Project Pan 2 Month Update!

First of all, I'm not sure why I feel the need to put an exclamation point on my Project Pan posts, but I do. There is just something so satisfying about actually finishing a makeup item, especially when there are a surplus of items languishing unloved. So let's see what progress I was able to make in two months.

If you missed my Project Pan announcement post, you can see it here. I've brought back 10 of the 12 items to show you my progress, and let's start with the 2 items that are down to their very last dregs! The bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream has become one of my favorite foundations, and after I could no longer squeeze any out I decided to cut it open. It felt like there was still some left, but I wanted to see how much.

July

September

There was enough for a few weeks more use (considering I rotate foundations fairly frequently), so I scrapped it out and put it into an empty container. I also used my Le Metier de Beaute (LMdB) Peau Vierge concealer down to the rim. I was curious how much was beneath the rim so dug it out with a knife.  A fair amount, actually, so I saved it to a container. It's a favorite, after all:-)

Let's continue with some more favorite LMdB products. I use the Peau Vierge pressed powder as my setting powder every day, and the metal part of the pan is slowly growing. It's going to take a while to finish this.

July

September

I use LMdB Nude eyeshadow every day after I apply eye primer to smooth my eye area and prep it for other shadows.  It's the same color as my skin and such a nice matte formula. I've hit pan!

July

September

I also made some progress on  LMdB's Shimmery Sand-White. Considering I mainly use it for an inner eye or brow highlighter, it's going to take a while to get through this. I originally thought I could use it as a face highlighter but it has some small silver shimmers in it that are larger than I like for a facial highlighter. I also tried using it mixed with a facial oil (hence why there are some scraped bits) but again the larger shimmer bits just don't work for me in that capacity.

July

September

The Inika brow pencil in Blond is slowly shrinking.  In July there was still a logo/writing near the tip, which is gone now:

July

September

I've made pretty good progress on my Buxom Cherry, which looked like this in July:

July

September

I keep Cherry in my purse and use it at least once a day. Looks like I'm down to 1/3 of the tube, which I should be able to knock out by my next update.

July

September

I did not make much, if any progress with Sunday Riley's Sunday, however:

July

September

Buxom's April did see some usage, although I reach for Cherry more.

September

July

I used Tarte's Energy fairly consistently and that sucker is lasting longer than I thought it would. I am enjoying it though, so there's that. Now, if I can finish Cherry, April, Energy by my next check in I'll add some replacement products, but overall I'm happy with my progress!

Pacifica Travel Ready Facial Wipe Set

Disclaimer: I purchased these.

I've been eyeing the Pacifica facial wipes for a while and finally picked up the Travel Ready set ($14), which contains five different varieties in smaller packs of 10 each. I also got the Future Youth Enzymatic Resurfacing Mask and the Ginger Root 10-in-1 Hair Volumizer, although today I'm going to focus on the wipes. Spoiler alert: I really like these! Plus, look at the pretty packaging/colors.

The set contains:

• Purify Coconut Water Cleansing Wipes: Coconut water infused natural towelettes gently remove toxins, oils, pollutants and makeup-up from your skin without water. These also contain the natural exfoliant Papaya as well as aloe vera and soothing calendula.

• Essential Makeup Removing Wipes: Coconut milk infused natural towelettes gently remove makeup, daily pollutants, and everything you don't want to sleep in without the use of water. Other ingredients of note are chamomile, calendula, jojoba oil, and aloe vera. While I rarely use wipes to remove my makeup, I did stay up way to late one Friday and was too tired to do my usual cleansing routine so I tried these. It took 2 wipes to get everything off, but I thought they were pretty effective. I still had some mascara smudging going on, but the rest of my face was clean and soft.

• Moisturize Energize Serum Wipes: Add a blast of instant hydration and floral water to wilted, tired skin. Energize and leave neck firm and refreshed. Ingredients of note include glycerin, birch sap, aloe leaf extract, coconut milk, green tea extract, vitamin e, and calendula. While these are marketed for those with dry to normal skin, I did not find it too heavy/slick for my oily skin.  

• Peach and apricot infused natural wipes help remove dead skin and brighten the look of skin. These can be used after removing makeup as a final treatment prior to applying moisturizer. Ingredients of note include Willow Bark extract, aloe leaf, sage, rose, papaya, apricot and peach extracts, and vitamin e.  Natural grain alcohol is #3 on the ingredient list, although my oily skin is pretty hardy and I did not feel that these were particularly stripping or harsh. However, I use wipes sporadically and not every day, so there is that.

• Super Detox Deep Purification Wipes: Super green kale, cucumber and mangosteen infused natural wipes deeply cleanse and help decongest clogged pores. These can be used after removing makeup as a skin care step prior to moisturizing. Willow bark extract and natural grain alcohol are higher on the ingredient list, which makes them well suited for my oily skin, although they are supposed to work for all skin types.  

All of the towelettes contain fragrance, although they are noted as being natural in origin. I personally love the scents in each of them, so that's not a detractor for me. I keep these in my refrigerator and primarily use them on the weekend as a quick skin refresher and especially after working in the yard. While I've been pretty loyal to the Yes To makeup wipes, the Pacifica ones have risen to the top of my list now. They are more expensive and smaller in size, however, but considering I mainly use them for the reasons I listed, I'm okay with that.

Julep September Maven Box: Cheers to Five Years

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

This month marked Julep's five year birthday, and they had several sets we could chose from for our customized Maven boxes. I chose the mini pencil set, as I love Julep's gel pencil formula and I'm an eye pencil junkie.

I'm more than happy with my choice, as the colors are gorgeous and unique to my collection. Which is hard to believe, as I've got soooo many eye pencils.

The only color that was a little problematic is Ultraviolent, which could be due to purple pigment's somewhat difficult tendencies. You can see how it's a bit bunchy/patchy in the swatch above, and I'll be interested to see how it works on the eye. I'm seriously in love with Gilded Gold Shimmer, which applies like butter. Once I've worn all of these I'll post a review.

My other choice for September's box was the oxygen bonding base coat Stick It To Me.

I added Peggy using my points, which is described as a charcoal with rose shimmer. I'm currently wearing it on my toes and am not sure how I feel about it yet, although it's an interesting color. I was able to get away with one coat, although I'm guessing two will work better on my hands. However, I'm seeing a negative review on Julep from someone saying Peggy turned her nails blue, so perhaps it's good I tried it on my toes first. I rarely wear bare toes so if this does stain, I'll be able to cover it up.

I paid $19.99 for my box, as I was fortunate to be grandfathered in at a lower price, and continue to be a happy Julep subscriber!

My Last Ever Drugstore.com Haul

Disclaimer: I purchased these.

As you may or may not already be aware, drugstore.com and beauty.com are closing at the end of September. They are owned by Walgreens, who is apparently only going to focus on walgreens.com going forward. I've been shopping at drugstore.com for about 15 years now, so I'm sad to see it go :-(

Avene Thermal Spring Water at $1.76 each (regularly $9) 

About 4 weeks ago I was doing my Sunday wake up routine of drinking coffee and checking email when I clicked on a sale notice from drugstore.com. There were some insane deals going on that I jumped on, and the bargain hunter in me was more than a little stoked to see some items marked down 93%. That's crazy good, right? I got everything shown for about $28.

Herbacin Foot Care Starter Set at a $.05 each and still available (regularly $16.99)

I have no idea if this was a glitch in drugstore.com's system or what, but my order went through fine and I settled in to wait for my goodies. The order was split into 2 shipments and the first box with only 2 items arrived in a few days, but the bulk of the order languished in delivery purgatory with no signs of moving. I contacted drugstore.com, they emailed back "so sorry, these items are no longer available, we will refund you".

NIA24 Gentle Cleansing Cream at $2.58 each, regularly $33

About 4 days after receiving my refund, the box showed up on my front steps. I experienced a missing shipment with beauty.com recently as well, which leads me to believe that closing the sites down has messed with their normally reliable services. Or I guess it could be coincidence.

Reach toothbrush at $.86 each, regularly $4.29

Anyhow, receiving my missing box was like Christmas in August, and in fact I purchased multiples of some of the items in order to give as Christmas gifts.

Jadience Purifying Toner at $1.01, regularly $18

I also purchased some staples and a few other items to get my order to the $35 minimum for free shipping, including Palmer's Skin Therapy cleansing oil ($7.99) that Musings of a Muse gave a rave review to.

So long, drugstore.com and beauty.com. I shall miss you!

Culling My Collection: 2016 Palette Purge Part 3

Time for the final part of my palette purge, starting with Urban Decay! I've got more than a few, including some BYO's that will obviously be staying because I chose all the shadows in them:-) I've also got some discontinued and limited edition palettes, as well as Naked. So let's see what makes the cut. The tally from yesterday's Part 2 is 18 palettes kept and 18 palettes tossed and/or partially depotted, in case you are keeping count.

Yikes, my Naked 1 is growing mold:-( Mobile has high levels of humidity for a good portion of the year, which makes a great climate for mold and mildew to grow, unfortunately. I haven't reach for Naked that often, although I did use it for a month solid when I featured it in my first installment of "Loving Your Unloved" over a year ago. I depotted a few of the colors for my Z palette, but it's time to say goodbye to this one.

I almost never reach for the discontinued Mariposa palette, although every time I look at Money I swoon a bit. I find the tin container hard to open and the way I've been storing some palettes means out of sight, out of mind. So, I'm depotting the colors I like and putting them in a Z palette.

Same with the discontinued Skull palette. I'm pretty sure I picked up both Skull and Mariposa at deeply discounted prices in order to round out my UD shadow collection, so I don't feel bad about depotting colors I know I'll use and putting them in a Z palette and discarding the rest. I never really cared for the UD shadows that contained microglitter anyhow, which is more than a few of these.

 So, I'm tossing 3 Urban Decay palettes:

And keeping 8, which makes 26 palettes kept and 21 tossed.

Next are my bareMinerals READY palettes. I love the formula of the READY shadows and picked up most of my quads during an Ulta 50% off sale a few years back.

Sadly, one of the 8 pan palettes has been blighted with mold, so it's got to go. It's a cooler toned palette that I did not use very often, but it still makes me sad. The tally now stands at 32 palettes kept and 22 tossed.

The last category of shadows are from Le Metier de Beaute (LMdB). These are probably my favorites, and most of them were in eye kaleidoscopes I've collected. I love the look and concept of kaleidoscopes but they are not the most practical, so I decided to depot all of them and put them in palettes a little over a month ago. The LMdB singles I have proved resistant to depotting, however, although I gave it a valiant effort. There are some other shadows in the palettes as well, but the larger round shadows are all from LMdB. I find I'm using them much more often now and I love having them grouped more in color families.

I did need to purchase another Z palette to house the depotted shadows from my palette purge as well as my Makeup Geek blushes, which lost their home when I depotted my eye kaleidoscopes. I chose the Tiffany blue Z palette and am loving my new arrangement of blushes and shadows.

I ended up keeping 38 palettes:

And purging and/or partially depotting 22 palettes:

All of my palettes (except the 2 mammoth Estee Lauder ones) now fit into 2 drawers right next to my makeup table, which means all palettes are easy to see and within reach. I'm using shadows that were being ignored much more often and enjoying items that have languished unloved for far too long. I am happy with this outcome! I really need to quit buying any more eyeshadow palettes for like, years. Maybe ever. Ha.