little white truths

I sat down to write an empties post this morning but I don't feel like doing that because the kids are at kinder and childcare for a few hours, meaning I'm better off writing the kind of post that I can't write when they're here.

As you may know, I recently wound-up Project Pan 2018 - and I promised to write a couple of wrap-up posts after that project to round things off for the year. While I've already done my finale and tally posts (see here and here respectively), I thought it might be useful to do a lessons learned post. Yes I've done plenty of these before and don't have heaps of other things to add, but I wanted to use those lessons to set myself up for Project Pan 2019. So that's what we're doing today.

Oh! Note that I have set down specific panning goals for 2019 (eg how many bronzers I would like to finish): that post is here if you're interested.

I need to start working on the bigger/harder stuff

This is something that's been coming for a while. Often when we're panning, we'll pick things that we know we can finish or that are old and on the way out. While that's a good strategy to start with, there comes a time when those things are gone and it's time to look at the larger things that are going to take more effort.

So while I've found it easy this year to get my numbers down by eg panning my lipstick collection away (lip products are the easiest for me to pan), we're at the point now where all the so-called 'low hanging fruit' is gone.

This means I need to turn my attentions to my full-sized blushes (which will take forever to pan) and also my larger eyeshadow palettes, which until now have been passed over for single pans in my custom palettes and also smaller items like quads. That gravy train is over. I need to commit myself to the long-haul stuff, in the knowledge that it will take a long time to get my numbers down if I'm doing that. But it's time.

Oldest first

This is something that the vast majority of panners know but I wanted to mention it here because it's something I've come across more than once in 2018 - especially via Project Dent but also via Project Pan.

While yes, it's obvious that panning your older items first is the right way to go because they're the ones that are more likely to go off sooner, I think we can all fall into the 'oh but that's my favourite' trap sometimes - and in so doing, we risk losing the quality of our favourite products.

For example, I'm currently working on my Kevyn Aucoin custom palette, which contains various powders from that brand. What I've discovered is that the two oldest eyeshadow pans in that palette have become a little dry - which isn't surprising because they must be four or five years old - but it's reminded me that I can't keep them forever, even though I love them. I can say the same of my oldest Hourglass blush, which still airbrushes my face but I know it won't forever because the top layer had stopped airbrushing until I removed it with tape and revealed the fresher powder underneath.

So there may be some shifting around when it comes to my panning projects next year. Yes I'm still panning my Too Faced palette via Pan that Palette, but it's looking as though I need to move some of those Kevyn Aucoin eyeshadows up the panning list. I don't want to finish them because I love them and they've been discontinued, but I also don't want them to degrade in quality so it's time for some of them to go. At least I'll love panning them.

In sum

That's all from me. While I don't have a lot of lessons in this post, I've dealt with panning lessons many times before on this blog (eg see here) and this post is more geared towards what my 2018 panning projects have taught me in the context of what I need to do for my panning projects in 2019.

Do let me know in the comments if you have any lessons you'd like to share: I'd love to hear.

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

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com