little white truths

Related to the above, I'm stuck in a blush rut too - although the difference is that, most days (I'd say nine out of ten), you won't catch me in a nude blush, you'll be seeing me in a coral, orange or peach one - all of which are arguably the same shade anyway.

Yes I'm currently panning a blush palette, but there's a plum and a pink in that and I never use them on my cheeks; I use them on the eyes and always use the peach one in the cheek position. Oops!

Also, I normally allow myself one or two days a week when I don't use the blush palette I'm panning on my cheeks (otherwise the rest of my collection would be gathering dust), and when I do reach for something else, it's always one of my orange/coral/peach blushes too. Double oops.

I do own some beautiful blushes that are nude, plum or even peachy pink (the only 'pink' that suits me), so I would like to make myself use those more this year. And if I'm wearing more bright eyeshadow for once (see above), this will encourage me to at least reach for my nude blushes more often so the blush doesn't compete with the eye look.

Can a leopard change its spots? We'll see.

Cycle through everything (and I mean everything)

Even though I'm a panner and I'm doing Pan that Palette and Project Pan again this year, this doesn't mean I can't ensure that everything else in my collection gets used.

If you're familiar with my Project Dent series (the one where I pick a product and focus on it for a fortnight before moving on to something else), that's how I use this project - and this year, I want to go harder on Project Dent than I ever have before, which will allow me to ensure that everything I own gets some use throughout the year.

While I don't need to worry about things like lipsticks, foundations and primers because I always rotate those anyway, I do need to worry about my powders - including the ones that have been depotted and are in my custom palettes - so I'm going to make this the year that everything gets its time in the sun. I did try to do this in 2017 but I didn't quite get there: 2018 is going to be the year.

Also, if I do this, I'll have a better idea of what I want to pan next and what deserves to be in my collection for a little longer. Looking forward.

Review everything that hasn't been reviewed

This won't apply to most readers, but it will apply to those who blog or have a Youtube channel: I can't be the only one who has let some products fall through the 'review cracks'; ie I've owned them for years in some cases but I still haven't reviewed them. Erk.

The products I'm thinking about are some of my older favourites that I haven't had to rush through because they're not limited edition or time-sensitive (eg new releases), so items like Hourglass' Dim Light and my Marc Jacobs Airblushes have been sitting there for ages, well-loved but not yet discussed.

I must change this. The point above will help me with this because all those powders that haven't been raved about yet (or complained about, as the case may be) will have their time in the Project Dent sun at some point, leaving me with little choice but to finally review them. 

I hope.

Don't have so much skincare open at once

This is a big one for me, and while I'm pretty good at making sure I don't have eg too many foundations and primers open at once, for some reason I'm rather naughty when it comes to skincare and I have far too much to choose from at any one time.

Part of the reason for this is that I tend to test new products for a while before giving them a break (and opening something else in the process) and then going back to the original products - once I know how my skin has reacted to stopping and then starting the original items again.

While this is a good, useful way to review things and I would like to keep doing it, I would also like to limit my skincare-opening behaviour to this situation or when I've just plain run out of something. But do I? No! If I need a lift then I tend to open new skincare, which means I have so much that's lining the bench. 

Silliness. Stop. Stop now, Jane.

Wait, wait and then wait some more

I did this to myself again the other day and I'm annoyed because I really thought I'd gotten better at it. Apparently not.

So Chemist Warehouse was having one of its 50 per cent off makeup sales, and I actively made my husband drop me there on the way to somewhere else (so it wasn't an impulse buy: it was a very deliberate one) because I've been itching to try the L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara for years and now was my chance to buy it half-price.

That sounds fine in theory, yes? Except that I already have three mascaras (one open, two in back-up) so I technically won't need another one until August/September anyway, and by then there'll have been more sales that I could have shopped at instead. So why did I have to buy it then, when it's now third in line to be used?

More silliness. Sure it's not the end of the world, but given that I'm aiming to bring both my makeup and skincare inventories down this year, I'll need to get smarter when it comes to taking advantage of sales and stop buying back-ups or new products months and months before I'll actually need them. The end.

Don't transfer spending behaviour to other areas

As you may know, I'm currently on a skincare no buy and while I wouldn't say that I'm on a defined makeup low buy, I tend to be really careful with my makeup purchases because I know how long makeup lasts so I generally only replace things when I've finished something similar.

What this means, though, is that haircare, fragrance and body care are suddenly wide open, and while I can't see myself going bonkers with haircare because I never do (nothing can save my dry, unruly locks - I stopped trying long ago), I've already found myself eyeing off all sorts of body products and fragrances that I would like to try in future.

Don't Jane, don't. Just because you don't have 564 back-ups for body products and you only have three perfumes, this isn't licence to start changing that situation until your skincare spending ban lifts and you've finished enough makeup to allow yourself some purchases. Ok?

In sum

Just thinking about it, what I might do with all these resolutions posts is revisit them perhaps halfway through this year so we can see how I've done with them, and if there are any resolutions that I need to focus on more (or if there are any new ones), then I might include some fresh resolutions as part of my 2018 blogversary series (due towards the end of June).

This way you'll know how successful I've been - and why or why not - so it might be more useful than just making lists that you never hear anything else about.

Do let me know in the comments if you have any beauty resolutions for this year, or if you can relate to any of the above: I'd love to hear.

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

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com