little white truths

As you may know, I recently took a makeup inventory (see post here), and in that post I included some goals for the changes I would like to see happen in my collection during the course of 2017.

I thought it might be useful today to sit down and nut out what those goals actually mean in practice, since that will give me a clearer idea of what I need to do next year - rather than relying on the reduction in numbers I've noted in my inventory post as a reference alone.

So without further ado, here are my specific panning goals for 2017.

Finish two bronzers and hit pan on a third

While bronzers take forever to pan, I think it's possible that I'll manage to finish two next year because I've already hit good pan on two of my full sizes, one of which I'm using to contour and the other being a dedicated bronzer (so I can pan them at the same time).

I would also like to get some good dents happening in the bronzers I have open, since some of those have barely been used. Yes that's a lot of bronzer that needs to be put on only one face, but I do use bronzers on my neck and body as well so they're easier to finish than blushes - plus I have a mini that could be my 'hit pan only' product under this heading. We'll see.

Finish two blushes and hit pan on a third

Now before you say 'that's impossible' (because it is), keep in mind that I already have two blushes on my panning list, one of which I'm mixing with my setting powder to make that last longer (because it's too pale to be a blush on me but it's super finely milled so I want to use it), and the other being the remains of a loose eyeshadow that I've pressed so I'm only panning the last quarter that hasn't been pressed (and I'm calling it a blush because I don't use it as an eyeshadow).

So that's two products that shouldn't present huge problems in terms of finishing them, but I would like to see some pan showing on a third product and that will take some work. Whether I'll focus on a mini or a full size I don't know, but I'll settle on that soon and keep you posted. I may well try to pan one of the blushes in my Z-palette so I can move it out of the palette and replace it with another one.

Finish two powder foundations

Not much to say here because I only have two full-sized powder foundations and both are currently on my panning list, so they should be done by the end of 2017. That's by no means a definite, however: having dry skin, I don't use a lot of powder so I can see those lasting forever because they're both a whopping 27g in size. Yikes!

Finish four liquid base products

By this I mean anything that falls within the liquid foundation, BB/CC cream and tinted moisturiser category. I'm setting the goal quite low here because I've panned a lot of liquid base products during 2016 and I'd like to have at least some break from doing that in the coming year. This also isn't a category that I'm completely over-stocked in, so I don't need to attack it as aggressively as I do other sections.

Finish three primers

I also don't have too many primers when you consider that most of them are minis and travel sizes (I only have three in full size, two being unopened). But I don't like clutter so I would like to move at least three - and possibly even four - out of my collection next year. Definitely possible.

Finish three concealers

Concealers don't need to be super difficult to pan because you can occasionally mix them with your moisturiser and apply them as foundation (if they're the right colour of course), and I've done that before when I've needed to boost my progress. 

They're also good for mixing in with your base product to adjust the colour slightly, which is how I'm panning the one on my Project Pan list right now, so I can't see any problem with finding a way to pan three throughout the year.

Finish two liquid highlighters

This is easier said than done because one of those will be my full-sized Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal, and if you've ever owned one of those, you know how massive they are and how long they take to finish.

While I did manage to empty Becca's Moonstone this year, I started with a good chunk of that already gone and with Opal I'm starting from a much fuller bottle. Still, it's possible that I'll do it because I do use liquid highlighters on a daily basis mixed in with my foundation.

As for the other one I'd like to finish, I'm currently working on a travel-size of Josie Maran's liquid highlighter and I can see that one being done within the next month.

Finish three powder highlighters

This is the category I need to work on more than any other: I somehow wound up with sixteen full-sized highlighters and that's beyond ridiculous. My golly.

I have just finished one and moved in another for use on the body, and I've also brought another one into Project Pan 2016 to use mixed in with my body cream. So there's room for one more, to be used on the face only. I'm still working out which one I'd like to pan so stay tuned.

Finish one corrector

I only have one of these and it's on my panning list, but I'd like to finish it so I can try another one. While finishing one seems like an achievable goal, the pot is lasting forever so I may not pan it until the end of next year or even later. Fingers crossed.

Finish three cream face products

By this I mean the two cream blushes I own and the only cream contour duo I have. The cream blushes can be used as lip tints so I can still pan those alongside my powder blushes, and the cream contour duo is something I've been working on behind the scenes for the last couple of months, with a view to bringing it into Pan that Palette next year. I reckon I can finish that but I'm less confident about the second of the cream blushes. We'll see.

Finish three cream eyeshadows/primers

This is not an easy goal, but I'm only planning to use two of those on the eyes. The third is a shimmery base and it's so bad that I can't use it on the eyes (it never sets and it transfers in a heartbeat), so that one will be mixed in with a body cream at some point during the panning year.

As for the other two, one is my Too Faced Shadow Insurance - my only dedicated eye primer and a product that's getting a little old - and the other a liquid eyeshadow that I can use as a base. That will leave me with one only, and that's a good number for me.

Finish one face palette

I'm only mentioning this because my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Wardrobe is currently on my Pan that Palette 2016 list, so I'd like to finish it off in the first few months of next year so I can then focus on other products. After that, I'll work out if anything else needs to be panned under this heading.

Finish twelve eyeshadows and pan six more

This is a huge task for me because I don't use much eyeshadow per application (I prefer a more natural approach on my hooded eyes), and the only reason I feel that I may be able to finish twelve is because I've already hit pan on a few via Pan that Palette 2016.

My aim is to move some out of my Z-palettes so I can depot more to fill the spaces, leaving me with a more condensed collection. The shadows I'll be focusing on are mostly my Nars duos, my Stila In the Light Palette and my Stila Eyes are the Window Palette in Mind. I've picked those because they're the oldest shadows I own, and I've got my work cut out for me so I'll need plenty of encouragement throughout the year!

Finish twelve lip products

My lip product collection isn't too over-saturated because I've panned a lot this year and I get through lip products relatively quickly: I have super dry lips and I'm always applying something to them. Mind you, I'd prefer to finish the 2017 year with a reduced collection because I have 41 lip products in total (including everything from liner to gloss) and that's too many for one pair of lips. 

Ideally I would like to have 20 items in total and no more, so hopefully I can hit that goal in 2018, if not earlier.

In sum

There are my panning goals for next year! Seeing everything written down like this makes the task feel huge, but I know that I can meet most of my goals if I really set my mind to it - and if I'm lucky, I may just meet all of them.

Note that I haven't included some categories (eg eyeliner) because I don't have many of those so I'm not focused on panning them.

I've tallied everything up and I've committed myself to finishing 49 makeup items next year and panning eight, which is a lot of makeup but it would set me up to have less than 100 items in my collection by the beginning of 2018, which is the goal I set for myself in my makeup inventory post. Wish me luck!

Do let me know if you're planning to do any panning projects next year and what goals you've set for yourself if so.

Speak soon x