I just desperately want to play with. So my intention is to incorporate this palette in when I can in order to continue my progress. I’ve put 3 mascaras in for this project, all of which I’ll have no issue working through. The Clinique and the Bad Gal Bang will certainly need to go once this is over, as they’ll have been open way longer than they are supposed to be. The Lash Paradise will be right on schedule, but it’ll be drying out by then. I’ve added two eyelid primers, the Urban Decay that I was working on last month, and then the back up I intend to use once the UD is gone. Below that is a tiny sample of eyeliner that is SO small that it shouldn’t be an issue to finish in a month. And, there’s that pesky elf brow pencil still hanging about. I want to be done, as there are better colors out there for me I think, and I want to explore those better colors.

Lip products. I’ve got both sides of the mary kay satin lips in this project pan. I’ve been using these in the morning as I get ready to go to work. It makes for a habit that is fairly easy to remember, so progress is made. The pink Clinique chubby stick I want to finish and move out of my stash. It’s mostly just a tinted balm. At some point in the upcoming weeks I want to do a dedicated lip product post, but the short story is that there are some lip products that make my throat hurt, and this is one of them. Below is a maybeline matte lipstick. I anticipate lots of colorful summery eye looks, so I’ll need a nice nude to pair with that look.

Face products. The clinique powder I didn’t even know I had. It is probably about 2 years old and I should use it. I’ll work at panning this just as long as it takes. Below that is benefit dandelion twinkle. It’s a nice subtle highlighter, which is my preference. But I also have other highlighters, and I’ve got eyeshadows that would double as highlighters, and it is easy to get distracted. So, I am going to work on this one. I only own 2 blushes, and this is the only color I have that is nice and warm and summery. So, I’ll be using it for the next 3 months and we’ll see how far I get. I have vowed not to purchase any more blush until I learn what is out there to be had. 2 is plenty, even if one of those is cool toned and not summer appropriate. I stuck that wet n wild contour palette in there because I’ve made a large amount of progress on it in just a short time, so I just want to keep after it. Then there’s the Urban decay all nighter foundation. It is too light for my skin right now, but I’ve come up with a way to mix a dark concealer with it to get it closer to my skin now, and that’s good because I don’t like it and want to use it up. And then there’s the Make up forever skin tint. The color (8) is too dark for me, but it is also pretty sheer and so if I put it on, it mostly looks like I’ve got a nice tan going on. I want to take this to work along with a stick eyeshadow and the clinique mascara as something I can throw on after I bike to work. I experimented with that over the weekend and my look came out very natural, and yet still nice enough to feel like I’d done my makeup.

And this is the final photo, oh my goodness that was a long one. I’ll keep working at the perfume I worked at last month. But, I threw in a half used prada sample for variety. It won’t be MUCH variety, but when I am feeling desperate, like, you know, TODAY, I can try something else. If I use that one up, I’ve got a few more samples I can try to use too. The elf spray is from last month as well, but I will have that finished within June. The other spray is an ulta brand brush cleaner spray. I have really enjoyed this product, I really love the smell. But it gets used up pretty fast. Miss Butterfly mostly cleans my makeup brushes, and she says it’ll be gone in a month. I added one more hair product, a pureology spray that I have no idea what it is supposed to do. Hah. I’ll look it up. It’s been in the cupboard for ages. And I forgot to take a picture of last month’s hair balm, which is on the verge of being used up but I didn’t quite manage to finish last month. That’s a LOT of hair stuff for the next three months, hopefully I can make a large dent in all of it.

And that’s it from here, can’t wait to see what the summer holds, on so many levels!