Friday, May 27, 2016

Summer Beauty Roulette/Project Pan Goals


As I flip through my beauty notebook and examine my progress during the spring semester, I'm a little stunned by how well I did. I managed to finish half of what I set out to finish (highlighted in orange), and only two items remain mostly full in my collection: the Maybelline Dream Lumi Pen in Radiant, which I use as an undereye corrector, and my Imaginary Authors Cobra and the Canary sample vial. There are a few items that I disposed of despite not finishing them 100% (highlighted in blue), but I'm not fussed: Haus of Gloi Sol and my previous tube of MAC Strobe Cream only had a few more uses in them, and that MAC Viva Glam Gaga lipglass was too old for my comfort.


Making the tiniest dent in the Maybelline pen really reminded me of something: generally speaking, I am not a "heavy makeup" wearer. That's not to say that I don't use a lot of different products, or that I never do a full face of makeup. It's more that my preference runs toward "very thin layers of everything," and that includes my undereye corrector. Today, when I applied this bad boy under my eyes with some NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, I noticed just how little of this stuff I use.

I'll be tossing this tube of Dream Lumi at the end of summer, just because it's Of A Certain Age, but I'm curious to see how much further I can get with it before that time.


I'll also continue tracking my purchases for summer. It was fascinating to see what I spent in spring! Here are the rough numbers:

TOTAL SPENT: $719.29
STAPLES: $116.00
TOTAL CASH SPENT: $359.11
RETURNED FOR CASH: $217.25
TOTAL CASH SPENT AND KEPT: $141.86

That $700+ total just about knocked me off of my feet when I first calculated it. Then I calculated how much I spent in cash (not gift cards, store credit, etc.), and I still felt a bit icky. $360! That's a lot to spend on beauty products.

Of course, the amount of stuff I paid for with cash, then returned ($217.25 worth) is relevant. It represents a resolution I made this year: that I would stop being such a wimp and would take advantage of US retailers' very generous return policies. So if I didn't love something, I returned it. In the end, I spent $141.86 in cash if you cut out the returns. Okay, that's not too scary, but it's still higher than I'd like over a less-than-5-month period, especially since I won't have nearly as many gift cards to satiate me for the rest of the year. (My birthday is in April.)


For now, my main goal is to resist excessive purchases and instead see how far I can get with some of my staple products. I already noted where I was on certain items in April.

I also rolled a few new Beauty Roulette goals for summer. Here they are:
  • Purge another item.
  • Use half of a lipstick.
  • Use something that deserves more love.
  • Finish any product.
  • See how far you can get with a product in 2 months.
I won't be picking specific products to attach to these goals this time, mostly because what I rolled is either already in practice (ex: I want to see how far I can get with the above products over summer) or is very general (ex: finish any product).

I'll try to do a mid-season update; until then, wish me luck, and let me know what your goals are! :)

8 comments:

  1. I need to make my way through some lip products. The bad thing with lip products is I always want more. More balm, more lipstick... it's my weak spot. I can have one mascara. Foundation, too but I got that monkey off my back in the 2000's.

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    1. I'm not prone to overbuying foundation because I find it so hard to get a formula that works for dry skin, doesn't contain any of my no-no ingredients, and matches me right out of the bottle.

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  2. My goal is to not buy any more eyeshadows for a very long time. I could paint my walls in shimmery taupe-y cream eyeshadow. And all the doors in bronze. And the woodwork in champagne. It's really insane. I'm focusing my obsession on skincare now more than makeup, as I approach my 50th bday (gasp). Just bought the overly hyped Drunk Elephant vitamin c serum and am I crazy or am I already seeing a difference after a week? Probably the former. Have a great weekend!

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    1. "I could paint my walls in shimmery taupe-y cream eyeshadow. And all the doors in bronze. And the woodwork in champagne. It's really insane."

      Honestly, that sounds awesome.

      Re: Drunk Elephant: I have two samples of the vitamin B gel, have been patch testing it, and am about ready to start trying it all over my face. I'm really hoping I don't end up loving it, because $52 a bottle is painful!

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    2. Ooh- I'd love to see a review if you end up using the DE serum. As for my house I am actually going right now to look at paint swatches! Think I'll go with something a little more low-key, you know, for the re-sale value and all.

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    3. As long as it doesn't eat my face, I should use enough to include it in the next Sample Rundown.

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  3. how do you find using a notebook? some people love spreadsheets but i'm afraid i'm not one of them, i do my pan projects by ear so my only marker of success is actually using something up.

    honestly, i don't even bother pan-projects that include eyeshadows which is sorta sad - i LOVE buying eyeshadows but in truth i have 2 palettes that i wear near constantly. which means everything else gets tossed due to age, and that never feels like a success at all. more like a gigantic waste of money.

    i'd rather buy another taupe palette haha!

    i went overseas recently and did a MASSIVE haul (the kind of things that would be impossible to source in my home country), and to soothe my Haul Urges I'm rationing out my big haul - every Sunday I choose another item to open based on what I've tried to use up that passed week. i still have 10-12 products. that's 10+ weeks. AKA nearly 3 months. and when I write it like that, it sounds a bit insane that i STILL want to do more hauls.

    It's also very surprising how MUCH the excitement is much more dulled when it's not a case of, oh i just bought this and it is NEW and SHINY and i have MANY new things to try at once and it's more a case of "i've been wanting to try this, so i have bought it, and i can open it at the end of the week." it becomes a more rational thing and it seems to have really helped me kill the cravings in general, so to speak.

    my standards are also through the roof -i don't buy anything online that i haven't either tried before in store, or that isn't getting glowing reviews from reliable sources (uninstalling instagram was the best thing i ever did for my wallet haha)

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    1. I've used spreadsheets, but for things like Beauty Roulette, I really prefer the notebook. I do a lot of my work using a computer, so it's nice to have a break from that, and I find writing certain things down very cathartic.

      That haul idea is AMAZING! I'm going to test that out.

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