Project Use Up Those Freakin' Samples: Favorites & Finale

It's the end of my Project Use Up Those Freakin' Samples! Frankly speaking, I'm not only excited to share my progress and final empties' counts with you, but I'm also stoked to at least temporarily get rid of the little foil packets that have been littering my bedside table, vanity, bathroom sink, shower and medicine cabinet for the past two months.

Anyway, here's my progress update for June!

Deluxe samples: 10
I did just a bit better on my minis this month compared to May, and overall I'm seeing a good progress in minimizing my collection of deluxe samples. Previously, I had them stashed away in at least two different spots, but thanks to my Project, I was able to combine them together in one box for easy access (I shared a photo of it on Instagram, so follow me if you haven't already!).

Foil packets: 39
Yay, that's 10 more than last month! I actually thought I was going to have less this month because I slacked a little at the beginning of June, but I really pulled through at the end. These samples come from a lot of different categories: bodycare, haircare, skincare, even make-up (a couple primers and liquid highlighters). I still have a few stragglers that aren't completely empty yet, so expect to see them in my regular empties round-up.

Purged (expired & not interested in trying): 7
By challenging myself to use my samples, I've also realized that I have been hanging on to samples that are either already expired (farewell, REN Glycolactic Radiance Peel - it's in the deluxe sample group shot by error), I'm not interested in trying, or have tried in the past and disliked (the Eve Lom Rescue Mask is too harsh for my skin as it contains both alcohol and camphor, while the immensely popular GlamGlow Youthmud contains polluting polyethylene microbeads - who knew, right? I only realized after having already used one packet, and I thought the performance was nothing to write home about either).

As for my sample favorites, I haven't really discovered anything absolutely mindblowing that I need to run out and purchase right away (thank God! Like I need any more products...), but I would consider buying the Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque and the Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser in the future; they're both quite pricey, but still in my budget. While I did really enjoy my sample of the glycolic-heavy Murad Active Radiance Serum, at $90, I consider it to be too expensive for an exfoliating treatment. The belief Peat Miracle Revival Eye Cream was fantastic to wear under concealer during the day, the Maison Martin Margiela REPLICA EDT in Beach Walk smelled lovely but was rather short-lived, and speaking of fragrance, I always enjoy the bergamot-scented Living Proof line; while I wouldn't repurchase Prime Style Extender necessarily, I have my beady eye on the Full Thickening Cream.

Overall, over the course of this 2-month Project, I used up 68 foil sachets, 19 minis, and tossed 6 sachets and 1 deluxe sample: that's 94 altogether. I think that's a lot, and I'm very happy to have these samples out of my posession. You may think that with so many samples gone, I don't have any left in my stash, but that's not the case at all; even though I was able to consolidate my sample organization and free up some space, I still have a lot of samples left to get through. Which is why I've decided to now aim at finishing at least 5 samples a month - that sounds doable, right? In July, this should be especially easy for me, as we're headed out of town for the extended 4th of July weekend and I'm intending to take quite a few sachets with me.

This challenge also made me realize how long it takes to use up certain samples: as an example, most of my deluxe minis of eye cream contain 4-5 ml of product, but then a foil sample of the belief Peat Miracle eye cream contained 4ml as well, and lasted me over 3 weeks. Most haircare samples contain between 7 to 10 ml of product; for a hair oil for example, that can constitute up to 1/3 of the full-size bottle. So if you take into consideration those little samples in your stash, it may turn out that yes, you do have a back-up of a serum/ face mask/ hair styling product waiting to be used before needing to purchase a replacement. I'm intending to try and treat all of my samples as an integral part of my stash from now on, and going back to that eye cream example, while I currently don't own any full-sized eye creams, I will not buy another one before most of my deluxe and foil samples of eye cream are done.

I hope this was interesting and maybe inspired you to reach for your samples on a more regular basis; thanks to Emma and Vita for joining in on the fun on Instagram, you guys are the best! If you're still working on your samples, please tag me with #useupthosefreakinsamples, I'd love to see your progress. Thank you for cheering me on, and stay tuned for my new Project Pan Introduction in a couple days!