Project Pan Finale: Empty Products

I know what you're thinking.

Project pan finale? When was there a project pan?

Well, a couple months ago, I covertly joined the 12 Pans of Christmas project, which was started by Jacquelyn Lovene. When I say covertly, I mean that I informally joined this project and didn't tell anyone. I knew I didn't have 12 items in my collection that I could conceivably finish, so I set a goal of 10 products. I wanted to finish eight and hit the pan on two. 

And I'm happy to say that this project was a success for me!

Here are the items I completed:

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light

Status: Already repurchased 

Since it was first purchased, I used this powder every time I did my makeup, which means that I used it almost every single day until it was gone. After it was finished, I did my makeup for about a week without it, and there was a noticeable difference to me. So I immediately repurchased it during the Sephora VIB Sale because it is a product that I don't want to be without.  Because of my skin tone, I use this as a finishing powder and dust it all over my face, but I know other people use it for different purposes. This took well over a year of daily use to use up, maybe even closer to two years. So while the product is expensive, I think it is worth it for how long it lasts. 

Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot

Status: Undecided

My goal with this product was to hit the pan, and as you can see, I achieved that goal. This is a nice powder, and I enjoy it quite a bit. I've never been a huge powder person, especially a setting powder person, and if I came across a really special one, I'm honestly not sure if I would notice. I've realized before when I used powders that did not agree with my skin, but in a lot of ways, I feel like a setting powder is a setting powder. One Heck of a Blot might be one of those products where I only realize how great it is after I decide not to repurchase and then try something else that's worse. I'm certainly not interested in looking for another powder until I finish this one, and it seems like I still have a while to go before that happens. 

Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer

Status: Undecided 

I have used countless bottles of this product at this point, and it's a product that I keep coming back to. I really love the feel of this on my skin, and I love the way foundation looks on top of it. However, I have two main complaints with this product, which is that the price is very expensive and the product goes too quickly. I was also lucky with this bottle that it didn't turn milky and leaky, but that happens often, and it's another negative about this product. I'm going to use the Elf Mineral Infused Face Primer next, and I'll make a decision on repurchasing the Hourglass after I've had a chance to use that one. 

Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturizer 

Status: Undecided

For the most part, I really enjoyed using this tinted moisturizer. It even ended up in one of my monthly favorites posts. This has a ton of product in it (1.7 ounces), and it hung around for a very long time. I decided I wanted to use this up in the spring, and it has taken me this long to complete it with essentially daily use. I had to apply this product with my fingers, which is not something I enjoy, and on some days, the product felt a little heavy on my skin. This also clung like crazy to my eyebrows, even when I avoided them altogether. I really hated the look of foundation-crusted brows, and I have to admit that I was relieved when I finally finished this product. I'm very happy to return to my It Cosmetics CC+ cream, and I imagine that I will continue to repurchase that product instead of this. 

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Bourbon 

Status: Undecided

I wrote about this in my Project Perfume 2017 post, but I largely enjoyed this perfume. I wasn't planning on repurchasing, but I would like to have a smoky perfume in my collection, and there is currently nothing that I have smelled that I like more than this. I will not be repurchasing a rollerball, so if I decide to buy again, I will get a full-sized bottle. 

Urban Decay Roadstripe

I first heard about this shadow through Elle S on YouTube, and she said it was her favorite eyeshadow. I have come to really love duochrome inner corner highlights, and this is definitely one of my favorites. While I mainly apply this to my inner corner, sometimes I apply this under the brow bone as well, and this shadow is solely responsible for my rediscovered interest in a shimmery brow bone, which is something I've strayed away from for years. The color is primarily a white/lilac shift, but it is a really cool lilac that almost leans blue. I was not expecting to like this shadow as much as I do, which makes it sting that this is a limited edition product. With that said, even though I have hit the pan of the shadow, it is just in one place. I still have at least 90 percent of the shadow left, so I don't need to worry about running out any time soon. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer

Status: Likely repurchase 

I certainly went on a journey with this pencil. Until I purchased this product, I had only been using very thin brow pencils, and while I loved them, I felt like I was flying through them. I read that the Brow Definer was thicker and waxier, making it harder to go through so quickly. And this is certainly true. While I was burning through my other brow pencils once a month or every six weeks, I've had the Brow Definer since April. And even though I have a ton of eyeshadow and have a hefty blush and highlighter collection, there are many basic products that I don't like to have multiples of at the same time. One of those is a brow pencil. Because I was so used to the skinny, less waxy pencils, I really hated this one for a long time. I even purchased the NYX Micro Brow Pencil two months ago because I thought I would use up the Brow Definer around then. But it hung in there for a long time. When I finally used it up, however, I really, really missed it. I had gotten so used to the larger tip and the waxy consistency, and I've found that I have to run the NYX Micro Brow Pencil through my brows at least twice as much as the Brow Definer. Not surprisingly, I'm going through the NYX Micro Brow Pencil really quickly, so when it runs out, I may repurchase the Brow Definer. 

Physician's Formula Eye Booster

Status: Already repurchased

There are few products in my collection that I would consider a true all-time favorite where it is so good that I am simply uninterested in the quest to find other formulas. But in terms of liquid liner, this is all I need. I absolutely love this product and don't ever want to be without it. This is also one of the few products in my collection where I am genuinely sad to use it up. I wish I could just have an endless pen of this, but alas, that's not the world we live in. This liner gives me the smoothest, blackest line with no smudging or smearing. I've tried all the other hyped liquid liners, but nothing compares, in my opinion, to this one. 

Chantecaille Faux Cils Mascara 

Status: Undecided

I'll cut to the chase with this one. This is one of the best mascaras I have ever used in my life, and if it wasn't insanely priced, this is all I would ever use. This mascara retails for a disturbing $72, largely because of the fact that it claims to grow your lashes. While I didn't notice any difference in the day-to-day, when I looked at pictures of my eye makeup before this mascara and after, I could tell a noticeable difference in my lash length. Not only that, but this mascara is just a good mascara and created incredible lashes. I loved using it until the bottle completely dried out. I would love to repurchase this mascara, but that price is just way too high to justify. 

Essence Lash Princess 

Status: Will not repurchase 

On the complete opposite end of the price spectrum, we have Essence Lash Princess. I heard so many rave reviews of this mascara that I really hoped it would make me see how ridiculously overpriced my beloved Chantecaille Faux Cils is, and that I would be soothed with this inexpensive wonder. But I did not like this mascara. If you go through my weekly and weekend looks post for the past two months, this is the mascara that I was using. I don't think my lashes looked bad at all, but I don't think they looked anything like they did with the Chantecaille Faux Cils. Added to that, this mascara transferred so badly on me. It was a guarantee that by the end of the night, I would have mascara flakes down my face or would have smudging on the lower lash line. Sometimes I really think you get what you pay for with certain products, and while Lash Princess wasn't bad, there are better mascaras available, including at the drug store. 

Project Perfume 2017 Finale

Last year at this time, I was looking at my perfume collection and felt incredibly overwhelmed. I've seen many perfume collections that are considerably larger than mine, but realizing how quickly perfume expires and how infrequently I wore it made me want to undergo a massive "use it up" project throughout the year and really pare down my collection. 

My goal was to only have three perfumes at the end of the year, ideal for winter, spring, and summer. There were a lot of challenges throughout this project, including that most of the perfumes were essentially full, but I learned a lot about myself and my preferences, and I am happy to say that I achieved my goal. 

Here are the perfumes I used up in 2017:

Taylor Swift Wonderstruck

Status: Will not repurchase

This perfume came as a gift with purchase, and I kept it mainly because I thought the bottle was gorgeous. This perfume has a very strong sweet scent, and while I received several compliments on it, it was too sweet for me. I used up the entire bottle, and out of all of the perfumes, this one took me the longest to go through. 

Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb (mini)

Status: Will not repurchase

This was easily the oldest perfume in my collection. I had kept it because I loved the look of the grenade bottle and was pleasantly surprised to find that it had not yet spoiled. I used to love Flowerbomb, but as I have gotten older, I have grown away from the scent. 

Marc Jacobs Daisy

Status: Will repurchase

Daisy is easily my favorite perfume of all time. If I was a person to say that I have a "signature scent," this would be it. I'm also fond of the story of how this perfume came into my life, which makes me love it even more. About eight years ago, I was living in the United Kingdom, and a friend and I were shopping in Cardiff. We went into a perfume store, and she tried Daisy and absolutely loved it. I smelled it and didn't like it at all. As the months passed, she never stopped talking about Daisy, and in that time, she became a very dear and close friend of mine. Eventually, my visa expired and I had to return to the US, and the day I left was one of the saddest days of my life because I had to say goodbye to all of my friends. I was in Heathrow airport, my face red and puffy from crying, and I went into a duty-free perfume shop. I spotted Daisy and bought a bottle, just to remind me of my friend. Every time I sprayed it, it reminded me of her and all of my friends, and it brought me a lot of peace and happiness. Eventually, I grew to love the scent, and I have since repurchased bottle after bottle. 

I don't ever want to be away from this perfume, and I always want a bottle of it in my collection. The only reason I used up this bottle was that it was getting a little old, and the scent was starting to fade. This perfume was actually the strongest motivator for me to do this project and go through all of my perfumes, because I no longer wanted to have so many perfumes that my all-time favorite could possibly go bad. Now, with less perfumes overall, I can really enjoy the ones I have. 

Bond No. 9 The Scent of Peace

Status: Will not repurchase

I bought this perfume when I found out I was accepted into graduate school a few years ago, into my dream program. I had been lusting after this perfume for years, but it was always way too expensive for me to justify. But when I was accepted, I figured that was worth celebrating. At 3.3 ounces, this was the biggest perfume in my collection. 

You know how scent is one of the biggest triggers for memory? Unfortunately, this perfume triggers memories that I would rather not think about. I've written before about how my makeup addiction was at its worst while I was in graduate school, and it was largely a very unhappy time for me. It's sad that this perfume that I wanted for so long eventually became associated with this hard time in my life, and it's terribly ironic that it's called the Scent of Peace. I'm glad that I was able to use it up, but in all honesty, I'm happy to have it out of my life. 

Elizabeth and James Nirvana White (mini rollerball)

Status: Will not repurchase

I believe I got this perfume as a point perk at Sephora, but I'm not sure. Like the rest of the perfumes in my collection at the beginning of the year, I liked it enough to keep it and use it up, but not enough to ever want to purchase it again. This was the most floral scent within my collection, and I found that it paired nicely with the Scent of Peace. It's a fine scent, just nothing special enough to me to want to buy again. 

Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess 

Status: Will not repurchase

I quite like the scent of Bronze Goddess, and I think it actually does smell like a perfume version of summer. I thought that this was going to be my perfect summer scent, but I found that I got tired of it rather quickly. As some of you may remember, I had two major surgeries over the summer, so it was generally not a great time for me. Like the Scent of Peace, this perfume is now a scent that is tied to unpleasant memories for me, and I was relieved when I used it up. 

Elizabeth and Janes Nirvana Bourbon (rollerball)

Status: May repurchase in the future

This was the last perfume that I used up in the year, and I originally didn't think I wanted to repurchase. When I thought of my ideal perfume collection, I thought it would include Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille. I swear I have memories of spraying that perfume and being lost in the smokiness of it mixed with gorgeous vanilla. I sprayed it again recently with intentions to buy it, but I did not like it at all. It smelled way too strong for me and was nothing like I had remembered. I do want to have a smoky perfume in my collection, and Bourbon just might be the one I choose. On the whole, I'm not a huge ran of rollerballs, so if I buy Bourbon again, I'm excited to have a spray bottle. 

So that's it! Those were the perfumes I used up in 2017. I should also add that I decluttered two perfumes from my collection that I just did not want to force myself to use up:

• Bond No. 9 I Love New York
• Lavanila Coconut Vanilla (rollerball)

As of January 2018, this is now what my perfume collection looks like:

It includes:

• Tokyomilk Novacaine (winter)
• Marc Jacobs Daisy (spring)
• Brazilian Crush Body Fragrance Mist (summer)

I am so happy with my current collection. Novacaine and Daisy are absolute staples in my collection, and the Brazilian Crush body spray is something I'm sure I'll really enjoy during the summer. As of now, I don't love the Brazilian Crush body spray as much as Novacaine and Daisy, and I wouldn't be surprised if I decide not to repurchase once it is finished. But as of right now, I'm so happy with my small and entirely manageable perfume collection. 

This was my first time ever attempting a yearlong challenge, and I have to say that it really taught me a lot. The main lesson I learned is that even though I didn't have a terribly large perfume collection with dozens of bottles, I had way too many. I also learned that I don't want to have any perfumes in my collection that are "fine" or that I kind of like. I only want perfumes that I love and will want to continually repurchase. With that in mind, I am now very selective with perfume purchases. I feel like I have grown to be a selective makeup shopper since starting this blog, but I am even more strict with perfume. I just don't want to have so much of it hanging around and going bad. I want to have a manageable amount. 

The other main thing I learned about myself is that I don't need as much variety with perfume as I like to have with makeup. I would get incredibly bored doing the same makeup look every day for months, and there's no way I would enjoy just using one eyeshadow palette for an entire year. However, I don't need to smell different every day. I don't need to select my perfume to coordinate with my outfit or makeup. That's just not something I need. 

I am very happy with the progress I made last year in using up my perfumes, and I am also happy that I took an entire year to learn some lessons about myself and my preferences. I know that I will be perfectly happy and far less stressed only having three perfumes in the coming year.