little white truths

Hello and welcome to my next round of Project Dent!

I knew I'd be denting a bronzer next and I've decided to pick this one, partly because I love it and partly because I haven't reviewed it yet and I need to.

Do note that I've de-potted mine and put it into a custom palette, although I've popped it back into the original packaging for the sake of these photos.

I'm mentioning this because you'll note that I've had a little de-potting accident (see below), although thankfully only a thin layer of product dislodged so I just crushed that up and 'sealed' it back in, and the powder beneath that and around it is fine so I'll work through the broken bit soon enough.

Anyhoo! Here's how my bronzer is looking today, 1 March 2019:

Same shot, enhanced for clarity:

My aim over the denting period will be to work through the middle of the product and see if I can remove the crack you can see, and I also want to focus on the re-pressed bit so I can finish that and hit the 'original' product underneath.

I'll also try to finally review this bronzer during that time, which I'm looking forward to doing because I love it and it definitely warrants a decent review.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to another Project Pan mini update!

As you may know, I finished off two products a couple of days ago and posted on those yesterday, and this morning I finished this Laura Mercier lip gloss - so I've got another empty for you already. Hip hip hooray!

There's my marker:

So there wasn't much left when I started panning it, and it's no surprise that I've finished it quickly. I did really like this gloss but I'm also glad it's gone because I'm keen to get through as much stuff as I can this month, in preparation for my next makeup inventory in March.

As for my replacement:

It's my NYX Butter Gloss in Sugar Plum (reviewed here). This is now my oldest gloss and I want to start panning it because it's lasting me forever. Reason being, I can't wear it alone (it's too cool-toned), so what I do is mix it with a pink or coral to get a gorgeous lavender shade.

Hence it will take me a while to pan because I'm not using it alone, but I'll eventually bring in another gloss to mix with it and my aim will be to get through both of those together.

I haven't marked it yet because I can't see how much I've used, but I'll stand it upright today and see if it settles so I can mark it before I start using it.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to another Project Pan mini update!

Happily I've finished another two products this month, so it's already shaping up to be a much better month than January and I expect to finish at least two more items before my next full update.

Woot woot!

Above you'll see my Dermaveen Hydrating Facial Moisturiser, which was an ok product (if not hydrating enough for my dry skin), and I managed to pan it by using it as a hand cream because I was low on hand cream but had too much face cream so it made sense to use it that way.

You'll see from the marker above that I didn't have much left, so it's not surprising that I panned it only a couple of weeks after my last full update.

Above is my Manuka Doctor ApiRefine CC Cream SPF 20. You can see that there wasn't much left when I introduced it, so it's not surprising that I've already panned it.

I enjoyed this product and I would buy it again, although I'm glad I've finished it because I have my next makeup inventory coming up in March, so it's nice to clear out another product before then.

As for my replacements:

I've decided to introduce a highlighter and also a primer, because I would like to reduce those categories this year - so it makes sense for me to bring them in early in 2019 since both of them will take me a while to pan.

Let's have a quick look at each item in turn.

The first is The Ordinary's High-Spreadability Fluid Primer (reviewed here). I really enjoy this product but it's the oldest primer I own so it's time to get through it - plus I have another smoothing primer that I like and I don't need two.

There's quite a bit left and you don't need much per application, so I can see this lasting at least four months. We'll see.

Next, my Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder in Euphoric Strobe Light (reviewed here). While I do like this highlighter a lot, I also own Brilliant Strobe Light and I always reach for that one over this one, so it's the highlighter in my collection that I use the least.

It will likely take me all year to pan, but I don't mind that because I can use it on my collarbones on those days when I want to wear something else on my face. It looks nice on the eyes too.

In sum

That's all from me! I'm super happy that I've panned two more items and I'm looking forward to panning more before my next Project Pan full update.

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

Hello and welcome to my next round of Project Dent!

I've just cycled through my face palettes and highlighters as part of this project, and I would now like to work on my blushes and bronzers - for the simple reason that I want to focus on items that aren't eyeshadows while I make some good early progress in my Pan that Palette challenge for the year.

First up in the blush category is this Hourglass blush in Dim Infusion, which I'm obsessed with, but it's also my oldest blush so I'm looking at introducing it to Project Pan in the next month or so.

If you're interested, I've reviewed it here. I absolutely love it and it's one of my top three blushes, but I noticed last year that the top layer didn't airbrush the skin as well as it used to, and although it performed better once I removed that top layer, I know I don't have long before it loses its brilliance - hence why I want to pan it sooner rather than later (it's almost five years old now anyway). I do however plan to buy it again down the track, once I've panned a few more blushes.

Anyhoo! Here's how it's looking today, 28 February 2019:

Same shot, enhanced for clarity:

My aim over the denting period will be to make as much progress as possible, just to give myself a head-start before I try to pan it. 

While of course we never see much visible progress on Hourglass powders in a two-week period, we should see some changes to the surface markings during that time (especially the air-bubbles), so I'll aim to achieve that over the denting period.

Wish me luck!

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to another Project Dent update post!

I did consider denting this for a full month because there's so much product in here, but in the end I decided to stick to a fortnight for the simple reason that it's the only item I've worked on over the past two weeks and I would prefer to keep things moving and introduce two new products shortly.

Note that I chose to work on this alone so I didn't have anything else competing with it, although to be honest, I'm not sure how much difference that made!

Perhaps what I'll do is use it for a full month in December, as I often do with my Kevyn Aucoin custom palette. Indeed, I can use both palettes for that month and give them a good run then.

Anyhoo! Here's how my palette looked two weeks ago:

And here's how it's looking today, after two weeks' daily use:

  

Below I've enhanced the above two shots for clarity.

Two weeks ago:

Today:

Unsurprisingly there's not much progress showing on this thing but we can still see some slight changes. The two smaller highlighter pans are now looking used and the bronzer looks a tiny bit flatter. 

Prosecco Pop (that's the golden half-pan) has a larger dip showing now because I used it liberally on the body, and I can also see some movement at the very top and very bottom of the Gorgeous Cosmetics pan (bottom left) because I focused on those areas in my eyeshadow looks.

That's all from me. I'm glad that I've had a good play with this palette and I'm now looking forward to choosing my next items for Project Dent.

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

I did my skincare no buy update yesterday (see here) and I'm back today to do my makeup one.

It's been three months since I started both spending bans, and I have to say, it's been smooth sailing so far and I haven't thought about buying anything.

Still, I have had a makeup item come in during February because my husband bought it for me as a surprise. What happened was that he went away to NZ on business, and since he's about to take two more trips (leaving me alone with two pre-schoolers), he bought me a highlighter he knew I wanted as a thank you.

* Image courtesy of temptalia.com

It's the Marc Jacobs O!mega Glaze All-Over Foil Luminiser in Gilty. When I saw this come out, I was looking at it a lot online because I felt like it was the highlighter I'd been waiting for. It's from Marc Jacobs - a brand that's up there with Hourglass as being a favourite - and it just looked like the right kind of colour for me.

So my husband bought it for me when he got back from NZ, bless him, and I'm really glad he did. While it didn't go straight to the top spot as my favourite highlighter when I started using it, I do really like it and I'm looking forward to reviewing it soon.

Plus there was room for another highlighter in my collection because I've finished a couple lately, so I know it will get used a lot. That's the main thing!

That's my update for the month. I'm still on a no buy and I still haven't broken my no buy rules, and I do intend to keep the purse strings closed until my birthday at the end of June. After that I'll work out whether to reinstate the no buy for the rest of the year or otherwise change it to a low buy.

In the meantime, I'll keep panning away - with the aim of finishing as many items as I can this year because I want to keep streamlining my collection and reducing what I own.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com unless otherwise indicated

Hello and welcome to my three-month update for my skincare no buy 2019!

It's been a pretty easy no buy this year and I haven't thought too much about the fact that I can't buy anything, although note that my skincare stores are dwindling quite a bit so it's not surprising that I had to make my first essential purchase this month.

Indeed, I made that purchase about ten minutes ago on my way home from the city, because I realised that I've panned three exfoliants in the last month and needed a replacement.

Here's what I bought:

* Image courtesy of priceline.com.au

It's the Andalou Naturals Clear Skin Lemon Sugar Facial Scrub. Now I've had my eye on this for a long time, but every time Andalou has been on sale, this product has vanished immediately from my local store and also from online.

So when I had to stop by the chemist today for nappies and saw it there, I decided to go ahead and buy it: I mean, it retails for $22.99 AUD at full-price so it's not that expensive in the scheme of things and there wasn't any other facial scrub I was interested in.

I'm really glad I bought it and I can't wait to try it, and I'm also glad that I was able to make a little essential purchase this month to replace the three exfoliants I've recently finished: it was nice to spend some time browsing the skincare aisle, which I haven't done for months because I haven't wanted to tempt myself.

Do note that my skincare and makeup no buys are still going, and the same rules apply as always: I can only replace essentials when I've completely run out of something and don't have anything in back-up, as was the case here.

Also note that I expect to start running out of more skincare in the next month or two, because my back-up cupboard is looking pretty sad these days and I don't have a hell of a lot left.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com unless otherwise indicated

I've been using this powder every day for months and I've kept meaning to review it, it's just that I kept forgetting about it.

But I edited the photos yesterday and that meant it was top of my drafts list, so when I saw it sitting there this morning I knew it was the post I needed to write today.

Yes, it's the fabled Laura Mercier setting powder. Yes I like it and yes I can see why people rave about it, but it's not my favourite and I wouldn't buy it again. More on that below.

Laura Mercier claims/product details:

• Cult favourite and winner of multiple major awards
• Pros love the super smooth application, which goes on evenly, blends effortlessly and provides great wear
• Sets makeup for 12 hours without adding weight or texture
• With a touch of sheer coverage and a lightweight, matte finish
• Doesn't settle into fine lines and never looks cakey
• This no-flashback formula is perfect for photos and creates a soft-focus effect to subtly blur the look of fine lines and imperfections
• Available in Translucent (for fair to medium and tan skintones) and Translucent Medium Deep (for medium-deep to deep skintones)
• Oil-free, non-comedogenic, non-caking and dermatologically tested
• RRP $62 AUD for 29g

You'll see the holes in the cap below. 

There's quite a few of them and they're also quite large, so I wouldn't travel with this unless you can seal the cap with the original plastic sticker or with a powder puff - otherwise the product will spill everywhere.

Verdict

This is a good product and I can see why so many people like it, although I wouldn't buy it again because I prefer Coty's offering (I've reviewed that here), which is also significantly cheaper so it's a bit of a no brainer in terms of which one I would buy again.

It's a translucent loose powder with no scent. It's super finely milled so you can get a really thin coating with this if you want to, and it feels smooth and silky to the touch - if a tad dry.

It applies and blends well, and I agree that it isn't detectable on the skin. It also doesn't sit in fine lines or wrinkles, and I agree that it doesn't look cakey or announce itself as powder on the skin.

I also like that it has a blurring effect so it smooths the look of pores. Do note, though, that it's not as effective at smoothing out the look of pores as the Coty powder, which is one of the reasons why I would opt for the Coty over this one. Yes this airbrushes, but the Coty is in a league of its own.

Other things I prefer about the Coty are that it adds a little more coverage with less product and that it also knocks the tacky finish off my tinted moisturiser with less product. So the Coty will boost my tinted moisturiser and make the coverage a touch stronger while Laura Mercier's offering doesn't do that as much, and I also find that I need to add more of the Laura Mercier than I do the Coty if I want to make my base less sticky so that my blush and bronzer will blend better over it.

On the claims: yes it goes on evenly and blends well; no I don't think it sets makeup for 12 hours (I get oil-breakthrough with this by lunchtime, although admittedly it's summer so it's hot); yes it has a matte finish but it's not a flat matte (there's some life to it); yes it's finely milled and lightweight; yes I agree that there's no flashback; and yes it has a soft-focus effect so it blurs the look of pores and other imperfections.

Overall I think this is a great product and I recommend it. While I wouldn't buy it again because the Coty is my HG, I still think it's good and I can see why so many people love it: it sets makeup without looking cakey; it's finely milled; it applies well; and it blurs the look of imperfections.

Worth trying.

Hello and welcome to another Project Pan update for the year.

As you can see above, I've now finished my Keisha & Co mask, which I'm happy about because the product wasn't working that well for me so I'm glad it's gone.

There are my markers:

So I've managed to finish this in two months, which I was able to do because I ended up using it on my body - it just wasn't working for my face so I went the alternate route in order to get through it.

As for my replacements, I've picked two:

I chose two face masks because I'm keen to get through the ones I have open so I can get stuck into the ones I have in back-up, and also because I have my updated skincare inventory coming up next month and I want to reduce my numbers as much as possible before then.

I've also decided to introduce two extra products now because I know I'll be finishing more items before my next full update and it's better to introduce new things earlier in the piece, rather than later on when I won't have had much time to make a dent in them.

First up, my Chantecaille Jasmine Lily Healing Mask (reviewed here). I really enjoy this product but I must have had it for over eighteen months now so it's time to get through it.

While there isn't a huge amount left, I don't need much each time so even with twice-weekly applications it will still take me at least a month to get through. I'm looking forward to using it more often, I must say - it's very expensive, but also very lovely.

Next up, my Andalou Naturals BioActive 8 Berry Fruit Enzyme Mask (reviewed here).

While I love most things I've tried from Andalou so far, this particular mask doesn't do much for me so I would like to finish it and move on to something else. It's quite full but there's only 50g in here so I expect to get through it within two months.

That's all from me. Do let me know in the comments how your panning projects are going this year: I'd love to hear.

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

I've been using this mascara for ages and I've also been meaning to review it for ages, it's just that the swatch photos took me a while to do.

I received it as a GWP along with an order a while ago, and I was looking forward to trying it because I've heard great things about it. I'm pleased to say that I do like it, and although I've used brushes that separate my lashes better than this one does, it's still good and I can see why people love it. More on that below.

• A 4-in-1 mascara for stunningly thick and alluring lashes
• Add a little drama to the eyes with this mascara’s expertise to lengthen, curl, add volume and condition the lashes and make your eyes pop
• A cult classic for over a decade, this best-selling vegan mascara lengthens, curls, volumises and conditions, acting like a push-up bra for your lashes
• Curls and separates every lash with 360° magniLASH wand 
• Creates a naturally defined and voluminous look 
• Rice bran, olive esters and provitamin B5 help soften and nourish lashes 
• Always formulated without parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulphate and gluten
• RRP $29 AUD for 7ml

There's the wand:




And again:

I've been meaning to review this eyeshadow for ages, it's just that other reviews took precedence and I also hadn't used it that much until recently because it's more of a night product for me and I wouldn't wear this to the playground or kinder run.

I was very keen to try it though because I'd heard so much about these, and I'm pleased to report that they're very pretty products and I can see why people love them so much. Having said this, they don't gel well with hooded eyes so I get fallout, and lots of it. Foo. More on that below.

Stila claims/product details:

• It's all about bold, glitter-drenched lids with this collection of long-wearing liquid shadows, infused with a blend of pearl and glitter for next level sparkle
• Take your shadow game up a notch with this liquid glitter formulation, developed to completely saturate lids in unparalleled sparkle
• This ultra pigmented shadow delivers the ultimate disco ball lids in a single swipe and dries almost instantly to lock in weightless shine
• The best bit? No fallout in sight! 
• Kitten Karma is described as 'champagne with silver and copper sparkle'
• RRP $37 AUD

There's the applicator:

Light and heavy swatches, direct sunlight:

Indirect sunlight:

Verdict

I think this is a really stunning product and I can see why so many people love these, although note that they don't stay put on my hooded eyes so I do get fallout (and quite a lot of it), meaning I wouldn't buy more because of course I don't want glitter all over my face.

It's a liquid product that comes in a plastic tube with a doe-foot applicator. The texture is very thin (albeit gritty from the glitter) and I find it easy to apply: I just whack some on with the applicator and then use my fingers to blend it out.

Do note that the shadow sheers out a lot so I don't get a lot of base colour from this, and I've heard that some of the darker shades offer more pigment so that's something to note. I don't mind that it sheers out because I think the effect of these is more about the glitter than strong colour, but perhaps that's just me.

While this dries down and sets nicely, I do need to work a bit harder because I have hooded eyes. So I'll apply some to my lid and then keep my eye closed until it sets - otherwise I end up with sparkle all over my hood, which isn't what I want. Once it has set, I'll go ahead and do the other eye.

What I find with this product is that although it sets nicely, not long after I start to get glitter fallout under my eyes and the fallout continues throughout the day - so it's not really wearable for me unless eg I'm going out for a short dinner and don't need it to last more than an hour or so. I guess what's happening is that my eye hood is causing the glitter to dislodge and shift, so I would be careful with these if you have very hooded eyes like I do: it may be better to have one applied in-store and then see how it lasts on you before committing to buying one.

As for effect, it's a lot prettier than I expected it to be. I'm not a glitter person, but something about this product is so gorgeous that I can see why people are obsessed with these. Yes the glitter is a little on the chunky side, but it looks so nice that I don't care. It's a great product for a night out or for a special event like a wedding.

Overall I think these are stunning products but I can't use them because the fallout is too much, so things look very messy, very quickly. I think if you don't have hooded eyes then you'll probably be fine, but they don't work with my eyes so there goes that.

Gorgeous, but too much fallout for me.