Six Month Project Pan Update and Check In

We are six months into 2021 - HOW?! It still feels like March to me, but nope we are in the thick of the year and my birthday is a week away. Crazy! I planned on doing an update this month on my Project Pan progress but since it is June it’s also time for my six month check in. I want to give you my view of how things are going and why this Project Pan has felt easier for me and also a lot more fun.

I started off 2021 with a small collection of items I wanted to pan. My main focus going into this year’s project pan was to make my goals realistic and achievable. And so I picked items that were on their way to being finished and that were already a part of my normal makeup routine. And this strategy worked for me. I have panned a total of four items in my project - and this is on top of the items that I have been finishing up that I haven’t included in the project. In fact, I’ve actually finished more items that were outside of the project than were in it. Which got me thinking…my project pan needs a revamp.

I started doing monthly makeup capsules (which I feature on my Instagram each month) this year in an attempt to use more of my collection, include project pans items in the capsule and also allow myself to have a fully formed opinion on each item by the end of each month. I’ve also been focusing quite a bit on using up skincare and perfumes that have languished on my shelf and perfume tray. In March I panned my Philosophy Warm Cream Cashmere perfume and then in April I finished up my Jo Malone Wild Bluebell perfume. Right now I am currently working on the Philosophy Amazing Grace Bergamot perfume that I added in April. And that is nearly finished!

I also added my Fenty Cream Bronzer in Macchiato to the project after I had used it for a monthly makeup capsule and realized how much progress I could make if I continued to use it. And well…of all the things I’ve panned this is the one I’m most proud of.

I mean…*insert shocked eyes emoji”. I’m so proud of myself. I’m planning on panning this completely by mid-June. Maybe sooner. And so I have decided to introduce another Fenty cream product into the project.

Fenty Cream Blush in Petal Poppin. The packaging for the cream blushes is much smaller than the bronzers, however, the product feels and looks more densely packed and so I think this will take a bit longer than the bronzer did. But I still think can finish it or make a significant dent in at the very least. I’m not generally a pink blush girl but I do enjoy this shade and I feel like I can get a lot of use out of it this summer. Once the season changes I will swap it out for something else if it’s still not done.

I have been panning a ton of skincare this year and decided maybe it would be a good idea to add some into the project. And so I will be adding the REN Clean Jelly Oil Cleanser. I wasn’t a fan of this the first few times I tried it but I want to give it another chance. And if I still hate it I still want to get use out of it since it was not a cheap product. Along with that I will be adding two lotions/moisturizers Dionis Hand & Body Goat Milk Cream in Milk & Honey. I’ve been using this one occasionally on my feet and would like to finish it up. And finally the Crabtree & Evelyn Evelyn Rose Velvet Body Melt.

I also will be adding in a highlighter to my project pan. I don’t know if I will be able to finish it but I want to at least be well on my way to doing so. That highlighter is Ofra Bali. I won’t be including any pics while it is in the project because of the recent issues with Ofra’s CEO (he was exposed as a white supremacist). I own a decent amount of Ofra products that I don’t want to throw out and waste my money on. But I have no issues using them up and then never purchasing from that brand again. It’s a shame because Bali is one of my favorite highlighters and I have yet to find a dupe for it. But I will keep looking. If any of you know of any good dupes let me know in the comments!

My Laneige Glow Makeup Serum has still seen little to no use. I did use it yesterday and mixed it in with a matte foundation to sheer it out and I loved the effect. So, I will keep it in for another month and if I still haven’t reached for it, it will get bounced for something else.

And lastly…an update on my never-ending brow products. They still haven’t ended. Well the Lime Crime Bushy Brow Pen is starting to dry out. Which normally I would be irritated about but considering that it’s lasted for nearly a year I think that’s a good run. As for the other products? The Lime Crime Bushy Brow Gel shows no signs of being done and I still have a decent amount of product left in my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz Pencil.

That’s a helluva a lot of product, right?! So yeah…still chugging along. I briefly considered taking them out of the project but honestly don’t see the point in doing so. I would still be using them everyday to do my brows, so why not just leave them in?

So where do I stand so far?

4 items panned (with 2 more to be panned by the end of this month)

3 items swapped out (1 panned)

4 new items added

Not too shabby - especially when I think about all of my empties on top of my panned items. My goal is and continues to be to get use out of my collection and to whittle certain categories down. And so far, I’ve been pretty successful with this. One thing I am enjoying about project pan this year is that it’s wired my mind a bit differently. I’m actively looking for and to pan items and it’s bringing me joy each month. Even outside of the project itself. I posted my May empties yesterday on my Instagram and created a highlight on my page if you would like to see everything else I am using up at the end of each month. I also have a highlight for my monthly makeup capsules!

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