Project Pan December: Final Beauty Empties Post for 2019

My first year of participating in Project Pan where a group of us bloggers pledged to use up a certain number of beauty products during the year. We each had our own personal goals. My goal was to use up 100 beauty products. If you’ve been following some of my empties posts, you may know that I reached my goal of 100 in October, and I upped my goal to 125 by year’s end. 😉 But at the end of November, I was already at 127 beauty empties. Let’s see my final total for year’s end by looking at my December empties.

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Bath & Body

This month I used up a number of bath & body products from two of my favorite brands: Rituals and Sol de Janeiro.

• Rituals Ritual of Sakura Flowering Hand Balm: This has become my favorite hand cream. The cherry blossom scent is like spring in a bottle. The hand cream helps plump my fragile skin and coats it like a glove. It helps prevent my hands from being chapped and totally dried out. For me, it’s a must. Repurchase? Yes, I did. I monitor Macy’s for sales on beauty products and stockpile this hand cream. I like the big 5.9 fl. oz. pump bottle, but it also comes in a more portable tube.

• Rituals Ritual of Dao Be Kind to Your Skin Body Cream, travel size: I love the light white lotus scent of the Ritual of Dao products. The body cream smelled divine and non-greasy. It was rich enough for autumn, but not quite enough for winter unless I used it in conjunction with the body oil. Repurchase? Not now but I will buy a Rituals body cream in the warmer weather.

• Rituals Ritual of Dao Foaming Shower Gel, travel size: I’m a fan of all the Rituals Foaming Shower Gels that I’ve tried so far. I find it to be perfect for shaving in the shower as well as a gentle body cleanser. Repurchase? Yes, I bought a full size tube when it was on sale at Lord & Taylor.

• Sol de Janeiro Moisturizing Shower Cream-Gel, travel size: This is the second one I’ve used up. The shower cream-gel is part of the yellow-orange “Bum Bum” line with the fabulous Caribbean scent. Though it is a non-drying, lightly hydrating shower cream-gel, it’s a tropical scent that keeps me coming back. Repurchase? Because I have so many shower gels right now, I will wait till spring/summer to buy more. But I do love this product!

• Sol de Janeiro Coco Cabana Cream, mini size: Though I prefer this rich cream that’s better suited to very dry skin like mine than is the Bum Bum Cream, I can’t stand the Coco Cabana scent. Repurchase? No.

• Nature Island Botanicals Pomegranate & Mango Bar Soap: I love just about all of Daphne’s handmade natural and organic soaps. The pink and orange colors in this soap make me happy as also the yummy scent. Repurchase? Yes, I did.

Hair and Teeth

• JOICO K-PAK Color Therapy Lustre Lock Instant Shine & Repair Treatment: I’ve gone through about a million smaller size tubes of this fabulous super conditioner, but this was my first big 8.5 fl. oz. tube. This product untangles and makes my coarse hair super soft and manageable. My absolute favorite conditioning treatment. Repurchase? I always have several tubes waiting in the wings.

• OUAI Haircare Leave-In Conditioner, travel size: I liked this leave-in hair conditioner. If felt protective (from blow drying) but it didn’t weigh down my hair. Repurchase? You’re going to think this is weird, but I did buy a full size during the Sephora, and then I returned it before I opened it. I decided I needed to use up the leave-ins that I already own. Next time, OUAI!

• Sensodyne Repair & Protect Toothpaste: Although I cheated on Sensodyne for about a year while I was using a variety of yummy Marvis toothpastes, I returned to Sensodyne. I need the enamel repair. Repurchase? I had a couple of tubes waiting in my stash.

Skincare

• IT Cosmetics Confidence in a Cleanser, travel size: I really liked this pale yellow creamy, hydrating cleanser. It gently cleansed my skin without stripping it at all. Repurchase? I will because it’s an excellent cleanser for dry skin like mine, but I am using up my stash of cleansers first.

• RoC Retinol Correxxion Eye Cream: Although I don’t know if it’s possible to turn back the hands of time without surgery, but I’m using retinol because dermatologists recommend it. I use RoC Retinol Correxxion Eye Cream on my crow’s feet, the fine lines under my eyes and my dark circles. Frankly, I don’t know if it makes a big difference, but I don’t want to find out what they would look like if I stopped using it. Also, I love the fact that RoC is an affordable skincare brand. Repurchase? I had another tube in my stash.

Makeup 

• Benefit They’re Real Mascara, travel size: Even though I have been using the newer styles of Benefit mascaras, I always go back to They’re Real. IMHO, you can’t beat that wand for easy application and separated lashes. Repurchase? Always, and I already did.

• Tarte Tarteist Lip Crayon, travel size: I can’t remember how I got this cute mini lipliner pencil in a neutral shade. My original Ipsy subscription? A birthday gift from Ulta? I don’t know, but I loved the shade that went with so many of my neutral and mauve lipsticks. Repurchase? I think I have another one somewhere so I will look for it first. But if I don’t find it, this is a lipliner definitely handy to own.

Expired Cosmetics

I don’t count expired or cosmetics that I no longer want in my beauty empties total since they’re not used up.

• LATHER Vanilla & Argan Oil Scrub: Somehow, I am not a lip scrub person. My lips are dry and sensitive, so while I could benefit from lip scrubs, I don’t use them that often. LATHER Vanilla & Argan Oil Scrub had spearmint in the ingredient list, and mints of any kind wreak havoc with my lips, so this scrub sat around in my closet, and I am finally tossing it since it is at least 3 or 4 years old and I’m not using it.

• Exuviance Vitamin C+ Antiaging Booster: I could kick myself because I forgot that I had this powder form of vitamin C that you add to any serum or moisturizer. In fact, this powder C is one of the first of this kind. Sadly, this vitamin C powder is at least 4 years old, and even though it has been sitting in a closed container, I honestly don’t think it could possibly still be as effective or potent as it was when it was newer.

• City Cosmetics (City Beauty) Illuminating Dark Spot Corrector: Actually, I probably could consider this a beauty empty because there doesn’t seem to be much left. But the drop or two that is left, I think, may have turned color. Definitely, this serum is a few years old because City Cosmetics has become City Beauty since then, and their packaging has changed. I have really been liking the new products from City Beauty, so I will look for whatever the current form of Dark Spot Corrector is.

• Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara: I reviewed this affordable mascara from Essence in September or October, and I gave it a good review. I really liked it at first because it added both length and volume to my lashes. But over the weeks/months since I bought it, the formula has started clumping, and I think it’s time to toss it since it’s about 3 months old. And I hate having to separate my lashes. I don’t think I will repurchase this one.

Final Assessment

In December, I used up 13 beauty products, bringing my 2019 total to 140. I exceeded my original goal of 100 by 40%. Yay!

I’ll be participating again in 2020. While one might think that I’d make my goal 150 next year, frankly, I don’t think I could achieve that. So, next year’s goal is 130.

What are your beauty empties goals for 2020?

And btw, check out Renu of Cosmetopia Digest end of the year Project Pan video. She started our group and definitely inspired me!

Today's Author

Allison Cohen

Website | + posts

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