Project Pan Finale: Empty Products

A few months ago, I decided to embark on a project pan to use up or hit the pan of several makeup items. My goal was to finish 12 products before Christmas/the end of 2018. And as you will see below, I not only hit that goal, but I surpassed it! I used up/hit the pan of 19 makeup products!

In this post, I'll walk through all of the products I used up and discuss if I plan on repurchasing or not.

Soap and Glory One Heck of a Blot
Goal: Finish
Status: Will not repurchase

As you can see with this dirty pan, I accomplished my goal of finishing the setting powder. The powder developed hard pan, which made it difficult to use, so I needed to repress it to get rid of the hard pan and give myself an even pan again. This is what it looked like before repressing:

And after:

Once I repressed the powder, it was much less densely packed, which meant that I picked up more product with my brush. While I liked this product and I think it does a good job of keeping the face matte, with the loosened product, I found that it left a white cast on my face and make me look really powdery. This didn't happen until I repressed the product, which, again, was generally difficult to use before repressing. 

I don't like to keep more than one powder in my collection at a time, so I have replaced this product with the Hourglass Veil translucent powder. So far, I really like that one. 

Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel

Goal: Hit the pan

Status: Will continue to use, but will likely not repurchase

Back when I was living in New York and using makeup as a coping mechanism, I purchased the very expensive and not at all inclusive Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel cream bronzer, which is also known as the "universal bronze." This is not a universal bronze. This is the first and only cream bronzer I have ever used, and while I think it's a good product, I have to really blend it out or else it leaves my face with an orange/brown stripe. Obviously part of this could be my application or user error, but the shade just isn't right for me or what I would want. With that said, the product works, and I would like to use it up since there is nothing wrong with it and I spent quite a bit of money on it. 

Generally, I find that I prefer my powder bronzer (Hourglass Luminous Bronze Light), so while I intend to use up this product, I doubt I will repurchase. 

Tarte Exposed blush

Goal: Hit the pan

Status: Will continue to use, but will not repurchase 

This may be the only powder blush I have ever hit the pan of, and the only reason I have is likely because I have to use so much product just to get any color payoff. I do like the color of this blush, but Tarte is not a brand that I want to support. I'm tired of how non-inclusive the brand is, and until that changes, I don't want to purchase anything for them. I don't know if Exposed will stick around in my collection long enough for me to use up the entire thing, but if it does, I will not repurchase. 

Physician's Formula Butter Highlighter in Pearl

Goal: Hit the pan

Status: Will continue to use

I have a lot of highlighters in my collection, but this is one of my favorites. I'm not a huge fan of the twist packaging or the swirl design, but I really love the product. It has a duochrome finish, and I find that it lasts longer on my skin than many mid-range or high-end products. I don't hear a lot of people talk about this, but it's certainly a product that I love. This is only the second highlighter that I have ever hit the pan of, and the other is Becca Moonstone, which is my all-time favorite. 

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light

Goal: Hit the pan

Status: All-time favorite

After I finished my Dim Light powder last year, I immediately replaced it with this one. I love this product. I use it as an all over finishing powder, and I find that I just don't like my makeup without it. I will continue to repurchase and love this product. 

Physician's Formula The Healthy Foundation and Milani Conceal + Perfect

Goal: Finish

Status: Will not repurchase 

I am usually a huge proponent of "do not use a product that you hate just to finish it," but I made an exception for these two foundations. In an attempt to find a more inclusive foundation to support (we will get into this more in the next product), I purchased both of these foundations. On their own, I hated both of them. Mixed together, I hated them less. The worst offender of the two was The Healthy Foundation. This looked so dry on my skin, and I have combination skin. The coverage was very thin, and while I don't like full-coverage foundations, this one didn't even seen to be able to provide an even layer of coverage at all. The shade I purchased was also too light for my skin tone. Conceal + Perfect, on the other hand, was way too full coverage for me, and the shade I purchased was too dark. I was able to mix the two of them together for shade and coverage/texture, and while that was better than either on their own, it still wasn't great. 

It's worth noting that the cap on The Healthy Foundation continually broke and splintered off as I worked through the bottle, which made this miserable to use. I can see both of these products working for people with skin types that are different from mine, but I will not repurchase. 

It Cosmetics CC+ Cream

Goal: Finish

Status: Will not repurchase until the shade range improves 

If you've been a longtime reader of my blog, you'll know that this is my all-time favorite foundation. Truthfully, I would be very happy to just use this foundation and not even try another one. But, this foundation shade range is unacceptable, and I cannot support it. Until recently, there were only four shades in this range, and none of them were dark enough for deep skin tones. The range has expanded to 12 shades, but seven of those are meant for light skin, three for medium skin, one for dark, and one for deep. So, even though the range is slightly better, it still skews too heavily toward light skin, and it is not something that I am comfortable supporting. 

To replace this, I have recently purchased the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r foundation, and I absolutely love it. 

Elf Mineral Face Primer

Goal: Finish

Status: May repurchase one day, but not now 

I used up a few primers during this project, and I think this one is good value for the money. I liked it just as much as the Make Up For Ever mattifying one, and think it gives generally similar results to the Hourglass Mineral Veil. I didn't love it, however, and I have found other primers that I like more.

Samples: Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Instant Retouch Primer, Becca Backlight Primer, Becca Blurring Primer

Goal: Finish

Status: May repurchase Becca Backlight Primer

I had three primer samples, so I used them all up in this project. 

Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Instant Retouch Primer: I hated this primer. It was impossible to pump (but that may just be the sample), the smell was off-putting, and the texture was very waxy and thick. It clung to the foundation and my Beauty Blender—making it impossible to wash—and I did not like the results on my face. 

Becca Blurring Primer: I also hated this primer. I left behind a powdery residue on my fingers and face after application, and I found that it didn't work well with my foundation. 

Becca Backlight Primer: I've purchased this before and didn't care for it or notice any difference with it, but it looked absolutely gorgeous with the Fenty foundation. I am currently using the Australian Gold mineral tinted sunscreen as a primer, and I love that, but I can see myself buying the Becca Backlight again soon. 

NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Goal: Finish

Status: Have already repurchased 

This is my all-time favorite eye primer, and one that I will continue to repurchase. I have finished several bottles of this primer, and I will continue to repurchase it. 

L'Oreal Lash Paradise Base

Goal: Finish

Status: Have already repurchased

I haven't tried too many mascara primers, but I loved this one. I use it with Benefit Bad Gal Bang mascara, and I love the effects of it. I finished up this entire bottle (even before the two month expiration date) and immediately repurchased another. I love how it makes my lashes look. 

Sample: Benefit Bad Gal Bang 

Goal: Finish

Status: Have already repurchased 

I received a sample of this mascara, and, in an unusual act for me, I used up the entire thing. I have long loved many Benefit mascaras (They're Real and Roller Lash have been favorites of mine), but I always find that I get tired of paying the high price, and then I'll buy a drugstore one for a while. That tradition may continue, but I really love the combination of this mascara and the L'Oreal Lash Paradise primer. 

Physician's Formula Eye Booster

Goal: Finish

Status: Have already repurchased 

This is another boring one to write about as this has been my all-time favorite eyeliner for years, and it continues to be. I have used up many of these eyeliners, and I always immediately repurchase another. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer 

Goal: Finish

Status: Undecided 

I find that I'm always torn on brow pencils. On the one hand, I really like the smaller brow pencils (like ABH Brow Wiz), but on the other, I hate how quickly I use those up. The ABH Brow Definer certainly lasts longer, but I like the precision that smaller pencils provide. This is the second Brow Definer that I have used up, and likely won't be the last, but I do like smaller pencils better.

NYX Micro Brow Pencil
Goal: Finish
Status: Will continue to use

A while ago, I was gifted several of these NYX brow pencils, so this is what I will be using until I finish all of them. I love this pencil and have purchased it before, and this is the size of pencil that I prefer to the ABH Brow Definer. The negative with this pencil and others like it is that there is so little product, and I go through it very quickly. Even during the time I started this project, I was able to use up two of these pencils (that were brand new) in a shorter amount of time than I used up the ABH Brow Definer that was more than half-finished. But, I'm happy to have a nice supply of them, and I will continue to use. 

April Favorites

April was a really fun month for makeup. I started an indie shadow project where the majority of my eye looks were all indie shadows; I discovered some new favorites, and I got a lot of good use out of my products. 

Melt Rust Stack:

When I used the Melt Lovesick Stack in my one week, one palette series, I concluded that Melt Stacks were fine, but not really worth the money. When the Rust Stack came back into stock (it was out of stock for a very long time), I very hesitantly purchased it. I didn't think it was a reckless purchase, but I am surprised that I pulled the trigger. And I am so glad that I did because this is my favorite neutral companion palette in my collection. In fact, this palette might make me able to declutter my Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye palette. And I say that because the shadows in the warm quad in the KVD palette are ones I use the most. Since getting Rust, I have used Shade and Light a couple of times, and it was to use the cooler quads. This is the absolute perfect collection of warm neutral shadows for me, and I found myself reaching for it consistently all month. I highly doubt I will be tempted by another set of warm matte shadows because this is very honestly perfect for me and my skin tone. Added to that, the quality of these shadows are incredible, and much nicer than Lovesick. 

Bobbi Brown Camel:

This is probably my favorite brown shadow in my collection and that I have ever used. It looks really similar in the pan to Rubbish from the Melt Rust Stack, but Camel is more of a mustard, which I love. This really is a unique shade to my collection, and it is an incredibly versatile shade. I wish it would not have taken me so long to pull the trigger on it, but this is also one of those makeup discoveries that only comes after you really know yourself and your makeup preferences. I realized that there was a color "lacking" from my collection, and I knew exactly what it looked liked. When I was younger and didn't know much about my makeup preferences, I wouldn't have realized this was a shadow I really wanted and "needed."

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel:

This is a product that I have heard about for years but only recently purchased. I was never much of a bronzer person until about a year and a half ago, so this product was never something I was interested in. The reason I started loving bronzer was because I applied it in the winter. I am from the Southwest originally, and my skin always had a natural bronze to it because of all the sun exposure, and when I moved to NYC, between winter and the buildings just blocking any sun at all, I completely lost that bronze. I tried bronzer that winter and was amazed that it made my skin look like it used to. I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, so I get really sad during the winter, and using bronzer in a way tricked my brain into thinking it was warmer. And ever since then, I have worn it. 

I bought this specific bronzer because my skin was looking really powdery for a period of time, and I thought it might have been my bronzer. I knew this was a warm-toned bronzer, so I thought I would try it. And, man, I love it. This is a great shade for my skin tone, but I think it is really crappy that Chanel does not offer this in other tones. I later realized that it was the power I was using to set my foundation that made my skin look so caky, and layering a light bronzer on top of this gives my skin a really healthy glow. 

Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer in Light Bronzer:

As a bronzer for the majority of the year for me, this product sucks. It is so light that it is barely a face powder for me. And I have a light to medium skin tone. This is also the warmer-toned Butter Bronzer, so the slightly darker shade, Bronzer, would be too cool on my skin tone. I bought this when I was in vacation in California last summer (because of the hype and because of the smell), and when I realized that it did not show up on my skin, I put it in the declutter pile. When the winter rolled around and my normal bronzers were getting a little dark for me, I decided to pull this out. It was still too light for me, but it provided a tiny hint of color. I started using it more and more, and when I saw Jacquelyn Lovene start her "Build Pan Not Walls" project and saw that she included her PF Butter Bronzer, I decided to join that project as well and include this product. I've used this bronzer every day for a few months now, and as you can see, I've hit the pan in two places. As the weather is (finally) starting to warm up, this bronzer really won't cut for me anymore, buy layered over Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel, it is really beautiful. 

Indie Shadows

Fyrinne Illusionary:

Femme Fatale Candied Apple:

Notoriously Morbid Philosophoscope:

It should really come as no surprise, especially after completing indie month, that indie shadows would be in my favorites this month. There were some ups and down with the project, and I learned that not all shadows are created equal, but for the most part, the project was a success for me and has really taught me the value of single shadows and unique shadows. I've included my three favorites above, but since I talked about each of them in their own posts, I feel I would only be repetitive here. Suffice to say they are all incredibly beautiful and unique and are three of my favorite shadows that I own.