I am headed way off course this week, as we added a bit to our collection and want to play with those new things immediately.

Not shown, for Miss Butterfly’s birthday, I got her something she really wanted. I wasn’t planning on it, but when I saw the Too Faced chocolate gold palette deeply on sale on Ulta’s site, rendering it the exact amount I’d intended to spend on her birthday gift, I couldn’t help myself. I purchased it.

And then, I also picked up the natural face palette, which I have had my eye on for a long time, reading up on all the fantastic reviews and wishing I could purchase it. Deeply on sale is totally my price point. And just to get a little nutty, I also picked up the Sweet Peach palette. Now, I know Miss Butterfly will let me play with her chocolate gold at some point, in fact she’s not even keeping it in her collection, it’s displayed with my collection. But, I also don’t want to dip into that before she’s had a fair opportunity. When she tells me I can, that’s when I’ll do so.

Which means this week for me is Sweet Peach week.

I’ll get back to my project pan next week, hitting it hard then. But for now, I get to play. Here’s what I’ll be concentrating on this week:
Clinique setting powder (part of project pan.)
Urban Decay all nighter foundation (Part of project pan)
Mac paint pot in soft ochre for an eyeshadow primer
The sweet peach palette (Can I just say the scent of this one is awful?!)

From left to right on the palette mirror:
YSL Mon Paris Sample which is so close to being gone that I also added
Hermes Eau des Merveilles Bleue sample
Flower Beauty Petal Pout in a lovely coral shade, matching the palette nicely
Maybelline nude (part of project pan)
Bare Minerals Bareskin concealer
Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir mascara (My current favorite favorite.)
Nyx eyebrow powder pencil (So easy to use and Taupe is a great shade for me!)
Style Sepia eyeliner (part of project pan)
JonteBlu eyeliner in charcoal
Buxum lipgloss (part of project pan)
I just noticed that the primer I put in here isn’t what I meant to put in, I meant to pick up my mac primer, sorry about that.
Too Faced Natural face palette (I want to try using this as eyeshadow too, might be mighty convenient for travel simplicity to be able to just take that palette for everything. And I’ve got a trip coming up soonish.)

All that was super fun to plan out, between trying new products and having had a number of no makeup days while on vacation at home!

 

Spinning photos are slim what with the fleece processing and all, so I am going to post my empties a bit early.

Let’s get right into it, shall we? Left to right, top to bottom.

R&B Hair Moisturizer-This was in my project pan to use up, it’s just a sample. And I’d already gotten through quite a bit before I quit using it a while back. However, I used it one more time and realized that the scent on this is just too strong and off-putting for me. It’s a sample for a reason, and it’s best I just let this one go.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair-This seems to be such a holy grail product for so many people, I was excited to give it a try. Now, while my skin does look better than ever, I maintain this is more because I am taking care of it in general than this product doing something fantastic. Now that it’s gone, if I notice my skin reverting back to its old self, then I’ll have to admit it was working. But for now, I won’t purchase.

Belif Eye moisturizer-This is my second sample of this product, and I liked it just as much as the first. In fact, this is one that I purchased a full size of. I didn’t have any other eye moisturizers to sample, so I got this one which is likely to last me forever. In the future, there may be one I like more, but this is my favorite so far.

Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Conditioning Mask-I got this foil packet as a bonus in a subscription box. It lasted me a surprisingly long time. The mask is quite rich, and a little went a long way. I really liked this product, and there’s a chance I may purchase at some point in the future. I have had great luck overall with Briogeo hair products, I haven’t met one I didn’t like yet.

Pureology spray- I really don’t quite know what this one is, it’s been in my bathroom forever, and I figured it’s time to use it up. I like the scent of pureology products for the most part, but sometimes they have an undertone of a scent that bothers me and sticks around all day bothering me. This is one of those products. Nevertheless, I used the spray after a shower when I wanted to leave my hair down. It did a nice job smoothing it and making it dry tamely, and I appreciated that. I doubt I’ll repurchase, but I liked its use.

Clinique toner-I used this because I wanted to use it up, but I am not sure that it’s a necessary skin care step after a double cleanse, which is what I do. I won’t repurchase. However, I did add a different toner to my nighttime routine, I am giving the Pixie Glow Tonic a try.

DevaCurl conditioner-Oh, how I’ve struggled with my hair lately. You see, prior to many years with a pixie cut, my hair had a bunch of natural curl, and products like DevaCurl would really bring out that wave and curl. Now that I’ve grown out my hair again, I expected to be doing the same thing with it. Except, in the years I had the pixie cut, my hair has grown significantly grey. And, I have the kind of grey that is straight and soft and smooth. It’s not wiry and sprouting out the top of my head, and for this I am thankful. However, what the grey is NOT doing is curling. At all. So, I’ve had to come to the conclusion that my hair is no longer curly overall, and I need to change my routine. All that long story is to say that I used up this conditioner and won’t repurchase because my hair doesn’t care about it anymore. I have a few other DevaCurl products that have to get used up now as well, and they’ve been slower going.

Batiste Dry Shampoo-This is actually not my empty, it’s Miss Butterfly’s empty. I can’t seem to get the point of, or get the hang of, dry shampoo. Quite frankly I think it’s because I enjoy riding bikes too much. I am always going out and getting sweaty and then I need a really proper shower and hair wash, otherwise my scalp protests. I never seem to get to the point of needing a dry shampoo before I’ve hopped in the shower and taken care of my hair the more traditional way. However, I was at Ulta with Miss Marja awhile back and she suggested this dry shampoo for Miss Butterfly. I picked it up and gave it to her, and she has really enjoyed it. She is the PERFECT candidate for dry shampoo. Her teenage body produces way more oil than she’s used to, and her super long and thick hair is kind of a pain to wash. She uses this so effectively, she’s very skilled now. So this is a repurchase for her product, though she’s got one from a subscription box she’s trying to use up first. And, there’s a cheap drugstore one under the sink I may have her try to use again as well. After that, I’ll get her more of this one.

That’s it for empties this month. It seems a little light this month. I always figure I’ll have a million little samples, but I guess I didn’t get through that many this month yet. In any case, happy Saturday!

It’s been a full month or more now since I’ve done a summer project pan update, so it’s time to review where I am at. This is my last update before the finale at the end of August. Since the number of products I have are greatly reduced now, I only have 3 photos to post.

Original photos:

And here are the new photos:

Hair Custard-I’ve used 7 grams since the last update.
Mary Kay lip mask-I’ve used 2 grams, but no progress on the lip balm.
Trader Joe’s cleanser-You can see my progress indicated, it’s pretty good, but at this rate it’ll last another 4 months probably. I use it almost exclusively twice a day.
Benefit dandelion highlighter-one gram used, and you can see that the tiny pan I had last month has grown significantly.
Kiehls line reducing cream-1 gram used.
First Aid Beauty serum-2 grams used
Makeup Revolution matte blush-1 gram used, no pan to be seen yet.
Wet n Wild Contour palette-The tiny pan I hit last time has been expanded quite a bit on both sides.
Makeup Forever blurring skin tint-1 gram used. I use this as a sunscreen exclusively since it’s too dark. It’ll get used up before the end of the summer I think.
Origins eye cream-1 gram used, there’s not much of this left but it just may keep going this month as so little is needed.
Urban Decay all nighter foundation-Progress is indicated by black lines, moving up the container since it’s an airless pump. I have hated this product through and through, until lately. The better shape my skin is in, the better this looks on me. I no longer hate it. I wouldn’t repurchase it, but I don’t hate it.
Clinique powder-2 grams used.
Buxom lip gloss-progress is indicated, I can probably finish this in the next month.
Wet n wild palette-a bit more pan can be seen now in the transition shade, but to be honest this is mostly because it broke on Miss Butterfly’s trip east. Which is fine with me.
Wet n wild primer-1 gram used
Maybelline nude matte lipstick-progress indicated on the page. I didn’t use it in the first month, so only one month’s progress is shown.
Style Sepia eyeliner-Progress indicated on the page. I forgot to mark it during month 1, so only one month’s progress is shown.

And here’s a list of that which I used up:

Clinique toner

PureHeals mask

Estee Lauder advanced night repair

Benefit Porefessional

Urban Decay primer potion

Origins ginzing gel moisturizer

Elf eyebrow pencil

Prada perfume sample

Pureology color care spray

Tossed:

Lush R&B hair moisturizer-I couldn’t tolerate the scent, I used it one more time and decided to toss it.

And just for record keeping purposes, Update 1 finishes below.

Used Up:

Lush Serum bar

Lush shampoo bar

Origins Night-a-mins cream

Elf Matte Magic setting spray

Clinique Chubby Stick in strawberry

Tossed:

Elbow Grease

Miss Dior Cherie perfume

That’s it! I’ll continue as is for this project pan, but for the fall project pan I do think I am going to just plain choose fewer products overall. That being said, I had removed some things from my project, and then ended up finishing them anyhow. I always want to add all the tiny things from subscription bags, but when I do concentrate on them they get used up quickly, so I am going to stop adding those. They’ll be well covered in an empties post. But, I am just starting out with this project pan thing, so I guess there are many lessons to be learned.

Speaking of which, Miss Butterfly and I discussed a nail polish use up series. We don’t really paint our nails often, and most of the nail polish we have is hers, but we might give it a try! We discussed committing to painting nails on Sunday evenings to start with, and even just using nail polish once a week should be helpful to using up some of those products in our stash. We’ll see!

 

 

 

 

 

This week I work 3 days and have two off, as Miss Butterfly is coming home and then we’ve got a lot of pre-highschool activities to complete. I am always surprised at how much the school asks us to do during the work week when it’s time for school to start again. I guess I just need to account for that and make sure she’s always home at the end of July.

Anyhow, because it’s a short week, I planned my eyeshadows accordingly.

Instead of picking a full and proper palette, I chose some singles. But, I am getting ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning. Left to right, top to bottom.

No more baggage-I received this in my boxycharm, and I intended to use it last week. I think I got two uses out of it and then promptly forgot to use it at all. I will try again this week.

My Urban Decay all nighter foundation-I am trying to pan this, and I’ve fallen down hard the past few weeks. Last week I never picked it up at all, the prior week I rarely used it. Next weekend I’ve got another project pan update planned, and it would be great if I could just get a tiny bit more progress out of it before that.

Below that is my sample of YSL Mon Paris. I am glad I have this sample, as I loved the perfume in the store and would always put it on when looking at perfume samples. But, when wearing it daily, it falls short for me. So, I am pretty sure I’ll use up the sample this week, and that’ll be that. I won’t be mad if I receive this sample again someday, but it’s not a perfume for me to go out and purchase.

Now let’s talk about what is in that palette. Top left is a highlighter sample from Vanessa’s Vanity. I thought I would not like this sample, but I used it a bunch last week and it was really pretty. So, I am going to keep using it. A little goes a very long way, it’s going to take me forever to use that sample.

Under that is Ella Eden eyeshadow single I received in my ipsy this morning. It’s a lovely peachy toned shadow, looks great packed on the lid and blended out, looks great with other shadows, AND looks fantastic as a blush topper. I am really pleased about receiving this shadow.

Below that is a tart blush I received in my Sephora play. I’ve always wanted to try one, and I am thrilled to be trying it out this week. It’s a pretty tone, I played with it when it arrived Friday. With that eyeshadow as a blush topper, it’s truly stunning, a really fresh and healthy skin look.

To the right of that is a Laura Mercier caviar stick sample I received in my very first Sephora play. I added this in since my choices are a little bit sparse and not well pulled together this week.

Starting at the top of the singles is a large pan of pink, that’s an Ofra blush I received in ipsy last month. It cannot be used as a blush on me, as it’s the same color as the redness I cover on my cheeks. It looks terrible. But, it makes a fun eyeshadow, and if I pair it with yellow, I get a nice wash of yellow into orange, into pink. So I am not mad I have it, but its use is limited to eyes.

I have 3 matte shades and 3 shimmer shades below that. These are a combo of Vanessa’s Vanity, Morphe, and Elizabeth Mott. So, we’ll see where we get with all that.

Below that is more basics from stash. I am adoring the marc jacobs velvet noir mascara I received in a Sephora play. Under that is the concealer I am working on, the Chella eyebrow pomade that works well but the delivery system isn’t my favorite, and then 2 liners. The style sepia I am trying to pan that works well with green/brown and a silkissimme black liner for days where green/brown is totally inappropriate.

To the right of that are more standards, at the top is a tarte pore filling primer I’ll work on using, then my bronzer and contour. In fact, it is my goal to work on expanding the pan on the light shade in the contour palette, so I didn’t even pull out a powder this week.

And that’s what’s up with my makeup this week. 3 work days/opportunities to get made up, and after that all bets are off.

Now, let’s quickly talk about last week’s palette.

It’s the crown palette I got in my boxy charm and I am certainly not upset about having received this. I am going to give a very quick overview of my thoughts on this. Overall, it’s a great little palette. I can do a number of matte looks with it, going full neutral or adding in the warmer oranger shade to change the look entirely. Most of the shimmers work nicely and stay put. But, that lightest shade? It’s total crap. I guess I could still try a wet brush, but I can’t get it to show up for anything as an inner corner highlight. There are two orangey shimmers, and both of them show up almost the same, there’s really no discernable difference to them. So, while they are both nice, it’s not really necessary for both to be in there. But, for a palette received in a subscription box, it’s really nice. I am eager to have Miss Butterfly home to see what she thinks of it.

That’s all from us, at the end of the week there’ll be a major project pan update, and I am excited to look at what I’ve done this month. I haven’t tracked it all particularly carefully, so it’ll be a surprise even to me!

First of all, let me state for the record that life is an adventure. Sometimes it’s the adventure you get, rather than the adventure you want.

This is going to be a combo post. I’ll start it with the story of yesterday’s lake day, then move onto a pic of the one week with one palette, shop my stash for the week, boxycharm unboxing combo. This may be a long one. However, I am not posting pictures from yesterday’s adventure, for the squeamish.

Yesterday I headed out to the lake cabin to meet my friend. Our idea was to hang at the lake, go for a short gravel ride, then hop in the lake like we did on the fourth. We started out by sitting and overlooking the lake for a bit, then chatting with her father for awhile, then we geared up for our little bike ride. We took her youngest son who is not the fastest rider, but we were glad to have him with us. We knew we weren’t going on a long ride, so we decided to ride one huge hill up to a catholic shrine nearby. We did so, we rested, we hydrated. Then she gave her son instructions on heading down the steep gravel hill. “Be careful to stay in that white trail where there’s less gravel, make sure you are going slow, you don’t want to be going fast because you have to turn at the bottom of the hill.” And he headed off, at the same time the elderly caretakers came down from the shrine to put the heavy gates up for the night. She wanted to help the caretakers, so I decided to follow her son in case anything happened. Her son was going at a perfect pace, nice and easy. Then I heard her coming up behind us at a fast rate of speed, she passed me, she slowed rather suddenly, and then she bit it hard on the gravel.

It was so alarming, I’ll be honest. There was blood everywhere very quickly, her face covered in blood. We scrambled to get out of the middle of the road, me moving the bikes while her son tended to her. Once upright, she assessed that nothing was broken but I noticed her knee immediately beginning to swell up. We made a plan, she’d ride at the pace she was most comfortable ahead of us, and I’d hang at her son’s pace to get us back home. After a while, I noticed her waiting, and I realized that I may have to ride back fast for a car. But instead, she said she wanted me to ride back fast and tell her father that everything was ok, as her arriving looking the way she did, with a face full of blood, was going to be very alarming for him. She decided to ride back with her son.

So I did ride fast and arrived at the cabin. After hunting through the cabin, not seeing dad or the dog, I realized he had already left, which was a bit of a relief. I hopped in my car to go get them, but they were pulling in as I pulled out.

We did some assessments of the damage once in the cabin and realized we were going to have to get her in to be seen. We finally decided to leave one vehicle at the lake and lock one bike in the garage. I took two bikes on my car, we quickly put our food away, packed up, got everything in my car, and I took her to the emergency department. After that, I took her nice bike to her house along with her son, got the bike in the garage, and son in the house, and then headed home to wait for news.

In the end, she had to get 9 stitches in her face, and they immobilized her knee while it heals, but thankfully nothing major happened. She’s going to have some horrific looking bruising in the upcoming days, but we are just SO thankful she realized while she was on the bike that she was going down and was able to slow as much as she did. Quick decision making on the bike really does often change the outcome of a situation.

So, today she’s home healing, and her family is arranging the transport of her vehicle, and I am hoping she’ll be feeling better in short order. I am thankful she wasn’t riding alone, and I am thankful we were able to make the best decisions we could after the fact.

Now on to the other stuff. First the photo.

My boxycharm came this week, and so I’ve added that to this week’s shop the stash because I want to use the new palette this week, as well as quite a lot of other items. The boxycharm items are on the left.

There’s a palette from crown which I am excited to use. It’s a warm-toned palette, as so many are, and it doesn’t have any pops of unusual color, but the oranges and the browns are pretty so I think they’ll be fun to try. Above that in boxycharm we got the dr. brandt no more baggage eye cream, which I will totally try this week. Above that there’s Chella eyebrow cream which I am totally excited to try. Above that is a mascara which is the one item I have pictured here that I have no intention of adding to my routine right now. I’ve got more than enough mascara open now, this one gets saved for down the road a bit. To the right of that you’ll see a blush open, and that is the final boxy charm item this month. It’s a nice warm toned blush, from Note, and since I sent my warm toned blush with Miss Butterfly on her trip in order to let my mom test it out, I was very happy to receive this one as it will pair well with the warm toned palette I am using this week. So, that’s boxycharm, and I am pleased with my box. I am not gonna lie, there was another box combo that did not contain the palette, and I was afraid that was the one I’d receive. I am still in the mode of wanting to play with all the palettes, and I care little about face sprays which is what the alternate item was. Most thrillingly, none of the items was an eyeliner, and for that I am grateful!

I do think that there are certain things you need never to purchase if you are getting subscription boxes. Eyeliners and mascaras seem to be top on that list. I do like trying out new mascaras though, so that’s fun. Eyeliners, not so much. Unless it’s an interesting color I suppose.

Ok, the remaining items left to right, top to bottom.

Above the blush is becca backlight priming filter. I used this during the week, and while it looks alarming when I put it on my entire face, it does work I suppose. I probably won’t repurchase, but there isn’t much left in this sample size so I figure it’s time to use it up.

Next to that is the makeup forever HD foundation that I tried for the first time last week. I like it! Not sure if it’s one I’ll purchase on my own, but I do like it better than others I’ve tried. It holds up pretty well, and this past week was very hot, I had multiple activities that had me walking around in the heat, and I was surprised at how well it performed under those circumstances.

There’s the butter bronzer which is a staple in my collection, not much needs to be said about that. Then under that is my bare minerals matte foundation which out of anything works the best in the heat. So, it’ll be another staple in these shop the stash posts through the remainder of the summer.

Next row-the hair custard I am trying to pan will be used this week. I’ve decided what this product does best is give freshly washed hair the texture and grip that it needs to actually put up and get it to stay that way. Meaning, if I use this after I wash my hair and just leave it, my hair gets a bit too big for me. But if I use it, and then put my hair in a french braid or two, the hair stays in that braid nicely. When it’s hot, I love a braid, so it’s getting use.

The clinique powder and the wet n wild contour palette are also staples and items I am working on panning this summer, you’ve seen them many times before. Same goes for the dandelion twinkle highlighter. Below that I’ve got a style sepia eyeliner, it’s brown/green with some sparkle and it’ll pair well with the palette. Added bonus, I am trying to pan it so I am glad to choose something I can pair with it this week.

Below the eyeliner is a sample size of the marc jacobs velvet noir mascara. Guys, I may never purchase lash paradise again. This mascara, which I broke into out of curiousity, makes my eyelashes so so very long! I decided that the travel size is only 2 bucks more than the full size of lash paradise, and so if this holds me for 3 months I am totally purchasing another. (After sampling the ones I have waiting of course.) I really love this so much.

And finally, the bare minerals bareskin concealer is a good one for use this week. I can use it on my eyelids as well as my undereye, so that’s what I chose for this week.

Let’s review last week. Here’s the photo:

I already gave some thoughts on the palette. I’ll just give some thoughts on the most noteable things. The tiny container of highlighter that says thank you on it I tried using this week, not on my cheeks. At home, I thought that the inner corner and browbone highlight I’d done was subtle enough, but once I got to work and looked in the mirror, I wiped it off a bit, as it was blinding! I still haven’t had the courage to use it on my cheeks, but perhaps I will if I play with makeup today. I am not going anywhere, so today would be a good day to try it.

The pretty vulgar gel eyeliner got lots of action this week, as it paired well with the eyeshadow palette. I would line my eyes and then smudge that out a bit to look less harsh. I really like how easy it is to apply the gel liner and get such an intense black line. I still don’t have the courage to try a wing though, and especially not in the mornings while getting ready for work.

The cover fx primer needs more use to figure out how I feel about it. The nyx eyebrow pencil was entirely not my favorite and I am unsure how I will use it at this point as the color is all wrong in addition to me not liking the product itself. And finally, I must confess that my use of the urban decay all nighter foundation has pretty much dropped off entirely right now. I can’t get it to stick to my face for long on a good day, and so it’s just too awful on a hot day where I have to be outside walking during the work day. That’s why I didn’t even bother to put it in this week’s stash shop.

Ok ok, that was THE LONGEST POST ever, and I probably should’ve split it into two. But here we are. If you made it to the end, I am completely amazed. Have a great week!

 

Last week was a bit of a wash when it came to makeup. My schedule was weird and hectic with late nights and added activities and errands. There were many times I just couldn’t get up at my usual 5:30 time and instead slept in all the way to my 6:10 alarm. This didn’t allow for time for makeup except in the most minimal manner. Plus, much of my time was spent outdoors in the evenings, and I avoid heavier foundation on those days seeing as it isn’t likely to stick the way I want it to. I gave the tarteist pro to go palette a tiny bit of love, but not much, and then it ended up packed for Miss Butterfly’s trip without the week even being over.

Before Miss Butterfly headed out on the plane on Friday morning, she chose a palette for me to concentrate on this week. I’ve decided to indulge her.

Here’s the photo for the week.

You’ll see many of my project pan items-the contour, the clinique powder, the dandelion twinkle, the UD all nighter foundation. But, I’ve added some stuff in to play with.

Let’s start with the palette, this is Too Faced Boudoir Eyes palette which we got at half price at one of the sales in May. I’ve worn it only once, and Miss Butterfly may have only worn it once as well. On the other hand, these are, for me, colors that feel wintery. So, I had figured I’d be playing with this palette a lot more in the winter. But, if she wants me to give it some love this week, I will.

Ok, now more left to right though I’ll skip much of my project pan stuff. The Pretty Vulgar eyeliner pot that I got in a boxy charm I’ve decided to use this week as I feel it’s a good pairing with the eyeshadows. Below that there’s a tiny container that says “thank you” which is a sample from Vanessa’s Vanity, as I purchased a few single shadows from that indie shop in May. I figured I’d play with that a bit.

I’ve got my bare minerals matte foundation for outdoor play days this week, and I also snuck in the sample size of makeup forever foundation. It’s a color that matches me pretty well right now as I’ve been out in the sun quite a lot recently. I’ve never tried it and I am eager to give it a spin. I completely failed to use the UD all nighter that I am trying to pan last week, so I am shooting for at least one day of wear on that stuff too.

Under the eyeshadow palette is a flower beauty flower pot blush, color sweet pea. This is a cooler toned blush and will pair nicely with the eyeshadows.

I also stuck in a primer that I haven’t had a chance to mess around with yet, it’s the cover fx blurring primer. I’ve got so many different primers from subscription boxes I fear I’ll never run out. But, I’d like to also narrow down some preferences.

And finally I put the nyx precision brow pencil in there as I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I fear the color is a little bit too warm, but if I at least get a day to try it, that’ll be good. I’ve been using the nyx eyebrow powder pencil and liking it quite a lot. I’ll combine the two if the color is too wrong on this one.

And that’s it for this week in shop the stash. We’ll see what we end up with at the end of the week.

Miss Butterfly is off to visit her Nana for a bit, as of this morning. Now, my mom, like me up until recently, isn’t much of a makeup wearer. But, with Miss Butterfly getting into it, and me getting into it, she figured she might have to get on board so that she has something to share with Miss Butterfly as well. She wrote asking for some suggestions yesterday, and an idea was born.

When I went home and told Miss Butterfly about it, she got so excited too. We figured we’d share our love of makeup by sending some things with Miss Butterfly to my mom. She can give those things a try, and if she likes them, she can just keep them. As soon as I told Miss Butterfly about it she couldn’t stop talking, so while she was at it, we went through everything and chose some stuff.

Here’s what we chose:

First of all, you’ll notice that there’s absolutely nothing in this photo resembling foundation. That’s because my mom’s foundation game is on point. She uses L’Oreal true match foundation and it makes her skin so pretty.  It’s on my list of foundations to try since it looks so good on her. No need to send any foundation product to her.

Now please know that I am aware that some of these items kind of screw with my project pan, but I think it’s a worthy cause! Left to right:

Wet n wild eyeshadow palette, the colors are purple toned. I haven’t used it much at all, I had been waiting for the cooler weather. However, I think those little quads are a really good product, and at their price I don’t mind at all if this one doesn’t return to me.

Maybelline age rewind concealer, this is an opened but fairly new concealer. The shade matches me well, so it’ll probably match my mom too. As I’ve aged, my skin has gone darker and more like my mother’s. I have other concealers that I need to work my way through, so if this one works for Mom, it’ll get good use and it’ll be ages before I need to purchase another anyhow.

I added the ulta brow gel I got the other day and have barely tried. I figure she could try it. Then next is the elf brow pencil I’ve been trying to pan. There’s such a tiny bit left, just enough to sample really.

Next to that is my jonteblu charcoal colored eye pencil. It’s a grey rather than a black color, and I have a million eyeliners already because I get subscription boxes, and they almost always contain an eyeliner. I seem to recall that my mom generally likes a less harsh color than black traditionally, so the grey is the most logical option in eyeliners.

I sent the coty airspun powder on Miss Butterfly’s suggestion, I think in part Miss Butterfly wants to use it. I think Mom will have fun with the scent though, it’s so…traditional. I have a suspicion that mom won’t like the powder, but if she does, she can have it.

I included the makeup revolution blush that I’ve been wearing all summer. Mostly because I think it’s a very easy blush to use, and it looks great on my skin tone so it might be something she’ll also be happy with.

I included two brushes that I don’t need anymore, one being an eyebrow brush. Miss Butterfly is an expert at filling in brows with shadow, so that’s a tool they can use for that task. And then I included a blush brush since Miss Butterfly didn’t have one to bring but I have doubles of this style brush.

I then added two more little eyeshadows. One wet n wild quad from my project pan. I added this one because the more I use it, the more I appreciate how it looks on me. But, it’s also almost gone. And then there’s a clinique eyeshadow I got a couple years back to try.

I also sent with Miss Butterfly the Tarte Tarteist Pro to Go palette so that they could play with it, though it has to come back to me, and a larger clinique palette that Miss Butterfly likes to use for her eyebrow shade, Miss Butterfly wouldn’t let me get rid of that even if I wanted to!

I totally forgot to bring home any lip products from work, so those are out, but we searched Miss Butterfly’s stash and she took a few things, namely a set of clinique chubby sticks I gave to her that she’s willing to part with. Then I told Miss Butterfly that she could introduce her Nana to flower beauty lip products as a great high-quality drugstore option if they happened to be out shopping together. Miss Butterfly will have her flower beauty petal pout matte lipstick from her own collection with her.

I think this will give everyone some stuff to play with and experiment with. Miss Butterfly will appreciate having stuff to use while out there, and a motivated Nana to do makeup with. If Nana ends up finding something she likes in the process, she gets to start a collection, and I got the joy of sharing some of our hobby.

And I am interested to hear how it all goes!

One day late, I know. But, I wanted to get my nasty bike ride blog post up right away.

Here’s what I pulled:

Lush’s hair custard-this is in my project pan, and it’s working very nicely in my hair at the moment, giving it enough lift and stick to do a french braid, which is how I am mostly wearing my hair at the moment. It’s hot out, and that braid is a wonderful thing.

Becca’s backlight priming filter-I’ve got numerous outdoorsy events this week, and I find when that’s the case, mineral powder foundation works best for me. So, just for curiosity’s sake, I am going to try this primer on parts of my face to see what happens.

L’oreal infallible setting spray-I am really enjoying this setting spray, I like how it works. I am not trying to pan it or anything, I am just testing it out and seeing how I feel about it, but my thoughts are positive at the moment.

The tiny perfume sample is YSL Mon Paris. This is a perfume that I always try on in the stores, as I think I LOVE it. So, I want to use this regularly to find out if I keep loving it, or if it heads toward boring for me.

The revolution blush is part of my project pan, as is the benefit dandelion highlighter, so I am just going to keep working with them this week.

In the middle of those two, there’s the Tarte Tarteist Pro to go palette. I’ve been eyeing the Tarteist pro palette for awhile now, and figured if it performed like my be a mermaid and make waves palette, it would be a nice addition to our collection. So, imagine my surprise when I got it in Fab Fit Fun? I am finding that I get a fair amount of fall out with the mattes in this little palette, though it does perform well. I am not going to do a wrap up post with this one, because there aren’t too many options for looks with this palette. It’s great for ease of use, I don’t really have to think too hard about what I am going to do. It looks great on, it stays in place nicely, and it’s going to work perfectly for my outdoorsy week. Plus, it’s a 4 day work week so a smaller palette is perfect to explore this week.

You’ll also see my tarte timeless smoothing primer which is going to be used now that the Porefessional in my project pan is gone. I do like this one better, so it’ll be nice to get some use out of it again.

Then there’s the Urban Decay all nighter foundation I am trying to pan. Sadly, I’ve probably only got one day of use out of it this week. Thursday’s the day. All other days are going to get the bare minerals matte powder foundation. I need something that holds up better. All nighter is a misnomer on my skin.

I pulled two concealers this week. Bare Minerals bareskin concealer and tarte shapetape. Both of these concealers I am not thrilled to pieces with, though my ability to work with them is getting better. More skilled. However, I am using them as eyeshadow primers as well, since I am out of the urban decay primer potion. I feel like these two are up to the task, and I am thinking maybe eyeshadow primers aren’t a thing that I, personally, need in my makeup arsenal. Despite my hooded eyes, I am not struggling with creasing while using concealer as a base.

I pulled four lipsticks because I have only four work days, and the eyeshadow palette is so muted. I figured I’d give each of these a try. I’ve got the Kat von D liquid lip which is SUPER bright, but I wore it on Saturday to remind myself how much I loved it. I’ve got too faced melted matte which I wore on Monday. Then, I’ve got a loud berry color that is from a boxy charm, it’s a color I am still trying to figure out if I like enough to keep, or if I am going to hand it over to Miss Butterfly. Then, I’ve got my L’Oreal infallible lip paints, the fuchsia color that I wore to the Alabama wedding. Might as well get some more use out of that as well. I didn’t pull lip products last week as I mostly just keep them at work. But, this week I decided to bring them home over the weekend.

That’s it for this week. Again, I look forward to getting to know a newer palette better. Miss Butterfly wants to begin picking these palettes for me in the future. That might be fun, I think we’ll start that in August.