Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Project Make A Dent 2015: Second Progress Update

We're pretty much right at this year's halfway mark, so it's perfect time for my Project Make A Dent Use It or Lose It edition progress update! I'm now 6 months into the challenge of making a concentrated effort to use my selected make-up products on a regular basis, and I'm still going strong! The photo below shows the usage on my items at the starting point of January 7...
And this photo shows how these products look today (here's the first update at 3 months, if you're curious). I'm very happy with my progress so far; I've completely used up half of the products! The first to go was my Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Rockstar, quickly followed by the Make Up For Ever HD Powder mini. The Michael Todd Creme Glace lipgloss in Natural and Revlon Superlustrous Lipgloss in Coral Reef took a while longer (actually, there's still a bit of Coral Reef left in the tube, but the consistency wasn't the same any more), as did the Face Atelier Ultra Foundation in Porcelain; however, as soon as the latter started squirting more product on my clothing and walls than on my fingers, I called it done.
I still have five more products to go, and among those, I made a nice dent in the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Monte Carlo and Sephora Nano eyeliner in Nuage, and I hit pan on the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze! Again, the Inglot Gel lipstick no. 58 and the Stila Convertible Color in Lillium prove to be the most stubborn, but I make sure to use them as often as I can - I'll be happy just to get some use out of them before tossing them at the end of this challenge.
Like I hinted before, I'm planning to start a separate Project Pan in an attempt to use up even more products lingering in my make-up collection; hopefully I'll be launching that next month, after I finish the Project Use Up Those Freaking Samples. You may be thinking that's a lot of challenges to have going on, but I'm actually weirdly excited about finishing old items from my stash, and not necessarily rushing out to replace them. Claire's recent post on using up the contents of her medicine cabinet really resonated with me, and I'm intending to continue emptying what I already have. Don't get me wrong, I still get swayed by the curiosity to try out new products and sometimes end up purchasing something I didn't exactly need, but I can say that I'm able to manage my impulse buys a lot better these days.
Let me know how you're doing on your stash-reducing journeys; I know that a lot of you are making a similar attempt to streamline your collections, be it through Project Pans, purging or low-buys, even if they're not official and just a personal goal you're trying to achieve. I love hearing about your progress and tips for making the most of what you have!

12 comments:

  1. That is so great! There is a weird satisfaction in watching your collection get winnowed down, isn't there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There really is! I remember when all I wanted was to have my two lipstick organizers filled with orderly rows of shiny tubes, and now I'm like: 'Space! I need more empty space!'. I think also because I've been trying to use up some of my lipsticks, I really think twice (or thrice... or more) about any new purchases.

      Delete
  2. wow! really nice.. its always good to finish up your makeup product. I have revlon lipgloss in coral reef and love this colour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Wajiha! Yes, the shade of that gloss is lovely - what a pity they reformulated this range!

      Delete
  3. Congratulations! I'm been doing my Project Empty Pan since 5 months. I've emptied 3 products (out of 26), 2 will follow this month.
    You have finally hit the pan of an creme eyeshadow and finished an eyeliner. Thats very very nice! I have never expected that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, Lila, 26 products in your Project Pan?! That's so ambitious! Congrats on finishing three and being so close to finishing 5! Yes, that Maybelline Color Tattoo is really challenging, I guess there's just a lot of product in the pot.

      Delete
    2. Yep, thats a lot but I'm planning for one year. Not everything could be finished, but I try to reach the pans of most products.
      The Maybelline Color Tattoo look interesting, but as our drugstore samples are always dry, I was not able to swatch any of them...

      Delete
  4. Good job Monika! I also finished all my 4 lippies from project pan in 6 months...thank god they were already used up before I started. You can easily get mad if you don't take a break once in a while :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good job on bad to bronze(I hope they never ever discontinue that shade), you are too disciplined! I just opened my new (sealed) backup of coral reef late April and hopefully it will last me for a year or two. I think Revlon is ditching the (reformulated/diluted) super lustrous gloss so I wonder if they are going to roll back the old one...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Monika, always honored to have my blog post linked to yours. Thank you. As I mentioned on my comment previously, I thought about using-up makeup, but then I realize that is definitely more challenging than skin care -- skin care is very utilitarian, one will have to use it daily, whereas makeup is more about preference and aesthetic that changes from day to day -- I still have my Stila CC in Lillium from at least 10 years back. As it is, I will keep on using the makeup that I owned but I have a feeling I won't make a dent at all :-D

    Also, I don't know about you, but another side-effect of using what you already have is that I re-discover why I love the product in the first place. E.g. I'm using Shu Uemura AO Cleansing oil now and I've forgotten how much I love that stuff! It was in back burner before this little "project" started, but now I appreciate it even more.

    Kudos to you for giving this a try, keep on going this far and still going strong!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh wow! Thats a great progress Monika! :-) I have been trying to use up all of my stuff for the longest but the fact that I switch up a lot means that I don't make a considerable progress in any.. just little bit everywhere! lol! I'll try and be more consistent! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wahoo, Monika! Congratulations on making such a sizeable dent on your products. It's awesome that it motivates you to keep going!

    ReplyDelete