little white truths

Hello all and welcome to my March Project Pan update!

It's been a much better month for me than the last two and I've happily finished off nine items in March. Huzzah!

As you can see above, this includes four things that I've used up since my last mini update: another Peter Thomas Roth Mask; a hair oil; a travel-sized BB cream and my Vivito blush (a whole blush!).

There they are again above. I've just seen that there's a tiny bit left in the hair oil, so I've now whacked that on as a pre-wash treatment and the bottle looks empty again : )

As for the rest of my list:

• Gorgeous Cosmetics Base Perfect Liquid Foundation in 2N-BP
• Bodyography Oxyplex Foundations in Wheat and Cocoa Tan
• Maybelline FitMe Concealer in 10 Light
• Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Topaz
• 'Tini Beauty Eye Cordial Shadow + Base in Spiced Rum
• Inika Certified Organic Eyeliner Pencil in Black Caviar
• Davroe Smooth Senses Straightening Balm
• Nicole by OPI Nailpolish in Play Fair
• Hikari Lip Crayon in Macchiato
• Bodyography Lipstick in Seductress 
• Chantecaille Lip Chic in Anais
• Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector (switched out)
• Kerastase Elixir Ultime Hair Oil
• Peter Thomas Roth Irish Moor Mud Mask
• Peter Thomas Roth 24k Gold Mask
• St Tropez Self Tan Classic Bronzing Mousse
• Bodyography Concealer in #430
• Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in Light
• Vivito Illust Secret Blusher in PK02 About Pink
• Shanghai Suzy Lipstick in Miss Tanielle Desert Rose
• Nude by Nature Sheer Glow BB Cream in 03 Nude Beige

So yes, I've finished off nine products in March and I've also moved my Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector out of circulation for now. Reason being, I've just bought Becca's Papaya corrector and I'd rather focus on that for a while. But I've used up half the original Becca product and I'll bring it back later on.

If you would like to see my last full update, it's here.

Let's have a quick look at each of my eleven remaining products.

You'll also note above that there's been more progress than usual this month on my Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Topaz. 

I don't think I've used it more: it's just that March was a longer month and I was late with my February update, which is why there's a bigger gap between my lines than there has been in previous months. This is also in for the long haul but I'll get there in the end.

As for my OPI nail polish, I've used this since introducing it to my list earlier in the month, but it's not showing progress yet so I haven't marked it again since that first line. 

It's not easy for me to find time to paint my nails (I have two young kids), so finishing this will be a challenge.

Next up, lip products. You will see my marker sheet below for each of these products, and I've definitely made good progress on all of them throughout March.

The Bodyography lipstick (that's the burgundy one) should be done sometime during April and I expect the Hikari lip crayon won't last out next month either.

The Chantecaille lipstick will be around a little longer, purely because I don't use it as much as the others - it's the most expensive lipstick I've ever owned so I'm in no rush to get through it, it's just that I want to use it up while it's still within expiry.

Last up, eye products. I'm starting to wonder whether I'll actually be able to finish my Inika eyeliner this year: you'll see on the marker below that I'm not making good progress. This is because I only ever line my upper waterline with it (I prefer a soft brown on my lower waterline because black 'closes in' my eyes) and I've no desire to rush through it because I don't have heaps of eyeliner in back-up.

You'll see that I've made a bit of progress on my Maybelline concealer and I've only recently introduced that to my list so I expect it will be gone within a few months. I'm using it to lighten the foundation mix I'm currently using (which includes the Gorgeous Cosmetics foundation above).

As for my 'Tini Beauty Eye Cordial, it's impossible to mark this because I can't tell how much is left, but I'm guessing I've used about a quarter. I'll only keep using this while it's still good (these get thicker when they're starting to expire) so it will be done this year whether I've used every drop or not (I've panned one of these before so I know what to expect).

There's my marker sheet above. You can see that I've made good progress on the Bodyography lipstick in particular. The Inika eyeliner is another story!

Next up, my replacements.

So, for primers we have Maybelline's Baby Skin, which I haven't yet reviewed because I haven't had it long so I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet (I don't think it's that good, but we'll see).

I've also got my Mecca Hydrating Primer, which unfortunately isn't that hydrating but it's not terrible and it will be easy enough to finish because it's a travel-size and I'm already halfway through it. I've reviewed it here.

I wouldn't normally include two of the same thing because it slows down progress on both, but in this case I will because I often mix them: I've found it helps to 'thin out' the Maybelline product a bit.

So I've just done an updated makeup inventory post (see here) and I've decided that it's a good time to revisit my 2017 panning goals because they will now be different, given some unexpected changes to various categories in my revised inventory.

If you would like to see my last 'panning goals' post, it's here.

Otherwise, let's cut the preamble and just get into it : )

Bronzers

My last goal was to finish two and hit pan on a third. I've since finished one and I have another one that's on its way out via Pan that Palette, so I now need to work out which one to focus on next.

I should really focus on finishing my old Stila Sun Bronzer in Dark (I've already hit pan on that) but I love the colour and it's been discontinued (plus I'm yet to find a dupe) so I may actually look at panning something else. Just thinking about it, it will probably have to be my Urban Decay Beached Bronzer in Bronzed since I've already made some progress on that via Project Dent and everything else is too new/full. Unless I pick one of my minis. We'll see.

Blushes (powder)

I'd aimed to finish two and hit pan on a third, and believe it or not I've already finished two (one was the remains of a loose powder eyeshadow that I only ever used as blush and the other I used mixed in with my setting powder because it was too pale to show up as a blush on my colouring), so I now need to focus on a third.

I suspect this will be my Becca Mineral Blush in Bolero because I've just 'dented' that one via Project Dent and I know I can finish it by using it as a bronzer and eyeshadow - so why don't I revise my goal to finishing three (forget the pan part) because I think I can do it. Fingers crossed.

Powder foundations

I wanted to finish the only two (full sizes) I own because I've had them for a couple of years now and they have 36-month expiry dates. I'm not actually sure I can do that because they're 27g in size, but I have made some progress via Project Pan so we'll see.

Liquid bases

By this I mean anything that falls within the liquid foundation, BB/CC cream and tinted moisturiser category.

My goal was to finish four and I've already finished three since my last one of these posts so I need to set the bar higher. Let's aim to kick out an additional two tinted moisturisers and two foundations this year, which I should be able to do because the products I own have already been used quite a bit - I'll just need to pan them in turn.

Primers

I didn't have many of these last time around but I did buy one and I've somehow wound up with another three as gifts, two of those being full size. Oops!

My goal was to finish three but let's make that four (whether full size, travel size or mini) so I can keep this category within manageable levels.

Concealers

I wanted to finish three and I've already finished two so let's move this goal up to four.

Liquid highlighters

I wanted to finish two and I've already finished one, plus I'm working on a second. I don't think I'll manage any more than this because I have two full-sized Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors and I need a full year to finish one of those: they're huge.

Powder highlighters

I wanted to finish three of these and I've already knocked out two so let's increase my goal to four. While it's not easy to finish powder highlighters, I do have two that I'm prepared to use on my body or even mixed in with my body cream (they're quite old now) so expect to see those show up in Project Pan soon.

Correctors

I only have two of these and while I was panning one, I've decided to stop doing that because I'm at least halfway through it now and I'd like to experiment with my new one for a while. If I can finish one this year, great, but I don't think I will and I'm ok with that for now.

Cream face products

I wanted to finish three and I've already finished one (a blush), and I'm panning another one so I'll need to introduce the third into my panning projects soon. No change to my goal here.

Cream eyeshadows/primers

I wanted to finish three - not an easy goal, but I've already panned one and I'm currently panning a second. I did also declutter a third so I'm technically close to my goal and I'm not sure that I can pan an additional one this year. I'll reassess this later on.

Face palettes

I wanted to finish my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Wardrobe and I've done that, so I've reached my goal here and I only have one other open face palette (plus one unopened back-up of the same limited-edition palette) so I don't need to work on anything else under this heading for the moment.

Eyeshadows

I wanted to finish twelve eyeshadows and pan six more. I've finished four so far (two from my Z-palette and two outside of that) and hit pan on a few others, but there's still plenty more work to be done. No change to this goal.

Lip products

I wanted to finish twelve and I've already finished ten (I find lip products the easiest but I've also finished four plain lip balms as foot 'creams'), so let's increase that and aim for twenty in total by the end of the year.

In sum

That's all from me for now. I've definitely set the bar high in many categories but I do think my goals are mostly achievable: I've been a panner for years now so I have a reasonable idea of what I can and can't manage in the space of a year.

Do let me know in the comments what your panning goals are for 2017 - I'd love to hear.

Speak soon x

Hello all and welcome to my March 2017 makeup inventory. I wrote my last one of these back in January (see here) and I've decided to do quarterly updates, so here I am with the next instalment.

While three months isn't a long time between posts so there won't be much movement, I feel it's important for me to do one of these every few months because it's a good reminder of what I have so these posts tend to stop me from buying things I don't need. Not only this, they keep me motivated for my panning projects and they also give me ideas for what to pan next.

So without further ado...

Base products

Primers

I did have five of these in my last update, and somehow this category has gone up and so I now have eight (open: two full size, one travel size and one mini; unopened: three full size and one mini).

Of the new ones, I've only bought one full size - so the extra full sizes and mini were either sent to me or came as a GWP. My goal for this category was to have no more than four, or to have no more than 90ml open at one time, so while I now have too many in back-up, at least I don't have too many open.

Looks like I need to pan primers! Let's aim to have six by June's inventory update.

Setting sprays

I have two open full sizes (one's almost finished), so this category has gone up by one but I was allowed to buy a replacement so I'm ok with this number.

Liquid illuminators

I had four and I now have three (two open full sizes and one unopened mini), so I don't need to do anything with this category - other than pan my two open ones because I've had them for a while.

Liquid foundation

I had four and I still have four, although one's almost finished so we're getting there. My aim is to have two.

Shade adjusting drops (new category)

I said I was going to buy the Australis lightening drops when they were on special, and I did this earlier in the month so I'm pleased because it means that I'll no longer need to buy foundations in two colours (for summer and winter).

Powder foundation

I still have two full sizes (same product, two colours) and one unopened travel size: three in total. My goal for this category is one full size and perhaps one travel size, which is why I'm currently panning my full sizes - so I can eventually just buy one in one colour.

BB/CC cream and tinted moisturiser

I had five and I now have three because I've panned myself down in numbers. Woot woot! My aim is to have no more than three (or no more than 100ml open at a time), so I'm good for this category but I'd like to get through a couple of mine this year because they've been open for six months now.

Corrector

I had one and I've now bought a second one that I've been dying to try. Two is probably too many so I'll eventually pan one.

Concealer

I had six and I now have four because I've panned two. I've adjusted my goal of three or four here because I've realised that concealer is something I don't 'need' to own in different formulas and I'm happy to just have one formula in different colours, so my new goal here is two.

Face (miscellaneous) 

Setting powder

I had one and I now have three because as promised I bought the RCMA No Colour Powder and I also received a mini as a GWP. My aim is to have only one (plus the occasional mini to try something new), and I'll get there soon because the one I'm using is on the way out.

Finishing powder

I had two and I now have one because I panned the palette I owned. Yay! Happy with this amount.

Face palettes

I still have one (plus one unopened backup of the same limited-edition palette), which contains a finishing powder, a bronzer, two blushes and one highlight. I'm happy with this amount, too.

Creams

Cream blushes

I had two and I now have one because I panned one. My aim is to have zero since I don't use cream blush, so I'll start panning my other one very soon.

Cream eyeshadow/bases and primers

I had three and although I've since panned one, as promised I've also bought the Too Faced Glitter Glue and another 'standard' eye primer because all I had left was two cream eyeshadows and I don't always like using those as bases. 

The two dedicated primers aren't open yet, however, and I would like to finish one of my creams before tucking into those. My eventual goal here is two primers only because I don't use cream shadow.

Cream contours

I have one cream contour duo and one creamy highlighter pencil. I'm happy with just those two but I'd like to pan both this year because I've decided that I don't need cream contouring products - so zero is the eventual goal here.

Cream highlighter (new category)

I received one in a sub box and I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll keep it, but what I do know is that I'll either declutter it or pan it because I don't use cream products enough to have a spot for one in my collection.

Powder products

I've come to dread this particular heading because it's my worst one by far. I think everyone has a weak spot and this one is mine, so what I want to do here is have a 'two out, one in' rule - meaning I'm still allowed to buy things under this heading (life would be boring otherwise ; )), but I do need to get my numbers down to a more comfortable level. 

Note also that these numbers don't count the products in my Z-palettes, since I view those as 'palettes' and I'd rather count the pans in those separately because it makes it easier to see movement throughout the year (eg as I finish pans in my Z-palettes and move my full-sized products into those) - and seeing movement is what keeps me motivated!

Bronzer

Ok, so I did have ten (including two powder minis and one liquid mini) and I now have more because I was sent four powder minis as a gift (so I now have five minis of Benefit's Hoola). Ach.

Now I know I've panned and depotted some so I went and counted them again, and I have five full sizes (plus one unopened); one liquid mini and six powder minis. That's eleven in total - a lot more than my goal of six - but once I make room in my Z-palettes, I plan to move the Hoola minis into those so things will look much better here soon enough. Wish me luck!

Blush

I can't help myself when it comes to blushes but I have panned a couple since the last inventory. Before I had nine full sizes, one half size and one three-pan palette; now I have eight full sizes (plus two unopened because I bought two of the Marc Jacobs Airblushes - naughty), one half size and the palette. So let's call that twelve. Yikes. My aim is seven eventually but I'm aiming for nine by the end of this year: I'll hopefully pan one and make enough room in my Z-palettes to move some into those.

Powder highlighter

I had fourteen and I've had to count them again because I know I've finished some and also moved some into my Z-palettes. So I now have nine full sizes and one half size (we'll call that ten), meaning I've done better in this category than I thought I would. 

My ultimate goal here is seven and I'd thought that I wouldn't get lower than ten this year, but looks like I might so let's aim for eight by 2018.

Eyes

Eyeshadow palettes (small and large)

I had two quads, two quints and three larger palettes (seven) and I've since bought another large one so I now have eight. I'm not too fussed about this because I'm not far away from depotting at least one of my smaller palettes into a Z-palette (I've made some room through Pan that Palette 2017), so let's aim to keep this number at around seven.

Eyeliners 

I had two (one open and one unopened back-up) and I now have three because I received a mini as a GWP. My goal here is two.

Mascara

I had three and I still have three because I received a mini in one of Mecca's Beauty Loop boxes. That's the one I'm using and the other two are unopened back-ups. I'm happy with this category.

Brow products

I had one clear brow gel and I've since finished that so I now have zero here. That's fine and I might eventually buy a dedicated brow product, once I've finished a few pans of brown eyeshadow (which I'm currently using on my brows).

Lips

Lip liner

I had two and I still have two. I don't use lip liner so I'd like to pan both eventually.

Lipstick

Previously I had eighteen (including two unopened back-ups) and I've had to count them again - not an easy task because I've got lipsticks all over the house! - and I now have seventeen (including the two unopened ones). Twelve is my goal here.

Lip crayon

I have one and I'm currently panning it, so finishing that is my only goal here.

Lip balm

I had three open and six unopened (so nine in total) and I now only have three (all open) because I've panned myself down. My goal was four so I've done even better than this and I'm happy to just use the three I have and eventually only have two (one for the handbag and one for the bedside table).

Lip gloss

I had seven and I now have five (two open and three unopened), so I've exceeded my goal of six (four open, two backups) and I'd quite like to only have three eventually.

Z-palettes

As always, the sting in the tail. 

I have four in total: two larger Z-palettes and two smaller ones.

In my last inventory I had:

• one bronzer
• one contour powder
• three full sized blushes and three mini blushes (six)
• three highlighters 
• fifty-five eyeshadow pans

As mentioned previously, my goal with this section is not so much to get the numbers down (because I want my Z-palettes to be full), but instead to keep finishing pans for now so I can continue to bring new products into these palettes, since I reach for them daily and anything in them gets plenty of use. So I've done pretty well in this section because we can see there's been some movement.

In sum

Hullo all and welcome to my next Pan that Palette update for the year!

It's been a pretty good month for me and I've finished off my first two shadows, plus you'll see some good progress in many of the shades in my Z-palette.

Speaking of Z-palettes, I'm aware of the recent controversy surrounding the brand and, in light of the situation as it stands, I don't plan on buying any more Z-palettes in future.

However, I will keep using the three I own while they're still in working order because it would be a complete waste to throw them out and I would just have to buy new ones from another brand if I did that. Everyone's entitled to react to the Z-palette controversy in the way that's most true to them, and that's my reaction - plus I don't have the spare dosh to buy new palettes and I also think it's a waste of resources, materials, energy etc if I throw something out while it still works and is relatively new. It wouldn't be an environmental decision and these days I'm very much guided by environmental concerns.

But let's move on.

There are my two Pan that Palette subjects above. There's plenty of pan showing through but there's still much work to be done.

If you would like to see my full February update, it's here.

Let's start with how my Z-palette looked at the end of February:

And here's how it looks now, at the end of March:

So there's been some progress and I've finished off my first two shades: the pale yellow Stila shade (top right - sorry, the peach below it fell out and jumped into the wrong pan during proceedings!); and also the Coastal Scents shade (the small round pan at the bottom).

I'm pleased that I've finished those, but even more, I'm super happy with my progress overall this month because I've made a good dent in a few other shades too.

Here's how the left side of my palette looked last month:

And here's how it looks now:

  

So I hit pan on the peach Stila shade on the left (that's the one that moved) and also on the rose beside it within a few days of last month's update. Since then, the peach shattered and I lost about a quarter of what was left on the floor, and as for the rest, I retained the bottom half but mixed in the last (shattered) quarter with a blush I was in the process of re-pressing (that's the blush from my Project Pan list).

Otherwise I've mainly been focusing on Stila's Wit (the caramel shade showing pan), which I often use as a blush and also to touch-up my eyeshadow and blush throughout the day. If I'm not using Wit for those purposes, I'll be using the rose instead.

I've ventured into the remaining shades a few times each and I'm happy with the progress on this side of the palette, although I need to start working more on the shimmers. My aim had been to make as much progress as possible on the mattes first because they're more tightly packed and are therefore harder to finish, so now that I've done this, it's time to start focusing on the shimmers.

My goal for next month is to hit pan on the purple Lancome shade (bottom row), finish the matte peach and get through as much of Wit as I can.

Here's how the rest of my palette looked at the end of February:

And here's how it looks now:

I didn't think I'd made much progress in my Bahama Mama bronzer because I wasn't using it as much this month, but I can definitely see the difference between the two photos. Throughout March I was focusing on a blush that I was using as a bronzer as part of Project Dent, which is why both Bahama Mama and the Nars shadow below it aren't looking as worn as they might otherwise have done. 

Now that I'm back to mixing them as my bronzer shade, I expect to see the Nars pan gone very soon. As for Bahama Mama, as soon as the Nars shade is gone I may well put it in a smaller eyeshadow pan since I'll only be using it to contour after that (on its own) and also mixed with the brown Stila shade (bottom right), which I've started mixing with Bahama Mama to get a good colour for my brows and also to line my lower waterline. You may remember that I was using Stila's Sandstone for this previously, but I decided to use this brown instead because it's been re-pressed and what's left is easier to finish.

The peach Nars shade is getting used as a highlight on my body because it's more frosty and not very pigmented, and I won't be surprised if that's done by the end of April. The plum Nars shade (bottom right, next to the brown Stila shade) is also showing more pan because I often use it as a base: it will still take some time to finish because these Nars duo pans are so large, but I should get there eventually.

Otherwise there's not much visible progress in this lot - although I've definitely used the peach blush (the rectangular pan) quite a bit as an eyeshadow so what's left is much lower than it was last month.

Next up, my Stila cream contour duo. Here's how it looked at the beginning of last month, when I introduced it to the challenge:

And again (I've enhanced the below shot for clarity so it looks a bit darker):

There's not a lot of progress, but there's definitely some. I can especially see the difference in the paler shade, which I've started mixing with my brand-spanking-new Becca Backlight Targeted Colour Corrector in Papaya: together the mix gives me the perfect salmon/peach shade that really does make a difference to my under-eyes.

So I'll keep using the pale shade for that purpose alone since I like that mix better than I do using Papaya on its own. 

As for the contour shade, I'm using that daily for contouring but you really don't need much so it's going to take ages to get through. So long as I can finish it by the end of the year, although I might need to start applying a bit more because at this rate it won't be finished by then!

In sum

I feel as though March was really the month when I 'broke the back' of this palette, even though there's not a lot of visible progress. This is because I can better-see which shades will be knocked out within the next month or two and it's made me realise that I may in fact achieve more than I thought I would, so I may revise my goals in the near future and aim to finish more than six shades completely. (I had aimed to finish six and hit pan on twelve.)

Also, I wanted to let you know again (if you haven't seen me say this yet) that I do plan to shuffle this palette around later on - I won't do it any more than once because I don't want to annoy you too much! ; ) - so it may be that I do this earlier than expected (I'd thought I'd probably do it in June). My aim is to bring in my other Nars shadows because they're among the oldest I own and perhaps another random pan or two (anything that will fit). I'm doing this of course because I want to knock out as many pans as I can this year and really keep the ball rolling.

Hope all's well with you guys, and speak soon x

Yesterday I introduced a GA-DE quad into Project Dent for March, and also let you know that I planned to use it alongside this Burberry one - so I'm back today to talk about the Burberry product. If you're interested, the GA-DE post is here.

I bought this Burberry quad not long after Sephora opened its doors in Melbourne: I'd wanted one of these (and a Burberry blush) for ages because the formula has been raved about something chronic in the beauty community, and after much swatching I decided that this was the palette for me. 

While I did wait for a 20 per cent off sale before buying it, it still cost $72 AUD - which is of course ridiculous - but I'm prepared to pay that much for a good formula.

I must have had this eyeshadow quad for close to a year now, but it was only around six months ago that I actually opened it and tried it for the first time. 

Reason being, I (mostly) don't like to open products as soon as I get them - I prefer to save them for a rainy day - plus I didn't actually buy this product and it came as a GWP with a Beautybay order yonks ago. 

Also, it wasn't the GWP I selected at the time (from memory I chose a travel-sized cleanser) but apparently Beautybay had run out of the cleanser and so I wound up with this. Since it's a full-sized item and not a cheap one at that, I wasn't complaining!

That being said, this is the kind of palette that I can't get a full look from and so I never use it. I did consider decluttering it at one point but I do like gold and I don't have that much eyeshadow, so I kept it with the idea that I may eventually depot the shades and put them in a bigger palette with some mattes (these are all shimmers and satins).

With that in mind - and knowing that I'll soon be ready to remove some empty pans from the Z-palette I'm focusing on for Pan that Palette 2017 - there will soon be room in my Makeup Geek Travel Vault (after I've moved some shades from there into my Pan that Palette challenge), so I'd like to use this more often now and work out whether I want to keep it. I also plan to review it soon so stay tuned for that.

Worth noting now is that I don't plan to 'dent' this product alone during the Project Dent period: I also plan to bring in my one other eyeshadow quad, a Burberry palette, the idea being that these two quads should work well together and therefore might end up alongside each other in my Makeup Geek Travel Vault. 

This will in turn hopefully mean that I start using them more often, since neither of these quads has had much use and I keep forgetting I have them.

Anyhoo. As you can see, this palette contains four shades of gold and no mattes - so to me, it's not a versatile palette and I'll probably never use it much unless I do depot it.

I've probably used it twice on my eyes and swatched it twice too, so it's barely been touched and it's therefore a good subject for Project Dent.

There's the palette in natural light (outdoors):

There it is again, direct sunlight:

Not much use to see here!

Also worth noting is that the dirty gold shade (top left) has unfortunately developed some hard-pan (in the centre, you can see it looks darker where the hard-pan has formed). That's disappointing - particularly when you consider that I've barely used this - so I may need to scratch that off during the denting period. We'll see.

I plan to use both this and the Burberry quad every day for at least two weeks. While this may affect how much I can use my Pan that Palette  shadows during that time, I'm comfortable with the progress I've made so far on those and I will still be using plenty of the shades on the face (rather than the eyes), so it won't hold up proceedings too much.

Hope all's well with you guys, and speak soon x