Single Shadows and small quads/quints.

This is where I talk about eyeshadows that are not full palettes. I have plenty of palettes as well, but I just want to focus on the smaller sampling of shadows.

Again, most of these came from subscription boxes. First the single shadows:

I tried to do little arm swatches as well. Going left to right.

Ella Eden eyeshadow in Harmony-it’s definitely a peach color. I’ve used this quite a lot, it works pretty well as al all over the lid then buff into the crease simple eye look. For a while there I was also using it as a blush topper on mate blushes I wanted to give a little bit of sheen to.

Steve Laurant loose pigment-This is a nice olive green. I’ve only worn it once but I really loved it!

Naked Cosmetics loose pigment-this is an orange tone, and I haven’t even had the opportunity to wear it yet!

Colorpop supershock shadow in sequin-This one I did purchase myself. I wanted to try a supershock shadow. I don’t know if it comes across in the photos but this one is nice and glittery. I really enjoy using this and would love to explore supershock shadows MORE, unfortunately, I can’t really justify doing so when they tend to dry out quickly and I’ve got so many gorgeous palettes to work my way through. But, this is my one purchase out of this group and it’s the one I love the most, so that’s a win for me.

Nomad Cosmetics-This one is a lovely shimmery berry shade and it looks great. Another one I can do a simple eye look with.

IBY cosmetics-the color on this one is extremely hard to see. It’s a duochrome, shifting from brick brown to army green. I love this shade, it’s really fun and unusual.

Next up, a very few quads/quints.

Bang Beauty-this little quad is so tiny! We’ve used it a bit, but not much. Might be one I try to pan at some point since it probably wouldn’t take much time to do so.

The orange toned one with a pop of green is pacifica. I have played with this just a tiny bit, but generally just forget it exists. The colors are nice and soft, but the green on my eyes looks like a healing bruise. I might try seeing if I can make it work another way and play with it a bit more.

Then I’ve got two wet n wild quads. I purchased these very early in my makeup exploration journey. I barely know what to do with the black/grey one! But the brown one I’ve got a ton of use out of. And I am still using it, so it still sits in my collection.

And that’s it! At least, that’s all there is that isn’t paired up in a nicely matched magnetic palette as a fully created “palette” of colors. I’ve got a couple palettes I’ve created, but I count those as true palettes rather than single shadows. Even though they contain single shadows.

My goal here would be to not add more single shadows to my collection until I work through some of these. Then, if I do, it should be shadows I love, so perhaps some supershock shadows or something like that. But as tempting as that is, I am hoping to resist that urge for quite some time.

I decided to tackle foundations today because I still can’t be bothered to pull out all the highlighters and face that mess.

I feel like this photo is kind of like a journey through the past year of makeup use. The only thing missing is the Urban Decay allnighter foundation which I managed to finish up. So I am going to talk about some of these quite out of order.

The first foundation I purchased when I started to get into makeup was the UD all nighter. Why? I don’t know. I liked the packaging I guess. It was pretty and edgy and interesting. I remember standing in ulta testing the colors on the back of my hand despite basically knowing NOTHING about what my skin was like and what the foundation was like. I bought one. It was both the wrong shade and absolutely the wrong foundation for me. I realized it pretty quickly. At the time I was also trying to use an expired clinique cc cream which I couldn’t understand why it looked like crap and made my face itch. I mean, I GENUINELY did not know. It worked fine when I’d used it over 2 years prior!

So, next step I went into a sephora and asked the opinion of a salesperson and also asked to be color matched. I indicated that my face was dry and foundations weren’t looking good. She seemed confused because I was using a primer and a foundation and things should work ok. But, she pointed me in the direction of the Hourglass illusion skin tint and she color matched me to the shade sand. I LOVED this foundation it looked so pretty on my skin! Night and day between that and an expired cc cream or a way too matte and dry full coverage foundation!

But I wanted to find a drug store option as well. Around that time I began watching beauty youtubers. First, the big ones because that’s what pops up first in a search. Tati said that the wet n wild photofocus was fantastic, and so Miss Butterfly and I went on a search for that. We each bought one. It worked great on my skin, much to my fascination.

Since I’d liked the hourglass illusion skin tint, I ended up getting the stick foundation on sale. Except, here’s where I learned that just because a foundation in one line from a brand color matches to your skin doesn’t mean that the same color in a different line will match to your skin. The color Sand in the stick foundation was absolutely NOT the correct color for me. The second lesson is that if something is not the right color, don’t try to make it work. Maybe just return it? I didn’t. And now I feel obligated to work through that foundation. I am using it to cover redness and it is working that way, but I am definitely not getting the full benefit of the foundation itself this way.

Now, in my old expired makeup stash, I’d had some Mary Kay mineral foundation. Way back when, I’d been using it as a setting powder, not at all knowing what it was actually for. But, once I figured it out, I began using it as a foundation. There was very little left, and I used it up right away, quite liking the finish it gave my skin. Since I didn’t really want to purchase Mary Kay, I went for Bare Minerals. I got a starter kit with the original formula and then also picked up one of the matte formula to try. And then for some reason not even known to me, I also picked up their BarePro formula. Another lesson learned-maybe just try one and see what I think? Because the original formula doesn’t stick on my skin very long. I am using it on weekends when I am going out of the house and want to wear makeup, but won’t be out that long. The matte formula works a lot better on me and I can get away with a full day of wear on that. The pro formula looks a little on the cakey side and is also a little light. Expect to see these in an upcoming project pan I think.

Next was the IT Cosmetics cc cream in the matte formula. It looked so nice I had to go right back and get the illumination, right? No real lesson to be learned here. I purchased them both and I am very happy with both, and I like how they both have different effects on the skin depending on what look I am going for. I chose the correct colors, and there’s no issue here whatsoever.

At the end of last year, I bought the Too Faced Born This Way foundation during a sale. I wanted to give it a try. The lesson here is simply that I don’t need it just because it’s on sale. I’ve got enough foundation in my collection for at least a year if not more, and I don’t need to add to this collection since I actually have a number of these that I am quite happy with!

There are also two samples. One is Make Up For Ever HD foundation. I’ve already been through a sample of this and I know I like it. The other is Tarte Amazonian Clay foundation. But samples are from subscription boxes. I’ve decided I am waiting to give them a try until I am completely done with both the Hourglass Illusion and the Wet n Wild photofocus. Both are really close to being done and I just want to be able to move them out of my stash before I explore other things.

So that’s my foundation journey and my current stash. I love trying foundations, but I also love using them up completely. I am really eager to try the Physicians Formula The Healthy foundation, but I am going to try to wait until next fall/winter to give it a go. I really want to prioritize moving the bare minerals foundations out of my collection, I just don’t feel like they are the type of thing I need to have around. I am a bit over halfway done with the original formula and I think a bit under half done with the matte foundation. The pro has been touched once or twice. This current collection gives me a lot of variety and a lot of opportunity to focus on working through some of this stash.

Every time I write about panning a makeup product, or examining my current collection, I genuinely feel quite motivated when I am done and want to high five myself or say something like “Go Team!” or whatever. I am hoping that just READING my post about my collection, or looking at the photo I took of my collection will cause a similar reaction and help me to keep my stash on the slim side once I have worked through some of these.

First of all, yesterday I posted bronzers/contours. This morning, I completely broke one of those dark colored pur contour pans. So, in about 24 hours, one left my collection.

Today it’s highlighters I focus on. Highlighters, much like bronzers and contours, have just kind of shown up in my collection for the most part. Again, there are the ones in the face palettes:

There’s one in the hourglass palette and two lovely ones in the Too Faced palette.

And then there are the others:

I’ll go top left to right, then move my way down left to right.

There’s a pixi highlighter that disguised itself as a blush in a subscription box. It’s not a blush even though it was billed as such. I use this very rarely.

There are the three Nyx highlighters from the advent calendar. They are fine, but nothing to write home about.

Next row. Wet n wild highlighter, this one I did not purchase. Miss Butterfly did. She insisted on having it, but as it turns out it doesn’t look good on her. It resides in my stash but I haven’t used it much.

Then there’s the depotted benefit dandelion twinkle. As you can see, we have used the heck out of this. I actually quit using it because Miss Butterfly liked it so much. She’s still using it, and I am certain we’ll eventually completely pan it.

The tiny pot that says “thank you” is a loose highlighter from vanessa’s vanity. It was a gift with purchase. It’s quite icy and would take a long time to use if I were using it regularly. I did use some of this in the highlighter I created myself.

Mac’s shiny pretty things from this past holiday, this one is the one that is pink to gold shift. I adore this and we use it mostly as an eyeshadow. But I also highlight with it from time to time. I think it’s my favorite purchase from this past holiday season.

Next row there are three depotted pur highlighters. Two are from a highlight/contour palette and the other is from their masquerade palette, both from boxycharm. They reside in my magnetic palette now as I am bound to get more use out of them that way. They are great highlighters actually, I used one yesterday and was quite impressed.

And then there are my final two pans of the highlighter I created from two clinique shadows and the vanessa’s vanity loose highlighter. I like them quite a lot and do get plenty of use out of them.

And here’s one more that I forgot, the liquid highlighter:

I snapped this photo way after the fact because I had totally forgotten about it. You may be able to see we actually have used it a bit, but it is very glittery and so it’s not something that regularly gets used.

And that’s it, which is quite a lot The entirety of my highlighter collection. I don’t need more and mostly don’t want more, though there is one from pixi that looks quite interesting to me. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I work my way through many of these and it’s still available, I can love it then. And if it isn’t available, I’ll probably forget about it because there will likely be something else out there to love.

I think I mentioned that I have gotten tired of subscription boxes. The trouble is, for a couple of them, I paid for an entire year. But, Miss Butterfly decided that SHE is not tired of subscription boxes, so she has paid me for the next ipsy bag, and we changed up my profile to fit her preferences. That’s 5 tiny items that are not entering MY collection next month! Win!

Now that I’ve moved past the dreaded blushes collection post, I can talk about bronzer/contour. I was REALLY avoiding that blush post. I’d put it off for far too long.

Now I can move into my bronzers and contours. I don’t care that much about bronzers and contours. I just use them. Some come in face palettes and that is how I have them, or they come in subscription boxes and that’s how I have them. I think I made 3 total conscious careful bronzer/contour purchase. One of those is completely gone now.

I’ll show off photos I’ve already shown. First, Too Faced natural face palette:

Sunny Honey makes a lovely contour shade and Tropic Like Its Hot is a great summer bronzer.

And then a two for one. I’ve got a sleek cream contour palette and one little bronzer pan in the hourglass palette.

And then there’s the remainder of my collection. Starting at the top left and working clockwise. I’ve got a physicians formula butter bronzer which has been my major go to bronzer over the past year. We’ve hit pan and I’d be satisfied with this as my one and only bronzer once my collection is worked through. Except for the smell. I hate the smell but after this long it has dissipated mostly.

I received the Sugar Cosmetics mini bronzer in a subscription box. I like it quite a bit and am finding myself reaching for it regularly.

I’ve got a pur bronzer that came in the boxy charm masquerade palette. Depotted because I hate that palette, and this one did not fall apart. I haven’t tried this one much so not sure how it works and if it gets to stay in my collection.

Below that is the Benefit Hula bronzer. I inherited this from Miss Butterfly. She just HAD to have it. It’s a travel size and she got it for easter last year. Turns out, she doesn’t even wear bronzer anymore, she doesn’t think it looks good on her. She warms up her face with blush in the bronzer areas and calls it good. It is good, she knows how to do makeup. She’s just so pale that bronzer isn’t a good color for her.

Then there’s two pur palette (subscription box!) contours which I don’t think work for me but I haven’t given them much time. These are from another palette I depotted because I just never bothered to pull the palette out. I probably need to give some of these some trial time to see if I even want them around!

And finally, another Benefit Hula Bronzer from a subscription box. Just the tiniest sample size.

That’s it for bronzers/contours. And I won’t be buying more. These are of little interest to me anyhow, and once I’ve worked through some of these, I’ll be happy to keep a minimal curated collection.

I think we are, after 8 posts, beginning to close in on the end of this series, for which I am grateful! What do I have left? Highlighters for certain. Then single shadows maybe? And then palettes? Though I may or may not do a palette collection post. Oh, foundations! I haven’t done those yet either. Nor skin care other than face masks and primers. Ok never mind, I may still have a ways to go.

Here’s the one I’ve been avoiding. And I’ll tell you why. I LOOOOOVE blush. I do not know why. I loved blush as far back as I can remember. There’s gotta be a reason but I couldn’t name it. But no matter what I do, when I tell myself “You don’t need any more blush!” I get all “BUT! BUT! BUT….!!!”

And while I was photographing my blushes I realized I really don’t need any more blush. I’d say that photographing the blushes made me realize just how much I have, how much I LOVE each and every one of them, treasured in my collection, (except 1) and that I’d actually really love to be using them all instead of acquiring more. So, basically, documenting this did exactly what I was hoping it would do. I had already felt this way about my gorgeous eyeshadow palettes, without documenting them, but couldn’t quite get there with blush.

I am using some photos I took in the past for the face palettes, as I didn’t feel like photographing them again. First up, Too Faced Natural Face:

Both Pink Wink and Pink Sand are gorgeous. I love the nude matte tone of pink sand. Pink Wink is a fantastic summer shade. I’ve barely touched this palette because it’s such a summer palette for me. You can expect this to make a project pan appearance beginning in April.

Then there’s the Hourglass Ambient Edit Palette. This is the one that is currently in my project pan as it’s a really nice, subtle, wintery kind of palette. Both blushes in here are lovely as well. I’d say that I tend toward the nude one more, but the cool toned pink is gorgeous as well and sometimes I just swirl them both together for a perfectly lovely effect.

Now all the rest:

Starting with the top row I’ve got Tarte Paaarty which I’ve hit pan on. It’s a lovely light nude color and I decided I didn’t want to use it up because it looks very nice on Miss Butterfly’s skin. I tend to use more intense blushes so it’s nice that she can get some use out of it too.

Next to that is an ofra blush single. This is the one I was mentioning that I do not like. It is FAR too pigmented. It looks terrible no matter what I do. I’ve been using it as an eyeshadow, but it’s on the chopping block for a declutter. However there’s an 80s birthday party to attend in my future and I figured it’ll be great in a dramatic, over the top, 80s makeup look.

Next to that is flower beauty blush in sweetpea. This is a really lovely neutral blush that is almost nude but still pink. Miss Butterfly loves this one and when I wear it, I love it too!

Next to that is Makeup Revolution matte blush. I can tell the color did not come out well at all but this is a really pretty coral to hot pink color. I wore it soooooo much in the first number of months of makeup exploration last year. It is also the blush I learned that you do not pan large blushes and expect it to go quickly. I haven’t used it in ages but I don’t want it out of my collection either.

Next row, another Tarte blush in quirky. It’s a great peachy blush that I think I will enjoy wearing very much! I have maybe tried it once.

I’ve got a clinique cheek pop peach pop. I WANTED Cola pop but Miss Butterfly talked me out of it. I still want Cola Pop, but I’ve now got a million blushes.

Note blush in Desert Rose-I think this is a lovely blush in a color I probably wouldn’t have picked out myself. But it looks fantastic and I am so glad it is in my collection.

Laura Geller baked blush in Tropic Hues-this is my most favorite of all the blushes. I could happily own the rest of the collection. I adore this blush!

Then in a row of its own is the one blush we got in the nyx advent calendar. It’s a pretty bright color but works nicely on the skin.

Next row-Finding Ferdinand color skinny dip-This is a gorgeous blush as well, another more neutral toned blush. It has a bit of a sheen and I find myself using it fairly regularly despite it being in a magnetic palette.

Next up are two pur blushes from the boxy charm masquerade palette. I decided I didn’t like a palette with blush and eyeshadow in one, so I depotted everything and put them in magnetic palettes. As you can see, I managed to completely screw up the darker blush so I had to repress it. But, I didn’t want to let go of it because it’s my closest blush to clinique’s cola pop which I clearly want in my collection but won’t purchase. I am not over the moon about either of these blushes but I haven’t used them much either.

Doucce blush in RSVP-This blush, on its surface, seems like something I could really love. It’s another neutral leaning toward cool toned color and is quite subtle. I am not sure it completely lives up to expectations, but it also hasn’t seen much use as of yet.

So-that’s my very extensive already blush collection, and that is why I DO NOT NEED MORE BLUSH. I also have watched enough project pan videos to know that most blushes take an entire year to get through. At that rate, I’ve got enough blush for the next 16 years! And who knows if another blush will enter my collection between now and the time all my subscription boxes have expired. I am definitely not in “Gotta use these up or move them out of my collection!” mode but I am in “Let me love what I own” mode. After this past year of collecting I am ready to now be not collecting. I am ready to be curating. I am ready to be enjoying. Even though Miss Butterfly uses my blushes regularly, two people cannot work through this collection any time soon either. So I’ll be over here referring back to this post every time I am tempted by a blush while shopping.

 

 

 

For a gal who never ever wore lip products if she could help it, I’ve amassed quite a collection. To be fair, I DO wear lipstick every day I wear makeup now, so they aren’t exactly going to waste. But also, these are another item that subscription boxes tend to dump at us and so I ended up with quite a few that way. Add in the advent calendar from last year and just being somewhat interested in lip products now and my collection has grown quite a lot. I want to tell you I will not be purchasing more lip products until I’ve moved some of these out of my collection, but I’ve got my eye on a couple right now.

Anyhow, let’s get started. First, I am going to post the Nyx advent calendar lip products. I am not going to go into great detail with them, but I’ve sorted them from left to right in order of how likely I am to use them. The first one, the intense butter gloss, is currently in my project pan.

The only products missing from this shot are a barbie pink matte that no one in my house could stand, and the two lip oils, one of which is in Miss Butterfly’s coat pocket and the other in my purse. I think, from left to right, I’ll probably work my way through everything including the dark brown and keep the others around for fun.

Next up, liquid lipsticks. I’ve decided that I am not actually a huge fan of liquid lipsticks. I am not going to purchase much more in that category.

I tried to sort these similar to above, left to right in order of how much I like them.

The smashbox liquid lip is not a dry down matte lipstick. I really love this one and it’s in my project pan. I love that it has amazing staying power and will last all day while still feeling like a lipstick. I will definitely be picking up another one of these once I’ve worked my way through some lip products.

The next two are Ofra. I like this formula quite a lot too. The first is a really orange toned brown and the next is more of a neutral toned brown.

I got another intense butter gloss after trying the purple one from the advent calendar. Since I don’t have much in the way of glosses, I added it here.

To Faced Melted Matte-nice formula and nice color, but I wouldn’t repurchase.

Tarte Tarteist lip paint-so drying, but great color. Won’t repurchase.

L’Oreal infallable paints-I am a sucker for a hot pink and I picked this one up pretty early in my makeup exploration journey last year.

Two Kat VonD liquid lips. I like the colors on both, the formula is drying and odd. When I first put these on they look terrible, but if I just wait it out, they end up looking nice. I’ll wear these and once done I won’t repurchase.

The next two are from subscription boxes and I don’t like them much at all. Pretty intense colors and they don’t feel fantastic on the lips.

Now we’ve got creamier lip products, and of these, I’ve got quite a few. These are the ones I am way more likely to wear from day to day.

These are my favorites. I’ve got an assortment of 4 bite beauty amuse bouche lipsticks. The first one is in my project pan, and I am just going to keep after these in my project pan until they are gone I think.

I’ve got two mac lipsticks. Velvet Teddy and Russian Red. I like them both and wear them both, but I rarely wear a red lip.These are matte formulas and I can see myself repurchasing them sometime when I am finished with a bunch of products.

Make Up For Ever sample I got in a subscription box, this color looks really lovely and I enjoy the formula as well.

The Bobbi Brown crushed lip color-this is one of my all time favorites, I adore the formula and adore how it looks on my lips. Will repurchase when I’ve moved through my lip products.

Hourglass GIRL lip stylo-this one looks fantastic and feels fantastic as well. At some point I caught Miss Butterfly using it and I got downright mad. She’s generally allowed to use what she likes, but I had to put a few of these off limits because I love them TOO much.

A Stila lipstick I really enjoy but haven’t worn much this year. It has a great balm feel and a peppermint scent. I like it and should consider panning it.

Nudestix matte lip and cheek pencil-This is a matte formula I don’t like much. It dries down, it’s pretty orange, and I just don’t love how it wears on me.

TreStique-this is a nice little bright color that I’ll absolutely pan at some point. But more summery, so I am waiting on that.

Two flower beauty lipsticks. One is in a more satin finish, and it’s a very bright coral color, and the other is in a warm nude matte. I like both of these quite well. I chose these specifically because I wanted some lip products and I am glad I still enjoy them after all these lip products entered my collection.

Oryza lipstick from a subscription box. The color is intense, I’ve worn it once. Won’t repurchase.

INMO lipstick-I got this in a December subscription box and haven’t even tried it on yet. At the time I was in the middle of my advent calendar challenge, and since I am not a huge red wearer, I just never put it on.

You’ll notice I really don’t have a ton of gloss in my collection. This is because I am really not a huge fan. I’ve had a few buxom glosses, one I panned and the other two I gave to Miss Butterfly. Every other gloss that has entered my collection in a subscription box since has been handed off to her as well. She wears them a ton, so it’s perfect.

I think I managed to pan 3 lip products last year, two full size and one mini. So, I am really hoping that I’ll be able to easily work my way through the minis I am currently panning. I think I’d like to get my lip product stash down to say-10 lip products total? Maybe less? And each of those would serve a specific purpose. It’ll take more thought, but that’s what I am hoping to see. I am going to start with the minis and then take it from there.

Today we talk eyeliners. I don’t need any more eyeliners. It’s a funny thing really because I wouldn’t have so many if it weren’t for the subscription boxes. I’ve even decluttered those that I really hate! I am not a huge eyeliner wearer, I don’t even wear it daily. I don’t ever do winged liner, and if I do wear liner, I tend to smudge it so it doesn’t look too harsh. All this to say that I really don’t need a large number of black eyeliners. One would be FINE. My ideal liner collection would be one black liner, one nude eyeliner, and then an assortment of fun colored liners. That is NOT the current collection.

The current collection contains multitudes of black eyeliners of various sorts. Most haven’t even been opened. It’s like subscription boxes carefully curate all but one item and then say “Well, let’s just throw a black eyeliner in there and be done with it!” I find it highly irritating. Despite the fact that one does generally get a higher value from a box than one pays for it, if one really enjoys makeup of all kinds, this flippantness about eyeliners is something I find peeving. Now that my little rant is over, let’s see what I’ve got in my collection:

Morphe Gel Eyeliner: I purchased this in an order and before it even arrived, I received the Pretty Vulgar gel eyeliner below it in a subscription box. So, the morphe one is nicely sealed and never been touched, which is good. It should last. It’ll have to last, because that pot of pretty vulgar eyeliner isn’t going anywhere fast. I really did believe I was going to try winged liner at some point, but this just never became a priority for me.

Up next is the assortment of eyeliners from subscription boxes that I have, most of them not even open.

Kat VonD tattoo liner-this one is opened, Miss Butterfly and I don’t like it. Nor do we use it. We should probably declutter.

Eyeco skinny liquid liner-not even opened as far as I am aware. Doubt we’d like it.

Tarte Sex Kitten liquid liner-not opened, doubt we’ll like it.

Jonteblu black eyeliner pencil with glitter-to be honest while most of the beauty community didn’t care for this one in their box, I like it. It works fine for me, it’s not dry, I get good color payoff, and I am fine with using it.

Style Sepia brown/green eyeliner-this one is in my project pan again. I don’t love it but it works ok.

Makeup Forever-This is a liner/lip product, it can be used as either. I haven’t really messed with this much. It’s a rose or light burgundy color.

That’s it for subscription box liners. The rest are ones that I added to my collection deliberately.

L’Oreal Infallable eyeliner in a nude color for the water line.

Then, before using that up, I purchased the Milk makeup gel eyeliner in a nude color for the waterline. What was I thinking? So now the L’Oreal is in my project pan.

I have 3 L’Oreal silkissimme liners which I love. There’s a black, a teal, and a royal blue. I don’t think the royal blue actually suits my eye color much, but the other two do and I adore them. They are now discontinued so I don’t think these will go in a project pan.

Then there’s the newest series in my collection, I grabbed up these urban decay eyeliners in a set in a post christmas sale. I am thrilled with them! Ok, with one, because I haven’t used anything but the silvery shiny one yet. But it is really beautiful.

In the future, for my uses, I’ll be sticking to using pencil eyeliners. I don’t think liquid is for me. And while I might add more colors to my collection, it’s doubtful. I’ve got a very nice selection of colors now, plus plenty of black. So, eyeliners are definitely one of the many makeup products I just don’t need more of.

 

 

 

Here’s a place where my collection is fairly slim and I’d like to keep it that way. I am not completely convinced that what I have will get me through the year, and there are items I am still experimenting with, but I do have enough to get me through now, and that’s important.

We are talking about eyebrow products. What I’ve learned over the last year is that I am crap with a pencil. I don’t want to use one and I want to keep them out of my collection. Now, my hair stylist has been saying for years “You’ve got such nice brows!” but that meant nothing to me until recently. I think what she was trying to say is “You don’t need to do much with these.” And I think that’s what I’ve learned over the past year. Brow pencils are for people who need to work harder at their brows. For me, the best option seems to be simply filling everything in with a color a little darker than my natural brow color. If I stick with the natural shape of my brow this works quite well. They certainly don’t need to be thicker, so I don’t need anything with fibers. An example of me using a brow pomade and nothing else:

An example of me using a colored brow gel and nothing else:

I don’t need to be glam, I think both these looks are fine for me. And they are looks which are easy and quick. So, my preference which I have figured out over the past year is either a pomade with a clear setting gel or simply a colored setting gel.

Now an example of what I currently have in my collection:

The Chella brow cream is my current favorite. It looks so good on me and is easy to use as long as I don’t use the applicator that comes with the product. I have an itty bitty angled brush from crown brushes and it is perfect for this product. The brush is small enough that it doesn’t get messed up when trying to dig out the product from the small tube. Unlike the brush that is attached to the product itself!

Next to that is the It cosmetics universal brow pencil. This is a sample size and it’s in my project pan as I want it out of my stash. It looks ok but it’s a pain to use and it is not very creamy at all, so it tends to be a lot of work to get the product on the brow.

Then I’ve got a Nyx eyebrow powder pencil. I do actually like this product and I am glad to have it in my collection. When the time comes, I think it’ll be easy to use this one up.

I have my AOA studios colored brow gel. At $1 it’s a complete steal and it’s my second favorite product in my collection. So I think this will end up being a permanent part of my collection.

Next to that, I’ve got the ABH clear brow gel. It’s my intention to try the Nyx one once I’ve used this one up. I don’t think I am a person who is interested in spending big money on eyebrows. This is another thing I’ve learned over the past year. But we shall see as I continue to explore options.

And then we’ve got a wild card item. The little pot is Bang Beauty brown gel eyeliner. That sounds nice, right? But it doesn’t actually work as an eyeliner. So now it sits in my stash waiting for me to see if it works as a brow gel. I also want to try it as a base for eyeshadow to see if I can get a more intense color payoff. Since it doesn’t work as what it is made for, I am hoping to see if I can get it to work for another use. It’s a subscription box item so if it ends up being decluttered, I won’t be terribly disappointed. But I just thought I’d give it a chance.

I think next up I have to explore my blushes/highlighters/bronzers/contours, and that just feels overwhelming. I don’t want to! So I keep putting it off. Maybe we’ll take a look at eyeliners first. Anyhow, in order to keep me “honest,” I do want to be taking a look at each part of the collection. I am also saving each photo I take to a separate folder on my phone in order to be able to access that on the go. So when I decide “I’d like to purchase this item!” I am then forced to take a look at what I already have of that category in my collection. And then, ideally, if I don’t really “need” that item I can let it go.

 

 

Masks-that’s what I don’t need more of!

Here’s the thing, I do not take time to mask very often. Maybe I should, but I just don’t. I feel like it takes more time than I want it to and it’s just too fussy. The other side of me thinks “You’ll get up and spend half an hour on makeup but you think wearing a sheet mask is fussy?!?!”

But that’s where I am in life. I don’t need more masks. On the other hand, I don’t purchase them. They just sort of have a way of appearing in subscription boxes.

Here’s what I’ve got and really SHOULD make a serious attempt to work on.

Trader Joe’s hydrating face sheet mask-I picked two of these up for Miss Butterfly and I to try. But, we never get around to trying them because she’s too busy playing with makeup at night. I tried to get her to do this with me last evening but she wasn’t having it.

Below that, Glamglow supermud clearing mask. I got this as the sephora birthday gift last year and that’s when I realized I don’t like glamglow. I hated the illuminating moisturizer that came with it, it broke up my makeup when I wore it. I don’t love this mask either but I keep it around for warmer days where I feel like I can use it on targeted areas (t-zone, nose specifically) where it really does help.

Also under the sheet masks-Peter Thomas Roth heat mask-I’ve used this a couple times and I like it well enough. The best part is that it is a 2 or 3-minute mask. It takes very little time! In fact, last evening I used this because I was motivated since I’d looked at ALL these masks and felt overwhelmed.

Ahava hydration cream mask-I really haven’t tried this much except sometimes I’ve put it on my feet at night and left it on. The colder dryer weather is rough on my feet and I figured I am not that likely to use it up any other way. I would like to try to use this in a more appropriate manner, so hopefully, that’ll happen soon.

Under that-Peter Thomas Roth exfoliator-I have already used one of these and really liked it. I think it’s a nice mask for oil control so I am saving this for the summer.

Cosmedix detox activated mask-I just got this in a boxy charm and I suspect that I’ll have to use it like I do the glamglow mask. In targeted specific areas in the summer.

Below that-Aphrodite Olive Oil deep cleaning mask-I haven’t tried this either, but this is one I am actually interested in trying.

Elemis Papaya enzyme peel-I have been saving this one for a time when I do need an exfoliator. At the moment I have an exfoliator in the shower which is when I use it. This one is kind of sitting in my stash for when the one in the shower runs out.

Below that is the Ren Evercalm rescue mask-this is one I am actually using from time to time. In the winter it’s very nice. This one has such a nice fresh scent to me. This is the type of thing I love using if I’ve been out in the wind in the winter quite a lot. If my face is feeling particularly dry and chapped, this is what I turn to. I will actually take the extra time for this one as it sinks nicely into the skin and then I just wipe the excess off with a cloth before continuing on with my nighttime routine.

I’ve got a number of these blaq hydrogel eye masks. They came in a subscription box. I could easily use them up if I wore them in the morning as I got ready for work. But, again, I just don’t even remotely think to do it.

Perhaps my big new year’s resolution should simply be to mask more. Even masking once a week would be helpful. But, if I were to say twice a week, I could really actually get through some of these I think. Right now, this is most certainly the largest part of my skincare collection and I really don’t want a skin care collection at all! I just want a carefully curated skincare routine that works for me and is simplified to meet my needs.

 

 

 

Let’s talk Primers! You know what I don’t need right now? More primers!

Becca First Light and Becca Back Light priming filter-These are my bestie primers. I love them. I think that they look nice on the skin, moisturize well, and really look lovely under makeup. Once I’ve moved through all my primers, one of these may be what I choose to keep in stash.

Cover FX blurring primer-I have this in my project pan and like it just fine. I get on with this primer. Are we besties? Maybe not. But we cool.

Tarte Timeless smoothing primer-I used this a bunch when I first started playing with makeup, but I put it down to try other things. I should probably give it another go soon to see how I feel about it after a long break. I should probably be using this in tandem to other primers for targeted pore filling work, but somehow in the morning, opening one extra primer feels….extra.

A sample of Hourglass Mineral Veil primer. I am reluctant to use it, I don’t quite know why. It seems like it should be such a beautiful primer. Perhaps I worry that I WILL like it and then desire this lovely thing in my collection.

Bare Minerals primer-this is an exceedingly siliconey feeling primer, I don’t care for it. I’ll try to use it up but this one is in danger of being decluttered if I cannot find a use for it.

Benefit Porefessional-This is the tiniest little sample size and I should just use it up and move it from my stash. Thing is, I don’t really care about this one anymore. This one would also benefit from being used in tandem with another primer.

Juice Beauty Illuminating primer-I haven’t tried this yet either, but I am hoping it’ll perform much like the Becca first light and backlight primers.

Becca Ever Matte primer-I am saving this one for the summer. I’ll give it a go then, but I really haven’t used it so I haven’t yet formed opinions on it.

Once I’ve worked my way through a good portion of these I’d like to give some drugstore illuminating primers a try. I want to see if I can find a dupe for the becca ones. Let me know if you know of one to try! Just know I won’t try it until I work my way through some of these!

 

Like with any new hobby in my life, the initial point where I begin and really become passionate about that hobby leads to me finding what can be purchased for that hobby quite fascinating. I remember shopping the post-Christmas sales last year, so it’s been around a year since I began playing around with makeup. In the past year, I’ve certainly built my collection and had the opportunity to try MANY lovely things. And some not so lovely things. All of which were good lessons.

But now in this upcoming year, it’s time to start winding that down and using my stash. Just like with my yarn and fiber stash, I don’t want to feel overwhelmed by items. I want to have things I love and enjoy, and I want to be able to get enjoyment out of each item.

So in this new series, which may be more for me than it is for you dear reader, I am going to highlight one particular category in my stash and record what I have in it. This will be something I can look at and say “I don’t need more of this category because I already have all of this which is lovely and I want to enjoy using.” This is not a no buy. This is not a low buy. This is just a reminder to be mindful of what I have in my collection and to seriously consider what other products I bring in.

Now, it must be also mentioned (again) that I participate in a few subscription boxes. I quit sephora play last year. I paid for a year’s subscription to ipsy so I’ve got a few more of those bags coming. I believe I’ll receive a bag through April and after that, there will be no more ipsy.

I also paid for a year of boxy charm, but that won’t be finished until the summer, I believe I receive it through July. I think I’ll quit that one as well because I am just feeling too overwhelmed by full-size items showing up monthly. It’s one I would consider restarting someday in the future but not until my stash is less large.

Today’s category is powders.

These are my current powders.

Clinique-this is a very old powder as it was in my stash prior to me becoming interested in makeup. I think it’s 2.5 years old, I suspect I purchased it when I had an event I needed to be dressed up for and the salesperson at the makeup counter indicated that I really needed to set my cc cream I had just purchased. But, I can’t actually be sure, it may be older than that. Anyhow, it works just fine and it’s in my project pan. If I look at the last marking on it, I realize that I’ve now gotten through the halfway point so it’ll begin looking like progress is made a bit more quickly now.

I was hoping you’d be able to see the itty bitty ciate logo on that itty bitty sample powder. It isn’t meant to be. I’ll probably leave this one in stash until I finish up one of the smaller travel size powders because this one is really a pain to use in the tiny container it is currently housed in. I haven’t really tried this at all due to that.

Above that is a travel size of Laura Mercier translucent setting powder. I plan to use this more in the summer when oil production is a little higher, it’s a bit drying right now.

The Pretty Vulgar setting powder is truly lovely. I received this in boxy charm and it was by far the best item in the box. It sets the face but it does little to nothing to control oil so it’ll be a winter item for sure. However, I adore how it looks on my skin (and in the package!) and I am very pleased to have it in my collection.

The Bare Minerals Mineral Veil powder is one that came in a kit I purchased when I purchased my initial powder foundation. I use this to set my undereyes because it does seem to be a little lighter than other powders. Its color is more toward a peach/pink than a neutral, so that’s another good reason to relegate it to undereye work.

I have a cover FX setting powder I haven’t used at all, another travel/trial size. And I have my AOA studios one dollar setting powder which I like a lot and which Miss Butterfly uses regularly. It, too, is not great at controlling oil, but it works great for setting the face. I’ll probably use this absolutely last so that Miss Butterfly can work on using it up. It’s a dollar, if she needs another, I’ll get her one.

Not pictured here is my Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder that I keep at work. It’s great for touching up at work when needed, and so as for now, that’s where it’ll stay. I am not interested in using it up or trying to pan it at this point.

Have I found my perfect setting powder? I don’t know. What I do know is that for now, I need to give these a really good try before I bring more into my life. That is step one toward a logical collection.

Now that my rolling 10 pan finale is done, it’s time for my December empties.

I’ve got a nice amount.

Pixi Glow Tonic-I really love this toner. I used it once a day and I do feel like this one makes a difference in my life. Once this one was gone I replaced it with a higher end glycolic acid toner and I am not nearly as happy. So, I am going to be purchasing this again once I am done with what I have.

Lush Rose Jam shower gel. I got the small container since it often happens that I love a lush product in the store but then later realize that there’s some sort of scent to it that disagrees with me. I am thrilled to report that this one smelled great all the way through! I plan to get a larger size of this at some point but have a shower gel currently needing to be used up first.

L’Oreal Infallable setting spray. I suppose this worked ok, though I have little experience with setting spray. It lasted me most of the year. I am experimenting with the morphe one now, but I do think the sprayer on this one is lovely. In fact, I saved the bottle as Miss Butterfly wants to use it. I may repurchase.

Clinique custom repair eye treatment. I got this entire thing free with purchase. I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that impressed with the product. It took me a ton of time to use, but I really feel that the Belif moisture eye bomb works best for me and I need to stick to that.

Wander Beauty unlashed mascara. I got this in a boxy charm. I used it. It takes a lot of work to get it to build up and look good on my eyes. I am done now. I won’t repurchase. I was mostly using this and then layering something else over top.

Becca Backlight Priming filter. I love this product. This little container was the first I tried it and I now have a travel size in my collection. So, I have already repurchased.

And some more items:

Peter Thomas Roth water drench cream. I liked this one quite a bit. It works nicely, like my favorite Belif item. I had no trouble using it up but I doubt I’ll switch to it. Maybe at some point, it’ll be worth doing a cost analysis of my favorite moisturizing gels to see what is the most cost-effective.

Laura Mercier caviar stick eyeshadow in Rose Gold. I have no interest in this product. It felt sticky on my eyes when I was just wearing it. I mostly used it as an eye primer instead. Miss Butterfly didn’t enjoy it either, and on her it creased badly.

It cosmetics confidence in a cleanser sample. I plan to move away from high-end cleansers in the new year. However, I did like this one! It smells nice and it works great. I just won’t purchase because I don’t want to use higher end cleansers if I don’t have to.

It cosmetics confidence in a cream. This one is a no repurchase. It broke me out. I actually had a container of it as well. I would use it, get breakouts, quit using it, start again, get breakouts. So it’s a no go. Thankfully Miss Butterfly is not noticing a similar issue so she’s using the small container of it up.

Becca Undereye primer. Here’s the thing, when I purchased this I felt it was making a huge difference. But as I got my skincare under control I felt like it was not a worthwhile step. So, I am not using this anymore. I might repurchase again in the future just to see if it helps. But mostly toward the end of using it, it just felt like an extra step. While it looks like there’s still product in there, it’s not the undereye primer. I had a milk makeup undereye something or other that I was trying to store in there but it just dried out. So, that’s what the blue bit is.

Too Faced hangover RX primer. This seems like a decent moisturizing primer, but it doesn’t smell particularly nice so I wouldn’t repurchase.

Lancome Genifique serum. I used up this sample size and I do think I liked it pretty well. Not well enough to purchase on my own, but I do think it was one of the nicer serums I’ve tried.

Those are my empties for December. (Keep in mind these are things I’ve been using for a while but just happened to finish in December.)

But, in the interest of the new year, it’s time to do a quick declutter as well. I chose two things from my makeup stash that aren’t likely to see any use.

I got the Dr. Brandt item from a subscription box. I tried to make it work for me. Under makeup it makes the makeup look weird. When I am using it on days that I don’t wear makeup, I feel that it dries out my undereye, which I don’t need. I actually passed this on to a friend to see if she could use it. But told her that if it doesn’t work for her she can just toss it.

I also am decluttering a blush. I got this blush in a subscription box. It’s highly pigmented, so it is super easy to feel like putting it on is a mistake. It’s also the exact color of the redness in my skin and just tends to make me feel like what was the point of putting on makeup in the first place? I wanted to keep it around as an eyeshadow but I’ve barely used it as that either, and I just don’t feel like I am going to start. It’s best to just move it out of my collection now.