Thursday Thoughts

Oh man, I feel like I need about 10 extra hours a day lately to keep up with everything that's going on in my life right now! So let's dive right into my Thursday Thoughts Link Up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom.

So over the last week I've been hired for several jobs, which is awesome (yay paying work!) but is keeping me SUPER busy right now. I'm going to try and keep posts coming on a regular basis, but right now I'm basically going from job #1 to job #2 to home to do my blogging while juggling a 4 year old. I think busy might be an understatement, but I'm currently happy with what's going on and the exciting news that extra money means.

My hair is growing back nicely, I can actually style it most days now. I think once it gets a wee bit longer I'm going to do one of those half shaved hair cuts that have been so popular lately. I think it will look super cute, and if I hate it I can just shave it all off no big deal. DO any of my readers have short hair like this? Gimme all you styling tips please!

I mentioned in my January Birchbox post that my original box went MIA sometime during shipping, well guess what just showed up out of the blue? My original, slightly battered box! Since 90% of the box is single use items I'm pretty happy to have double now, but it is kind of funny that is showed up basically the day after I posted about it being missing. Hopefully there will be no issues this month with my Birchbox orders. I'm planning on ordering a few items this month, basically either things I need (no really, I do actually need them) or some stuff I've been drooling over for months now.

 My Pan that Palette is going super well so far. This (above) is my starting point, and the picture down below is what progress I've made. If you can't tell I've completely finished one, almost finished another, and hit pan on three different shadows. I'm hoping by the end of February to have finished two more shadows and hit pan on two more. I haven't been wearing a ton of makeup lately just because of how busy I've been but I'm pretty sure I can at least finish the two shadows I have planned.

Thursday Thoughts

Hello and welcome to another edition of Thursday Thoughts, my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. Let's dive right in shall we?

Wow, can you believe it's 2016 already? It felt like the last year really flew by. I've made a couple of resolutions this year, and am working on making some life style changes. One of my resolutions is to get back into running and I've made plans to run in a 5k marathon in March. Very excited about that, although my sore legs are less than thrilled right now. Any runners out there? Got any advice for running a 5k or bigger?

For 2016 I want to do a Pan that Palette instead of a Project Pan, and I've chosen this ginormous eyeshadow palette from ELF Cosmetics. My goal is to finish at least half of the shadows (50/100) and hit pan on at least 25% of what's left by the end of the year. I have already finished 20 pans so I'm off to a good start. I think if I finish all 100 shadows I'll treat myself to the Hourglass Ambient Light Palette as a reward. Who's doing a Project Pan for this year?

I have been a busy little shopping bee lately. Between gift cards I got for Christmas and some surprise bonuses from work I've picked up quite a few items over the last few weeks. I've got lots of reviews coming it, but I'm happy to say I love everything I've purchased so far. I hate spending money on something that sucks, you know?

I finally managed to get another YouTube video up! Between the holidays and being so sick for most of December I just wasn't able to film anything for a while. But my December Empties video is up (go check it out, I think it turned out much better than my last video), and I have another video already filmed so there should be another one up in the next week. I'm slowly but surely getting my channel built up, so I'd love it if you would subscribe.

Have you guys seen the Popsugar 2016 Book Challenge? I saw it on Instagram the other day and I think I'm going to do it. I really want to read more this year, so this is the perfect excuse to settle in with a good book or twenty. Anybody else doing the challenge? I'm currently reading a book by a comedian (Stephen Colbert) so I'm getting ready to check off my first book.

Thursday Thoughts

Hi everybody and welcome to another week's edition of Thursday Thoughts, which is my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. Let's dive right in shall we?

Oh my giddy aunt can you guys believe it's December already?!? This is always such a busy month for me and with my added medical stuff going on this month may be the (figurative) death of me. But I love the holiday season, so I really don't mind. All the Christmas stuff comes out of the closet this weekend so I'm trying to deep clean and rearrange some furniture this week in preparation. Have you guys put up your holiday decor yet? I have some friends that do like 4 trees, which is crazy. Sorry friends, I love you but 4 trees? That's a whole lot of Christmas tree stuff. Although they do look pretty, and I might be a tad bit jealous.

So if you aren't following me on Instagram (which you totally should be), I'm making awesome progress on my Project Pan. I finished another product the other day and I'm super close to finishing a few more items. I won't get every single item done but I'm pretty happy with my progress. Love doing these Progress Pans, they really force me to use stuff up and basically shop my stash. I find I rarely buy anything besides the stuff I'm actively using up, like shampoo and soap, when I do a Project Pan. Maybe its because I'm so focused on those products I don't want to even think about other items? For 2016 I'm going to do a Pan That Palette instead of a few monthly Project Pans just to both shake things up and so I can use up that ridiculously huge 100 eyeshadow palette I have from ELF cosmetics.

Thanksgiving was awesome, my husband's family is always fun to be around and are just wacky and crack me up. We always end up playing some weird game that ends up being one of those "OMG what are you doing" moments. Like last Christmas I have a very vivid memory of someone shoving bread into their shirt during a game. I hope all of you had an equally awesome Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. If not then I hope you had an awesome Thursday.

I finally painted my nails again after like a month of naked nails. Does anybody miss Mani Monday? I really miss Mani Monday and I'll have to start doing them again for December. Full holiday themed nails are just what the doctor ordered. I also have a giant nail polish haul/review that should be up this weekend, so stay tuned for that.

I have two Birchboxes coming this month plus two Birchbox hauls (didn't I just say I wasn't buying things?), although one of them is basically full of stuff for my Husband. But I want to talk about some of the stuff I got him for reasons I can't tell you yet without spoiling the review. Hoping I get some really good mystery sample packs in those orders, someone on my social media just posted theirs and they got two full sized items. And I remember one gal got a Beauty Blender last year in her sample pack! I want a free bonus like that!

And I saved the most exciting news for last, Best Beauty for my Buck is now on YouTube! You can watch my very first video here, and please subscribe to my channel as well. I'll probably put new videos up sporatically, I don't have plans right now for a strict schedule, but I'd like to put a few up a month. Video number one is my October and November empties and is about 15 minutes long. What kind of videos would you guys like to see? I know I want to do tutorials on my channel for sure, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thursday Thoughts

Today marks the first day of October, and is also the first Thursday of the month. As per my usual I am linking up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her weekly Thursday Thoughts. Let's jump right in.

You may have noticed my posting schedule has been...lacking lately. Week two after my injections is always the worst and I'm really feeling terrible. I've got a Doctor appointment both today and tomorrow (bring the count up to 6 in the last 3 weeks for those keeping score), hoping everything will check out ok and I'm not developing worsening side effects to the chemo.

Speaking of side effects, after losing a significant amount of hair I finally just shaved it all off (well down to 1/8th of an inch). You can really see how thin my hair had gotten, especially on the sides. I'm bouncing between ok and not ok with the new look, but right now a bald head is the least of my concerns. But this means I won't really be reviewing hair products for a while I suppose.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I think I'll do a few face painting tutorials for the blog this month in addition to the spooky nail art I usually do. I also might have promised some of my students that I'd wear costumes at least once a week to work. And bring candy the week of Halloween. Are there any face looks you'd like me to tackle?

My Project Pan is going very well this time. I finished ALL of the items in the skincare basket, so I've picked a new set out to work on, but I'll talk about that later. Of the picture above I've made significant progress on the eyebrow kit, tossed the bronzer (was REALLY awful), finished the two jars of loose shadow, made decent progress on the revealed quad, and hit pan in the other two shadows. The primer in the jar is getting closer to being finished, maybe mid November? The cream eyeliner is being tossed due to old age, and I've made very little progress on the cream highlighter.

Going from left to right, I finished the eyebrow pencil, ok progress on the red lip crayon, and I'm tossing the ELF concealer since it appears to be going bad. No real progress on the other lipsticks minus the lollibalm, which I did finish. I'm tossing the mascara, almost done with it and it won't survive the rainy season. I did finish the little CC Cream. So not as great of progress in this group, but I'm really going to focus on using up the lippies this month.

Project Pan 2015

I like to do little monthly Project Pans throughout the year, but as I get to the last few months of the year doing a big push to finish a lot of products is what I'm all about. For those who may not know what Project Pan is, it's a community of beauty lovers (and bloggers) working to "hit pan" or finish up products. We post them on Instagram or whatever our social media of choice is, and we encourage each other to finish that foundation to the last drop. So doing a Project Pan is just picking specific items and really focusing on finishing them up. If you find yourself knee deep in half finished items then doing something like this can be so helpful for you.

So this year I'm actually dividing my Project up between makeup and skincare/hair care items. I tend to go through skin and hair stuff faster than makeup so I'll be refilling that box whenever I finish everything in it. I won't be putting new makeup items into the makeup box, I've found that if I have new things I neglect the old things and never really finish stuff. I like to keep my Project Pan items in a box and basket so everything is already there for me and I don't have to dig through my massive hoard trying to find stuff. Plus if it's right there in my face I'm more likely to use it up faster I've learned.

So for skincare and hair care I have the Cetaphil wipes I hate, the Oribe Beach Waves spray from my last Birchbox, a Hyalauronic face gel, some argan oil for my hair, the Jouer clearing face oil from another Birchbox, the Glamglow foil pack, some lip scrub, and a weird toner thing from Paula's choice. I picked these items either because they were over halfway done and I just needed to finish them or because I hate them and need them out of my house finally. Some things like the face gel and argan oil I have a ton of in my stash so I'm just trying to destash my stash a bit. I'm pretty sure everything but the face gel will be done by the end of September.

These are my powders and eye stuff. Top row is the ELF eyebrow kit and an ELF bronzer. Love the eyebrow kit but it's almost done and I love the NYX brow gel better. The bronzer I HATE and will toss at the end of September. I'm basically just trying to get some extra use out of it to make me feel less guilty about tossing it. Next row is all eyeshadow minus the very last item which is an ELF cream eyeliner. The shadows are almost finished so I'm just trying to use them up, and the eyeliner needs to be used up this month or tossed, I've had it way longer than I'm comfortable with.
Bottom row is the Coastal Scents trial quad for the Revealed 2 palette. Since I own the palette I need to finish up this quad so there's no doubles in my palette box. The Ulta quad is halfway done already, with really only the dark brown left. The other shade in it only have a week's worth of shadow left in it. The next pot is the Smashbox eyeshadow primer I had to depot after the tube broke open. I need to finish this up, sticking my finger in it is gross to me and I'm worried about an eye infection. The last item is a cream mousse golden eyeshadow/highlighter. It's weird and I just need to use it up. I imagine I'll have 3 eyeshadows done by the end of the month and pan hit on another.

Lastly the tubes of stuff. Let's go left from right. First is the Ofra eye brow pencil I hate and tossed a day or two ago. But I used up quite a bit of it. Next is an ELF lip crayon that I really like but it's getting low so I might as well finish it up. The concealer is a yellow based one by ELF that I like but needs to be finished or tossed by January 1st. Same goes with that purple tube, that's a cream eyeshadow that I need to either use up or toss before it gives me an eye infection. The Miranesse lip crayon is almost brand new but I broke the cap so I need to try and finish it up before stuff gets in it. The Mary Kay lip gloss is really season specific so I hardly wear it, but again I need to use it up or toss it by January 1st. There's nothing wrong with the Maybelline mascara and it's only been open a month or so, but it isn't waterproof and the rainy season is upon us so it'll get tossed at the end of September as well. But I don't keep mascara longer than 3 months anyways so I'm not stressing a month early on the tossing. The ModelCo lipstick was in my last monthly Project Pan and I just want to continue working on it. I've got maybe half an inch left so I'll finish this for sure before January. The lollibalm is another Birchbox item AND was also in last month's Project Pan. There's maybe 1/4 of an inch left so it will probably be done by time this post goes live. And lastly is a deluxe sample of an It Cosmetics CC Cream I just got from Ulta (love free Ulta goodies) and I want to test it out so into the box it goes. These are normally about a week or so worth of product so it may be done by time this post goes live.

I think I'll get about 80% of the items done by January 1st, but I'd really like to get every single item done. I think if I do hit 100% completion I'll treat myself to a really nice new product or maybe some higher end skin care stuff. If you want to see how I'm doing on this make sure you follow me on Instagram and check back every Thursday here for a brief update. Wish me luck and good luck to anybody working on a Product Pan of their own.

Thursday Thoughts

September! Fall is almost upon us, is anybody else super excited? As much as I like the warm weather I'm 400% done with the 100 degree weather we've been having and I'm ready for sweater weather. But it's Thursday so that means I'm linking up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts. Let's get started!

Oh my god, is anybody else so glad August is over? August was a friggin nightmare month for me minus a few good days. I'm just 10000% done with August and I'm hoping September goes smoothly and I don't get any more wrenches thrown at me. Or at least all my medical stuff starts going smoothly. Like I can handle stress in the other aspects of my life but I really can't take anymore in regards to my health. I meet my new Doctor this month and that's really stressing me out and I'm dealing with the full force of the second injection's side effects right now so I feel really burned out if that makes sense. Being chronically ill is exhausting and takes up so much of my time, I'm ready to get better

Oh man, this is another two Birchbox month and I already got the special box this month! The post on it will be up this weekend, but I seriously an so happy I got it and am digging it. Plus I took a sneak peek at my actual box this month and it is OMG amazing! I hope it actually contains what my sneak peek showed, otherwise I will sit down and cry like a baby my box is that good.

I did this last fall but I'm starting my end of the year Project Pan again. trying to finish stuff off and make room for all the new goodies I'll be getting in 2016. This year I divided up between makeup and skincare/hair care items, so there's a lot of items this time compared to last year. I'll do a full post on it either this weekend or beginning of next week but I've already made great progress on the basket on the right.

All of my posts from tomorrow through Monday will be queued up because I am going on VACATION! After having to cancel my summer vacation not once but twice I am finally going away! I won't be doing any social media, answering emails, doing bloggy stuff, anything until Tuesday because I'm on vacation! Can you tell I'm excited to take an actual vacation? Because I super am.

Thursday Thoughts

It's Thursday! I came home and crashed hard last night so I hope you'll excuse the slightly later than usual Thursday blog post. And as per my usual I am linking up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her weekly Thursday Thoughts Link Up.

First, I know this is the first post this week. I'm not feeling well combined with an extra busy week at work and a whole bunch of bad stuff happening at once has left me burned out and I needed a break from something. Unfortunately I can't take any time of from work right now and obviously I can't a vacation from being a mom and being sick so this blog was the only thing I could step away from. Hopefully things will get back on track and I'll get back up to the page view count I use to have, but I'm going to just call August a wash and make a commitment to September being 10x better. Speaking of my health, I get my next injection tomorrow, which is a bit scary. I've had the worst headache all week which I think is because I'm at the end of my last injection. A little worried about the side effects I've experienced getting worst, but I'll slug through it I guess.

I'm a nail polish addict, I can totally admit to that and I'm ok with it. My bank account may not like it, but I'm ok with it. I sorted my polish into a new storage system the other day and found these three polishes that were so old they had separated and gotten chunky. If I had to guess I'd say those are almost ten years old. Why is makeup and nail polish so hard to throw away? Like, these are obviously bad and I hadn't used them in forever, so why didn't I toss them last time I sorted through my collection? I even did a post on the expiration dates of makeup, and yet I know I have eyeshadow that's way past my recommended toss date. Anybody have a theory?

Speaking of finishing up and throwing makeup away, I'm making pretty decent progress on this month's project pan. I finished the Maybelline BB cream, the cc cream I replaced it with (deluxe sample so don't be to impressed), and I've made some really good progress on that giant ELF palette. It's been crazy hot here lately so I haven't been wearing a ton of makeup, so the progress I've made is great. I don't think I'll finish either of the lipsticks this month or actually use up a full eyeshadow, but the eye brow pencil has lots of use on it and will be tossed at the end of the month. The Eyeko eye liner is still going strong, I'm super impressed. I figured a liquid liner would be dead by now, but nope, still awesome.

I still have my CEW mass appeal and regular Birchbox to review, those will go up tomorrow and Saturday for sure. I should also be getting some goodies in the mail soon so stay posted for those on my Instagram account. And we will be getting back into Mani Mondays and maybe a Tutorial Tuesday (man I miss those) next week as well.

July 2015 Empties

Wow, am I late on posting this! Sorry guys, the weekend left me drained and I really am struggling to find the energy to do everything I need to do at home and this blog right now. Hopefully after injection number 2 in a few weeks I'll start to feel better and get my energy back, but for right now I'm just wiped. Anyways, let's talk trash. I had like 24 empties for July, which is pretty darn impressive! There were a lot of repeats and things I really don't feel like talking about so I'm just going to talk about a hand full of items this time. Maybe for August I'll do a video instead, getting my video space all set up actually, just need to get a tripod now and maybe an external light. But that's a conversation for later, onto my empties!

That is a mighty fine pile of trash if I do say so. A lot of makeup was finished in July, which is always exciting, especially when it's things like lipstick and eyeshadow. I've been attempting to finish up all my extra hair stuff so I'm glad to see a few bottles in the pile.

Of this picture nothing is really a repurchase except maybe the brush. I love the ELF studio brushes but they always fall apart after a year. For $3 they are a great price but it gets annoying to have them pop apart mid-use all the time. The sunscreen is a hubby favorite, I find it to greasy for my skin but I'm sure I'll buy more of it anyways. The Marcelle BB cream was crazy heavy for a BB cream, made my face look cakey and awful. I had to mix it with my Maybelline BB cream just to wear it. The last items, the brush shampoo and the face wash, were alright but just didn't make the cut.

I love love love the Rimmel Stay Matte powder, I've already got a new one I'm using. For just a few bucks you really can't beat them, especially if you have oily skin like I do. The eyeliner was a basic brown one and while I liked the formula I hate the Pacifica brand due to their insistence on putting coconut in EVERYTHING. Seriously, why does eyeshadow need coconut infused into it?!? That Real Chemistry peel was ah-mazing! I'll be buying a full sized bottle of it next time I have extra money to spend, seriously nothing else has made my skin look and feel as good as that did. A+ product. The two eyeshadows were from my ginormous ELF palette that I'm working my way through. One was a lovely plum and the other was a greyish color. The pink mascara is by Essence and is my cheap holy grail mascara. It was like $5 and worked so much better than 90% of the other mascaras I've tried over the years. The only one I like better is the Urban Decay Perversion one, which is $22. I'll probably pick another tube up once I finish testing a few other mascaras I've acquired lately. And lastly is my project pan lipstick. It's gone bad and was starting to give me a reaction, so I'm calling it done for my health and safety. There's maybe half an inch left so I'm pretty happy with how much I actually used up.

Keeping track of my empties like this really lets me know what I'm using up and what I really shouldn't hoard anymore (like lotion, I really need to stop buying lotion). Setting goals either here in my empties or by doing a project pan really helps me to focus on using stuff up before it goes bad. And we all know I have more than enough makeup to last me a lifetime. My goal for August is to finish up the lip balm from my project pan and a whole lot more hair stuff. Anything past that is just icing on my bronzer covered cake.

Jojoba Oil, Can I Pronounce You Correctly Today?

*I received this product free for testing and reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own*

In the beauty world, there are a lot of ingredients that are great for you but hard to pronounce. One of the one's I have to constantly think about before I say is Jojoba Oil, which is pronounced like ha ho baa. You've probably seen this ingredient pop up in plenty of your skin care and hair care products, but have you ever tried it all by itself? Foxbrim was kind enough to send me a bottle of their 100% Pure Certified Organic Jojoba Oil to test out and review for you guys.

For those who don't know, Jojoba Oil is full of essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and Vitamin E and B Complex. What this means is this is a powerhouse moisturizer for your skin that has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. You can use this in your hair, on your skin, to remove makeup (though I personally don't like oil for removing makeup), and as a carrier oil in homemade spa treatments. Many many years ago I had a wonderful lip balm gel that was mainly Jojoba Oil, maybe I'll have to see if I can recreate it. The oil itself is a light golden color and smells vaguely like peanuts to me. While not sticky this is a very thick oil so a little goes a long way. Don't dump out a whole dropper full onto your hands like I did. Oops.

I've been mainly using this on my hands, my camping trip left them dried out and cracked, and I've noticed a significant improvement in my cuticles and nails. And I've also been massaging it into my feet to both ease soreness and to rehydrate my beach dried feet. This product really does have a dozen uses, and I can't wait to create some new DIY projects with it. Foxbrim is also a company I like quite a bit, so that helps. They do not test on animals and are located here in the United States. I really like this product and think if you are looking for Jojoba Oil this is a great one to get. If you would like to purchase a bottle you can here for $16.95 with free Prime Shipping.

Thursday Thoughts

Ah Thursday, we meet again. This is the last Thursday of my work week before I take off for a few days of well deserved vacation at the beach. And as per my usual this is my weekly linkup with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts Linkup.

As I briefly mentioned, I'm getting an actual vacation this year! Three whole days away from work, home, and all the drama that seems to plague my week. I'll have posts queued up to go, but I won't be responding to anything till I get back or posting to any of my social media minus Instragram.

Hi, my name is Vicky and I have an eyeshadow palette addiction. Just bought this one from Coastal Scents and I'm already in complete love with it. The deep purples and pinks are why I bought it but after swatching it I don't think there's a shade I don't love. I have a feeling this will be the one I reach for everyday for the next week. Or until my new palette arrives. Because yes, I ordered another one. Finally caved and bought the Revealed 3 (also by Coastal Scents), but I used Birchbox points on it so I don't feel guilty buying another palette. Just don't point out how much makeup I've bought lately to my husband please.

Did everybody have a good Mother's Day? We did a picnic at the Rose Garden, then wandered around for a while before hitting the giant park there so the kiddo could play. The night ended with some seriously tasty food, so a perfect day from start to finish. My husband got me a subscription to Loot Crate, so don't be surprised if you see reviews of my boxes pop up on the blog. Love me some geek stuff, can't wait to get my first Loot Crate.

I hit pan on another eyeshadow, so I thought I'd muse about hitting pan on stuff for a bit. Obviously actually using up makeup before they go bad is awesome, and I have so much makeup that I really need to use up some stuff. But finishing a product is also really sad, especially if it's one no longer available or is super out of your current budget. Do any of you participate in the various Project Pans that seem to go on all the time on Instagram? I'm doing one right now, but I'm thinking of starting another two: one for nail polish and one for skin care items. My bathroom is overflowing with products right now, and I just placed a big order on Birchbox with all of my points. I REALLY need to use stuff up before I get buried alive under an avalanche of lotion bottles.

Thursday Thoughts

Another week, another Thursday so that means its time for my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts link up. So let's get started.

I haven't decided if I'm actually getting better yet, but I'm at least not getting worst like I was earlier this week. I know not being well is really taking it's toll on this blog, and I am so sorry for that. I'm doing the best I can right now, thank you so much for being as patient as you have been.

I repressed the blush from my Project Pan again, so I thought I'd give you guys a quick update on that. I have this blush, which should be done or almost done by the end of the month. My lip balm is almost done too, though I've been ignoring the lipstick so that might not get finished by the first day of summer. The two eyeliners are getting close, one should be done by the end of the month and the other by the end of June (hopefully). But other than those items everything else is finished, which is a huge deal! Is anybody else working on a Project Pan?

I love the beauty blogger community, they are all so awesome and friendly. Case in point, YouTube vlogger Zainey Laney sent me this amazing gift pack of lipglosses just because she is awesome. I've worn all but the ELF gloss, and I love them so far. I'll probably wear the ELF one tomorrow, unless some other look is calling to me. But if you guys aren't watching her vlogs you should, they're great. She also has an Etsy shop of adorable geeky jewelry, so you should check that out too.

Have I mentioned yet that a donut place went in literally right across the street from where I live? They are amazing you guys. Not only are the donuts so good it should be illegal, but the employees are the nicest ever. They let my son (who's 4) go behind the counter to pick out a free extra donut, so that was really exciting for him. We've made a weekly treat of stopping in for a donut and a coffee for me (really good coffee too), I'm pretty sure I'll need to up my exercise game to keep up with these.

Have any of you actually used up a whole bottle of nail polish? They seem to be that item that never ever runs out. I've been using a certain polish quite a bit lately it seems on my toes so I'm debating trying to finish it up. Maybe once my actual Project Pan is done I'll start on a nail polish one.

April 2015 Empties

First day of a new month means  it is time to check out my trash! Also known as my monthly empties post, where I look back at what I used up and whether or not it is worth repurchasing. Due to being crazy ill (see last post for details) I did not use up anywhere near as much as I had anticipated, so I'm expecting my May empties to be quite large.

All total I finished up 15 items, which isn't actually bad at all. And there's several makeup items, so that's a big win there. Overall most of these products are ones I won't be repurchasing, minus an item or two nothing was super awesome and I can't live without it. Let's dig in.

Kirkland Makeup Removal Wipes: Repurchase. These are constantly in my empties, so I'm sure you are as sick of hearing about them as I am sick of talking about them.

Advanced Hair Repair Shampoo: Not Repurchasing. While I liked this shampoo I can't justify spending $25 on a shampoo, my budget just won't allow it. If I had the money I would probably repurchase it though.

Up&Up Shaving Cream: Repurchasing. I recently switched back to using shaving cream while I shave and I have to admit I like it quite a bit better. This scent was amazing, so unless one of the other types is on sale I'll pick up another can of this over the weekend.

Olay Fresh Outlast Body Wash: Repurchasing. I got this sample for free and I LOVED IT!! I can't say enough about how wonderful it smelled, made my skin feel, how nice of a lather I got from it, or how long this little bottle lasted. Once I'm through my hoard of body wash I will be buying a full sized one for sure.

Whish Hair Inhibitor: Not Repurchasing. This was suppose to slow down hair growth so you won't have to shave as often. I say suppose to because I didn't notice any sort of difference at all between the leg I tested it on and the one I didn't use it on. And according to my husband the leg I DIDN'T use this on felt less hairy after my week long trial.

Which Shaving Cream: Not Repurchasing. The first time I tried Whish shaving cream I loved it, but this scent made me want to puke. Major fail.

I'm going to make this section easy and say I will Not Repurchase any of these items.

Origins CC Cream: This had a habit of turning my face orange and smelled like fruit loops. No thank you.

Embroilyse: So while I thought it was a decent lotion I don't see what all the fuss is about over this product.

Evologie Acne Serum: My ELF zit zapper works twice as well for a fraction of the price without leaving my skin sticky.

Jersey Shore Sunscreen: Thick, turned my skin white, and separated after the first use

Coppertone Sunscreen: I liked this stuff initially but it separated pretty quickly.

Jar #1: Not Repurchasing. This was a brown eyeshadow (I think from my Project Pan), and while I liked it I'm glad it's all gone and I can move onto new colors.

Jar #2: Not Repurchasing. Another Project Pan shadow, I really liked this color but I have a million other eyeshadows to finish before I buy any more.

Jar with Flower: Undecided. This was a Camille Beckman hand lotion, and I fell in love with it. The scent was wonderful and it was so thick and luscious. BUT it is expensive for a tube of hand cream. Not sure what I'll do.

ELF Eyeshadow Primer: Undecided. I'm normally a huge fan of the ELF shadow primers, but this one didn't hold up very well. I'm hoping this was just a bad tube and not a problem with the formula. I'll pick up a new tube this weekend probably and see. Maybe.

Project Pan 2015 Update

Greetings and salutations! I thought I'd take a moment to update you guys on my Project Pan and expand on it a little bit, maybe talk about how I use items up. Basically I'm going to talk about my makeup habits for a bit because why not? First a quick refresher if you don't want to read the whole post. I picked 11 items at the start of the year that I wanted to finish up by the first day of Summer. I named this my Project Pan Spring 2015 and declared if I finished everything I'd treat myself to the original Revealed palette.

This is what I originally started with

This is what I currently have left of my Project pan. I've actually made really good progress I think, I've finished 4 items so far and am pretty close to finishing 2 more. I won't talk about the items I've already finished, I did that in various empties posts, so I'll just talk about what's left, how I've been using it, and how I plan to finish it up.

I admittedly haven't been using this eyeshadow as much as I planned to, which is why there isn't a ton more pan showing. I've made decent progress, don't get me wrong, but I thought for sure I'd finish this color up pretty quickly. I like to use this shadow when I'm doing a really dramatic winged eyeliner or a soft neutral eye, but I imagine I could probably use it to highlight as well. I'll try and use it more in April, at least twice a week until May is my commitment to finishing it up.

This is the item that surprised me the most with my progress. I hadn't used very much at all when I decided to pan it, so I figured I'd never finish it by Summer. As you can see I'm slightly over halfway done with it now, which is fast progress for a lip balm. I try and use it every morning and night, so that's been helping quite a bit. I may use it on my cuticles a bit, they need some TLC and that'll help use this up faster. I'm not pretty sure I'll be done with this by Summer.

This is the item I thought I'd have done and now think I won't finish. I had so much pan showing on this blush a few weeks ago that I repressed it. And now I realize I really didn't have as much done as I had thought. The powder goes halfway up the pan, so it will be a while before I hit pan again let alone finish it. I'll keep using it and hopefully I'll make more progress than I think on it. I currently use it almost everyday, so there is still hope of finishing it. Maybe.

Why do pencil liners take so long to use up? I swear this pencil will take me 50 years to use up. I can use it all week and only have to sharpen it once. This is now just shorter than my pinkie, so I've used maybe an inch total. That is some slooooow progress for how much I use it. I may try it as an eyebrow pencil just to get some double duty out of it and wear it down quicker. 

I was so proud of my progress on this lipstick until I compared it to my starting picture. I have used up some, and it was good progress, just not nearly as good as I thought it was. I'm pretty sick of this lipstick so I've only used it once all month, but I'll pick it back up in April. I want to try it as a dewy blush one day just to see how it would look, I've used other lipsticks as blush before. If it looks ok I'll have it pull double duty twice a week for all of April and that should get it down quite a bit. I can't wait till this is done and I can toss it, soooooo sick of this color.

This eyeshadow just keeps trucking along, I'm impressed. I use it in my crease almost everyday it seems and yet there it is, still not finished. I even use it on my whole lid once a week. Impressive. I really want this to be done by the end of April so I'm going to try contouring my nose with it. The shade is a bit darker than I normally use but I think if I blend it well it won't look terrible. Famous last words right? Stay tuned for a hilarious Instagram picture when I actually attempt it.

Another item I've had really good progress on, the paper shows how much I have left (about an inch). I've used up half of what was left when I started this Project Pan, so really good progress. I'm trying to finish this one by the end of April as well, but it will probably take till mid-May in reality. The color is a copper shade, so not something that goes with every look out there. Wish I could think of a way to use it more.

So that's my progress so far, not to shabby huh? I need a new prize though, I already bought the Revealed palette. I'm thinking that Jouer set I really want, or the Smashbox Full Exposure palette. I'm open to suggestions, what should be my carrot? If you are currently doing a Project Pan how is your progress going?