The Monkey Is In.

So be prepared. Bring a banana.

I'm a writer of horror and dark fiction. I've been doing this since 1999 and believe me when I say, it's cheaper than therapy and safer for the world at large.

Filtering by Tag: NYX

Project Pan 2018 Results (SPOILER: TOTAL FAIL)

Well, maybe not a complete and total fail…

If you’ve been keeping up on my fast and furious posts (read: sarcasm) then you know I attempted a Project Pan with my make-up collection. And while I did manage to finish up a handful of items, on the whole (Preparation H DOES feel good) I didn’t do so hot. I blame the Gemini in me that constantly craves variety, and my attention span born of the MTV Generation.

I’ll measure any progress I made, post it below, and probably NEVER ATTEMPT THIS AGAIN. I do plan to keep a small basket/box on my vanity with products I use more often, but I will not pressure myself to use them up ASAP. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past month or so and it seems to be working out better.

Okay, I actually made a bit more progress on these than I originally thought. First pic of each is the starting point. The J Cat eye brow pencil started around 2 2/10 centimeters and is now about 1 7/10. This damn thing is killing me. If you want a long lasting eyebrow pencil, J Cat is the way to go.

The second is the Milani Stay Put eye liner. This works better as a shadow base because if I put this on my water line, my eyes wake up all crusty the next day. Ew. Started out at 12 centimeters and is now down to 11 4/10. Not too bad. It is really soft, though, and easy to wear down - assuming I remember to use it.

The last eye pencil is the 24/7 Urban Decay eye liner. Looks like it started somewhere around 8 6/10 and is down to 8 1/10. I might actually use this up before 2020. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

This NYX highlighter got more use than I thought as well. I made quite the dent…but didn’t come close to finishing (that’s what she said.) I’m so fucking sick of it, though, so it’s going away for a while. I also learned that blushes REFUSE to wear down, no matter how often or aggressively you grind a brush into them. So….yeah.

I think the only products I finished from Update #2 were the Tarte loose powder that I used for setting concealer and the NYX pore filling primer. It’s possible I used up mascara or two as well, but since I didn’t document it in photographs, it didn’t happen, right? I did end up donating a couple of foundations to Project Beauty Share because they didn’t work for my skin, and so I removed them from the project (BH Cosmetics and The Ordinary.)

The following products had such little progress, it wasn’t worth taking pictures: Colourpop gel eyeliner and brow gel; ELF cream shadow; NYX jumbo pencil in Milk and nude eye pencil; Tarte pressed foundation; Pixi bronzer; Wet & Wild lip balm (which I ended up getting rid of because I never used it at all.) The Secret Key eye cream is so close to being done, but the tube is opaque so I can’t show you.

Any products I’ve used up with spoolies or some kind of brush (mascara, brow gel) will be cleaned and donated to the Wands for Wildlife project. Check out the link. It’s actually pretty damn cool!

I am keeping a small basket of products on my vanity to try and use on the daily. I still have the J Cat pencil - at this point, it’s become personal - and the Colourpop eye brow gel. I’ve thrown in a mascara I used regularly, as well as my face primer, and a color brow gel and powder. But otherwise, I’m having my mood dictate the rest of it.

If you did a Project Pan, comment on this post and let me know how you did!

Project Pan Update#2

All righty. Let's check my progress for the second quarter of the year (April - June, for those of you playing at home). It's not great but it could be worse.

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." - Helena, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Just about a millimeter or two's worth of wear on these (top to bottom: J Cat eye brow pencil, Urban Decay and Milani eyeliners). And I was using that fucking eye brow pencil almost every fucking day. What the hell do you want from me, J Cat? WHAAATT???


"Without a struggle, there can be no progress." - William Douglass

Wasn't sure if I could do it as it seemed the levels on these two products never moved. Until they did. The Tarte powder is nearly gone. I'm struggling to get it out of the little two-holed sifter. Time to take that fucker out. The NYX cream highlighter went much faster than I thought. With the wand out, you can see where the product level is, but it gets pushed up (displacement) when the wand is twisted all the way down. So the mark might be off a bit but considering where the level was before, that's damn fine work, if I do say so myself. 


"Oh, Spring! I want to go out and feel you and get inspiration. My old things seem dead. I want fresh contacts, more vital searching." - Emily Carr
 

It doesn't look like I've made much progress on the original Colourpop blush, but that pan circle has embiggened, I swear. I also took out the NYX blush because, though it was gorgeous, I was so fucking sick of it by spring that I needed to introduce a brighter color. This is a dense baked blush from Laura Gellar and I'm not making any more headway on this than I did the NYX one. There is a slightly more pocked appearance in the last pic, which shows it's been roughed up since I started using it in April. But dayum...blushes are bitches.


"The child in me wanted to try out new things and do something different."- Krystle D'Souza

Here's the new stuff I've added in. The Urban Decay lid primer, NYX Pore Filler, and the Tarte Tinted Moisturizer are hard to judge just where the product levels are in those packages. If it becomes clear at some point, I'll mark it. The BH Cosmetics Liquid Foundation was a bit easier but the mark may be off (the shadow in the second pic for that is my head from the overhead light, not the product level). The Wet N Wild lip balm has been in for a while but I still hardly use it. It can be a tad drying so if I don't make any progress this quarter, it's going bye-bye.

I did introduce a CC cream from 2B Colours last time, but it makes my skin look nice and dewy so I want to hang on to that until Fall/Winter, when the air gets drier. Same thing for a primer from Catrice. It's very moisturizing, bordering on greasy, so I want to save that for the drier months ahead.


"Don't die old, die empty. That's the goal of life. Go to the cemetery and disappoint the graveyard." - Myles Munroe

20180718_093213.jpg

Here are a few products that I completely used up. Milani lip oil, Tarte mascara, L'Oreal eye brow gel, Catrice primer, and Elizabeth Mott eyelid primer, which felt like the never ending tube of product. Son of a bitch, I thought I'd never get through that.

So, some progress, which I guess is better than none at all. Hoping I'll do a little better over the next couple of months!