I am ending this around a week early. And why? Because I finished the item I so wanted to finish in this quarter, the Stila foundation!

Now, let me preface this post with some information-you will not actually see fantastic progress on many of these items this second half of the quarter. You see, in the first half of the quarter I did wear makeup extremely regularly. But in the second half of the quarter I lost almost 3 weeks of usage due to a skin biopsy on my face. Thankfully everything turned out to be fine, but at the same time I wanted to follow the doctor’s directions in hopes to keep scarring to a minimum. Even 4 weeks later I still have a pretty significant divot in my face and the entire place the spot was formerly is very red. But I do think I did well with getting it to heal prior to wearing makeup again.

So since my progress was basically cut in half for the second half of the quarter I was extremely surprised to realize that I’d made it through the Stila foundation! I shouldn’t be, it’s a very runny and watery foundation which I generally had to use about 4 pumps of to get appropriate coverage on my face. So I was definitely racing through it in a manner that doesn’t happen with thicker foundations.

Where I started in January:

A month and a half in:

And now:

Now on to progress:

-Stila Foundation, gone
-Mac Fix Plus Rose-a bit of progress made but not much. I will be working on finishing this bottle up this year though. I will intersperse use of it with other facial sprays in the quarterly stash shop.
-Maybelline Concealer, surprisingly it seems like the progress is similar to the previous half despite not having worn makeup nearly as much.
-Mac Mineralized Skin Finish powder started at 71 grams, it was 70 grams last time and remains at 70 grams. However, I did notice that I can start to see the clay pan (it’s a baked product) at the very top of the container so progress has been achieved.
-Mac Painterly Paint Pot-same here, I had used a gram in the first half but it weighs the same now.
-Mascara Maybelline falsies lash lift-this one is done as it’s been open for 6 months.
-Clinique eyeliner-I’ve used it consistently but there’s no way to show progress. I’ll keep after this one this year as I believe I will be able to finish it.
-Elf brow wax-no discernable progress even though I have consistently worn it.
-Maybelline liquid eyeliner-I did not use this at all this half of the quarter. I am not going to add anymore liquid liners to the stash shop because I don’t really use them.
-Hourglass ambient lighting edit palette. This one also remains the same weight as last update. I did use it very regularly and I am pleased with the progress. The difference between the first photo and this update is significant. I’ve got lots of pan in the bronzer in particular. I also made a lot of progress on the two face powders. The blushes are, of course, slower but the warmer toned one is far flatter than the cooler toned one. And the highlighter has a very large divot in it in one spot.

So, to review, in this quarter I finished:
-Eyebrow pencil
-Sunscreen
-2 mascaras
-Stila Foundation
And good progress was made on the other items, with two I believe I can finish this year even while keeping up with a quarterly stash shop. While progress was slow this month and a half, the overall progress of the 3 months was quite good. Now to relax for a week and then post and begin the second quarter stash shop, post will be up either at the very end of this month or beginning of next.

I’ve got a little update on my first quarter stash shop, and I am delighted to report that despite the fact that I am not out here intending to purposely pan any items, I did finish two things.

Here’s what I chose for my first quarter:

And here’s where I am now:

So, for progress-

The Stila foundation I don’t like and am determined to finish up this year. I’ve been hitting it pretty hard. At the beginning of the project I had 87 grams and it is now at 80.

The mac fix plus rose, the washi tape has a marking indicating how far I have gotten, I think that’s pretty decent!

The maybelline concealer has had progress, again indicated on the washi tape. It’s slow going.

The mac mineralized skin finish powder is going pretty well, I feel like I am making a good dent in it though I have not hit pan. According to the scale I’ve only used 1 gram.

I have been consistently using my mac paint pot and the scale tells me I used a gram of that as well.

Next up is my first empty-the dr. jart’s cicapair sunscreen. I am glad it’s gone.

I have two mascaras in this project, but I think I am done with the tarte maneater, not a lot left on the brush as I attempt to apply it.

I finished the brow pencil completely, so that’s gone.

I’ve been using my clinique eyeliner regularly. I have panned one of these in the past, it’s just a travel size. I think it took me all spring so I am hoping that by the end of this project I’ll have finished.

I am finally making a tiny bit of progress on the elf brow wax. While I wouldn’t repurchase, I don’t need to toss it out either.

I have used the liquid eyeliner maybe twice, not a lot of progress there.

And finally, my hourglass palette. I’ve used this every day I’ve worn makeup. I have used two grams. I do think though that the pans on the finishing powder area are far more increased, particularly the bronzer. And while it’s hard to tell, I think I am making good progress on the blushes too, they do not seem as domed as they previously were.

All in all a pretty good month and a half. I so greatly dislike the foundation that I just can’t wait for it to be done. My current plan is to keep hitting it hard through this first three months of the year, then if I still have more left, I will try to make a point of using it at least once a week until I am too summer tanned to do so. It may take me all year, like the mac foundation I panned last year, but I am really determined that this one needs to go. Other than that, I am left with good products I enjoy so it’s not terribly hard to keep working on them.

Despite this though, I am thinking that if I were to do this type of project again, I might do it as an every two month situation. While I would not make as much progress on individual items, I would get more use out of my collection as a whole and feel more inspired waiting on the upcoming change.

Around christmas time last year I did a complete inventory in anticipation of going on a replacements only low buy this year. I knew that I had a few things that were still going to arrive but tried my best to account for them prior to them arriving. I also knew I would purchase a beautylish lucky bag, and I am subscribed to lush kitchen subscription.

So, what came in to my life? a bunch of samples from an order I’d already accounted for, 2 countable items in the lush subscription box, 3 countable items in the beautylish lucky bag, and 2 items that I purchased when Mr. Ink asked me to purchase a certain type of soap for him. The soap is not mine, it doesn’t count. But, I purchased a container of australian gold mineral sunscreen for bike rides, I need something above a 30 and all mineral so it doesn’t bug my eyes. And, in order to get free shipping I purchased a container of sheamoisture body moisturizer. I can’t technically make it work for my low buy, but I did it, I am admitting to it, and I’ll work on that.

In a more productive note, I have had many empties.

As I mentioned in the original inventory post, if it’s a sachet style sample or perfume sample I am not saving it. I am tossing it. But here are the somewhat larger items.

Kenra dry texture spray, I’ve used these many times but I think I am over it, I’ve got other texture sprays I like better.

Nexxus mousse, love it, would repurchase, but cannot until I go through a container and a half of what I already own.

This moisturizer has been in our bathroom for years and no one ever finishes it. So I finished it.

I purchased the TJs charcoal and peppermint shampoo around november 2021 and have been working at it since then. I finally finished.

Clinique take the day off is a fav, would repurchase, but I have a few to work through first and also I like to get this one half price.

Beauty of Joseon essence I really enjoyed and I would repurchase someday when it is needed.

Bedhead thickener, I’ve used this a few times and this is my last time, won’t repurchase.

What was in the Laura Mercier powder was a make up forever powder I finally finished. It was in my project pan last year and I didn’t finish in time. I’ve been working at it since.

I had a perricone MD travel size of the cold plasma treatment. I used it, I have few feelings about it.

There’s a mario badescu clarifying serum, again, few feelings to share.

Pyunkang Yul’s Black Tea Reverse eye cream was lovely. Lasted all year, there’s loads of it in the container and it’s a good price. Would repurchase.

And a gucci sample mascara which I liked far more than I wished I did but I wouldn’t spend that much on a mascara.

So, for inventory, I will only list the categories where there were changes.

Mineral Sunscreen, added 1, now have 3
Gentle Cleanser, added one from lush, now have 3
Cleanser, added 1 from the lucky bag, now have 7
Retinol, added a kit from before the new year, now have 4
Face masks, added an exuviance face polish sample, and also added and used a Dr. Jart sheet mask, I now have 6
Cleansing Balm, used 1, now I have 4
Eye Cream, used 1, now I have 3
Eye serum, added 1, now I have 4
Exfoliating serum, added 2, used 1, now have 3
Vitamin C Serum, added 1, now I have 2
Daily moisturizer, added 2, used 1, now have 7
Toner, added 2, used 1, have 6
moisturizing serum, added 2, used 1, now have 9
Hair repair items, used 1, now have 2
Hair primer, added 1, now have 2
Hair oil/mask, used 1, have 2
Hair mousse, used 1, now have 2
Hair thickening product, used 1, now have 2
Hair texture spray used 1, now have 4
Shampoo, used 3, now have 9. 2 of these were sachet samples
Conditioner, added 2, used 3, now have 11. All used were sachet samples
Added a dry shampoo, now I have 1
Body moisturizer, added 1, used 1, have 6
Body wash, added 1, now have 4
Fragrance, added 2 samples, used 3 samples, now have 43 total items.

Overall, in the past month and then some, I added 25 individual items, most of which are sample sizes. And total used was 22. Not completely even, but close. Next month should be better. As I was updating my inventory, I also took note of the items which I am pretty sure I can count on being finished next month. I can count 10 that I am quite certain will be finished. So next month inventory will look a bit less unbalanced, as I was working against stuff that was ordered already and arriving during the month.

Happy New Year folks! In the makeup panning community a new year is always super exciting. So much of what we’ve been contemplating over a few months gets to be revealed. It’s a nice way of marking the turning of a year.

This year I am not going to focus on a big project pan. Instead, I am going to do a quarterly stash shop in which I see how much use I can get out of makeup in a quarter. This will prepare me better for panning in 2024. So much of what I have doesn’t have a ton of use so panning it would mean I’d be concentrating on one item per category for an entire year and that’s not so fun.

So, I am going to be picking a full face of makeup each quarter to concentrate on. Sometimes I’ll also have a cream and a powder per category, but not necessarily. The rules are that at the end of the quarter I choose an entirely new full face of products for the next quarter, no leaving an item in for 2 quarters in a row. Also, if I do finish an item during a quarter, no rolling in a new item, a finish means an opportunity to use whatever I’d like for the remainder of the quarter. I’ll do mid-quarter updates. So in example, an intro in January, an update mid February, a finale at the end of March, an intro with the new stash shop in April and so on.

This is what feels fresh and interesting to me this year and I have been really excited to prep for it. I’ve been spending the last few months cycling through my stash and trying to figure out how I want to approach this. Ultimately there will be items that I do want to finish up this year. And one will be in this very first stash shop so that I can really hit the ground running with it at the beginning of the year. Also, in this first quarter I have not chosen a lip product to concentrate on as I intend to work on wearing each of my lip products at least once throughout this quarter. That’ll likely take me the entire quarter but at the end of it I will know if anything has gone off or if I just don’t want to bother with something and want to declutter instead.

Here’s the photo of this initial stash shop for 2023.

I have chosen to weigh some of these items since they are hard to track progress on.

Stila Hide and Chic foundation: I do not like this formula and do want to fully use this up this year. I cannot see through the container at all so I have no clue how far along I am. However I’ve used it almost not at all since I didn’t like it, which means that it is basically new. Weight with the cap on is 87 grams.

Mac fix pus: Love this item, have a back up. I am about halfway through, you can see the washi tape on it to track progress.

Maybelline instant age rewind concealer: I admit that I chose this in part because it’s typically pretty satisfying to track progress on these. I removed the sponge as it got too goopy and I will now use it without the sponge. Washi tape is placed to track progress.

Mac mineralized skin finish powder: I’ve had this in my stash for a while and in other projects as well. There’s good use on it. Currently it weighs 71 grams.

Below the mac powder is Dr. Jart’s cicapear cream. I do not like this item. It’s a travel size and I am hoping to finish it during this quarter. It has spf and it claims to color correct. I don’t think it plays overly nicely with most other products, but the stila foundation is pretty light coverage and this does help tone down the redness in my skin, making the stila foundation act like it has more coverage. No weight on this as I think progress will be reasonably easy to see.

And below that, mac painterly paint pot: There’s no way I’ll finish this in a quarter so this is simply an attempt to concentrate on one at a time, with the lid this currently weighs 53 grams.

The next 4 items are 2 eye liners and 2 mascaras. The mascaras will have to be tossed at the end of the quarter. The clinique eyeliner is a travel size so it’s possible I could finish this quarter. The other is a liquid liner that I doubt will be used up.

I have added my hourglass ambient lighting edit palette as I rarely use it because it’s “precious” to me. The Stila foundation does not accept cream products over it, so this is a great time to really concentrate on it. It has all I need so I am excited to work on it. It weighs 137 grams.

And finally my brow product choices. I’ve been working on the billion dollar brows pencil for a long time. I want to finish it this quarter and that seems possible. The elf brow wax is something I keep saying I need to use but never do. This quarter is my opportunity to use it and toss it at the end if I don’t like it. If I don’t use it in this quarter, it gets tossed for sure.

While when I initially look at this it feels….limiting, I think it’ll give me the foundation I want for the year. It’ll also streamline any day which I feel I am tight for time as it allows a solid choice to use instead of trying to make snap decisions.

I am quite eager to see how far I get before the first update. I am excited to have weights on some of these items this time as I don’t think I’ve typically tracked weights before. And since I know I am only using these for 3 months I get the excitement of also contemplating my next set of products for the second quarter while working on these.

In anticipation of a replacements only low buy through to November 2023, I spent some time this week doing an extensive inventory. Makeup is separate as I keep that in an app, this inventory was specifically for skincare, haircare, bodycare and fragrance. I am going to take a little time to post my categories under each and also my current numbers. That being said, please understand that the vast majority of these items are tiny sample sizes, particularly when it comes to haircare.

Skincare:

I like to keep a mineral sunscreen as well as a broad spectrum, so sunscreens are two categories.

Mineral sunscreen: 2
Broad spectrum sunscreen: 7

I use a gentle cleanser in the morning and a more intense one for use in the evening. So these are also kept in two categories.

Gentle cleanser: 2
Cleanser: 6

For makeup removers, I prefer to use a balm or an oil but I do currently have makeup wipes and a biphase item in my collection. I won’t replace those two categories once they are gone.

Makeup wipes: 1
Biphase makeup remover: 1
Cleansing oil: 1
Cleansing Balm: 5

For actives, I like to have a retinol type product, a vitamin C product, and some acids.

Retinol: 2
Vitamin C: 1
Acids: 2

I like to have 2 eye creams, one for day and 1 for night as well as a serum.

Eye cream: 4
Eye serum: 3

Lips, it’s important to me to have a lip balm in different areas of the house and also at work and in my bag. I only keep one scrub. The number of lip balms that I will always have going at once is 5. (Work, handbag, bedside table, makeup table, craft table) And 1 lipscrub. I currently have 8 balms and one lip scrub.

I like to have a daytime moisturizer and a thicker nighttime moisturizer.

Day moisturizer: 6
Night moisturizer: 3

Toners-for me, the best thing is to have a moisturizing toner for day and an active/acid one for night. But I am a bit flexible on this.

Day: 3
Night:2

I enjoy having moisturizing serums with various actives, but I’d like to get this category down to 2. Currently I’ve got 8.

Face masks. Honestly, this is the category I really struggle to even use. Mostly these collect in my drawers and I have to really force myself to use them. I actually did use my very last sheet mask today so that I didn’t have to bring it into the new year. A good moisturizing face mask is probably my best bet but it seems I’ve got a number that don’t work as well for me. In any case, I’ve got a total of 5 face masks, none of which I love.

I do keep a face oil on hand though I rarely use it. 1 is good.

And I have 1 acne product, which I keep on hand and rarely use.

Haircare-

This is, honestly, where the vast majority of my itty bitty sachet items are. I’ve kind of just been saving them up because this year I concentrated on using up two liter containers of shampoo and conditioner. It’ll be another year before I can just purchase what I’d like to be using I think, but we’ll see. I also use a lot of hair products because I have weird hair which I like to stick up as much as possible. In any case, I am completely overloaded in this category and would like to get things down to what I would most conceivably use on the regular.

Shampoo: 12
Conditioner: 12 (The vast majority of both the shampoo and conditioner are sachets or travel sizes.)

Hair repair items, currently I have 5 none of them full size.

I have 1 smoothing balm in a travel size.

Gels/balms, I have 3 in this category, all of them sachets.

Hair oils/masks: 3

Toner, this is a necessary item for my silver hair, I only have 1, I only keep one, and I don’t scrimp on it.

I currently have 4 hair powders, I use these so often that I do rather stock up. But I am going to “spend” them down.

Texture spray, when I am not using hair powders I am using texture sprays. I’ve got 2 favorites and am trialing a few others. Currently I own 5.

For whatever reason I have acquired 2 spray waxes. I actually do like these items but I also have 2 waxes in a pot and I don’t really need 4! Let’s see if I can get at least one used this year as I don’t use them often. Concentrating first on those in a pot.

Hairspray is a category I use a lot and I currently have 2.

Mousse is another item I use a ton of, I have 3 currently though one is almost done.

Thickening products: 3

Now on to body care! I made a bit of a misstep this year which I am looking to rectify in the upcoming year. I tried the original soap and glory scent in a body lotion, loved it, tried another, loved it, and somehow decided that meant I should try all the scents. Turns out the original is my favorite and I am now stuck working my way through a bunch of body lotions I don’t love. Currently I have 6 to work through.

I have 3 body washes at the moment, they are all from lush, and I love them all. However, I suspect I will finish my yog nog at the beginning of 2023.

I am ridiculously picky about hand cream. I like one kind and one kind only, and that’s First Aid Beauty. I can usually get it on a good sale, and like to have as many as I have lip balms. Currently I own 5 but could make do with 4.

I have 2 cuticle oils, and that number will remain the same.

And finally, fragrance. I have 44 fragrances, the vast majority of which are itty bitty sample sizes. It’s my intention in the upcoming quarter to go through ALL of them. I’ll be categorizing them into 4 piles. Wintery scents, springy scents, scents I don’t want to wear at all ever, and scents that are masculine enough to give to Mr. Ink to see if he wants to wear. I’ve got an ongoing perfume project pan I plan to continue in hopes I can whittle down that number well.

I think it’s a very easy conclusion on why I can do a replacements only low buy until next November. I will update these numbers quarterly during 2023 and see how much I can move out of my collection. I am also going to bring back empties posts, but only with travel size or larger items. I am going to simply get rid of sachet or sample size items. I do not want to keep those for an empties post.

While I don’t have any current project pans running beyond a perfume one, I have had a couple of really big finishes lately. I don’t keep my empties or do empty posts right now so I don’t typically highlight what I have finished. However, there are a few I’ve been working on for years that I have finished and I wanted to highlight them. I am going to use the last available photo I have for them.

The first is my Tarte timeless smoothing primer last shown here:

This photo was taken at the end of October. Basically about 2 months of use finished it up.

Then there’s the mac foundation I’ve worked on bit by bit all year. For the majority of this year we’ve had to wear masks at work and this is a foundation that did not work under a mask. So I had been using it bit by bit on weekends and at times I wasn’t at work. Then, later in the year we were allowed to stop wearing masks. So I then concentrated on the foundation and was able to finish it. I am delighted!

This photo is from mid-September when I had finished the project I’d been working on all year. I’d been using a pump from a different foundation, and right around this time I had to stop using the pump because the tube did not go to the bottom of the container. For a long time I just had to keep the bottle on its side, then I flipped it upside down and kept using it, and in the end scraped out the sides with a tiny makeup spatula. This now resides with my back to mac items.

And finally the latest finish, the oldest perfume in my collection is finished now.

It also goes down in history as the first time I have ever finished a full size of perfume. I am ridiculously proud.

All of these items I’ve had in my collection for years. All of them I’ve worked hard on all of this year. It took effort, but I am thrilled to call all three of them finished.

I’ve also had a few skincare finishes and haircare finishes that I am super proud of, but I did not save the empties. I finished a liter container of shampoo and a liter container of conditioner. I’ve never finished a liter container before and I will never purchase a liter again. But they are done. I also finished a 6.7 ounce container of face cleanser from Tula. I’d received it in a subscription box ages ago and I thought I would never finish. I am delighted that I am done! Also from a subscription box was a 30 ml container of eye serum from mudmasky and let me tell you, 30 mls of eye serum is a lot of eye serum! Took me over a year to finish it.

I am now enjoying two makeup related activities. The first is opening my homemade makeup advent calendar. My daughter wrapped up makeup from my own collection for me to open each day of this month and I am enjoying that immensely. The other activity is simply planning what I am doing for a project next year, and honestly? I don’t think I am going to have a project that works on finishing anything specific. Instead, I believe I’ll choose items to use for 3 months, see what kind of progress I make, and then roll in a full set of new products for the following 3 months. I feel like 4 sets of a full face of makeup used for a solid 3 months at a time will set me up well for future project panning plus serve the purpose of rotating through my current collection. If I do a project pan it’ll probably be body or haircare related or both.

There’s an interesting cycle that happens with every new hobby I take up that I’ve noticed over time. The first part of the cycle is an initial excitement to try all the things and acquire certain tools, etc. Then there’s a feeling of being overwhelmed by stuff, and also settling in to the hobby enough to know what I like and want to do and what tools I like to use which puts me in more of a “don’t buy more, just use what you already have if possible” zone and that’s the best place to be with any hobby. That’s where I am with makeup now and that’s where I’d like to stay over the next year.