little white truths

Recently I've been thinking about doing a new series for this blog, one that would encourage me to play with different products I have, rather than just reaching for the same ones or limiting myself to those on my list for Project Pan 2015.

This year I had two main beauty goals: one, streamline my collection by getting through what I have and sticking to my spending ban; and two, making sure I use my 'special' products more so I can really enjoy them, rather than saving them for big occasions and not getting as much use from them.

Project Pan is helping me with the first goal; and this series will help with the second.

I did think of doing 'weekly/monthly favourites' posts, 'shopping the stash' or 'this week I'm wearing' etc, but I didn't want to limit myself in terms of time (eg would I play with certain products for a week or a month? I didn't want a timeline), and rather than just 'shopping the stash' now and then, I actually wanted to play around with my products and see if I could find new and interesting uses for them. That is, playing with coloured products like eyeshadows/lipsticks and mixing those to create new looks.

So I thought 'now playing' was a better title and concept, and what I plan to do is look at the products I own with a new eye to see eg what other products they work best with, what interesting colour combinations I can create, and what bright and little-worn products (eg lipsticks) I can use with other products to make them more wearable. Hopefully making these discoveries will also be useful for others.

My aim it to really appreciate the products I own - whether the expensive or budget ones - and make sure they're well-used. For example, those Hourglass palettes I have sitting on a pedestal really need to be used more than once a week if I want to finish them off before they go rancid (!). Plus this might help me to restrict the ever-expanding wishlist that I'm compiling while I'm on my no-buy. We'll see if that works ; ) - as a beauty junkie it's pretty hard to stop your endless search for the latest and greatest new thing.

For each 'now playing' segment, I'll do an initial post setting out what I'm playing with for the moment, then I'll do an update post once I'm happy with my adventures with each product. I'll probably keep the list pretty small each time - say at least three products but no more than five - otherwise I won't be dedicating enough thought to each separate product and I want to keep the list moving fairly quickly. I'll also keep the lists of products small because I am still doing Project Pan and this series will need to fit in with that.

Anyhoo. Enough preamble.

Here's what I'm playing with now:


Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion

Is anyone surprised that I bought the peach colour in this range?!

I haven't reviewed this product yet and this 'now playing' segment gives me a good opportunity to do this. It's a really lovely blush that totally lives up to the hype. I bought it not long before going on my spending ban (indeed, I bought far too many products before the no buy, as a kind of last hurrah ; ) ) and I've probably only used it twenty times since then. Shock horror!

In particular I'm looking forward to seeing what eyeshadow shades it works best with.


Lime Crime Lipstick in Geradium

Full review here. This is one of those lipsticks that I don't wear enough because it's so bright and not your everyday kind of colour, plus my husband really hates it. But Lime Crime lipsticks are on my HG list and I want to make sure I get plenty of use from both this and Coquette, the other one I own. Since I've had this for longer and am less likely to use it, I thought it was a good 'now playing' product.

You never know, I might be able to fool my husband into liking it by mixing it with something that's less in-your-face.


theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer

Full review here. This is a sensational product and one that gets a lot of (valid) hype, and it's definitely one I need to use more. Since I've been busy finishing off other illuminators, this one has fallen to the wayside. It's time to bring it back into circulation! I think there's probably more 'learning' I could do with it in terms of how to best use it around my eyes, so I'm looking forward to doing that.


Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser in Groenland and St Moritz

This product (in Groenland) featured in a recent post I did on various Nars samples (see here) and I loved it so much that I went out and sourced a third sample in St Moritz, which I think is a better colour match for my skin - particularly in the warmer months.

I want to use these samples up, rather than casting them aside and concentrating only on my Project Pan CC cream, so I've included them here. Plus I reckon I'll be able to do a decent, full review of this product (which has gone straight to my wishlist) after using up the samples, since I've now got a reasonable amount of product to play around with and trial properly.

In sum

That's it! I'm glad I finally settled on the idea for this new bunch of posts.

I'll check back in and write an update post once I've played around with everything and discovered some fun looks. Yay!