It’s that time again: Project Pan progress report! March was a very good month for me. I used up a lot of products, and I’m even tossing a couple of expired ones. So far, 2022 has been a good year for empties for me. Here we go!
Bath & Body
Derma E Vitamin E Fragrance-free Sensitive Skin Shea Body Lotion: Fragrance-free, rich, thick, and with shea butter, what more could I ask? Although this one requires a bit of rubbing in, I really liked this body butter for dry skin. Repurchase? I have another variant from this body care line to use up first, but I could see myself buying it again in the future. If you prefer fragrance-free and like a rich body butter for dry skin, this one is worth trying especially for $9.99 for this big tube.
Nature’s Beauty Elderberry Eucalyptus Stress Relief Bath + Body Wash: I received this body wash about two years ago. Though I didn’t use it every day, I did use it whenever I needed some stress relief. The elderberry eucalyptus scent, a mineralic fresh fragrance, was the aromatherapy that I think accounted for the sensation of stress relief. Although the scent was out of my usual wheelhouse, I enjoyed using it, not everyday but often enough. Nature’s Beauty is a plant-based, affordable brand, and it’s sold at Walgreen’s where it’s on sale now for $7.99. Repurchase? It’s not at the Walgreens closest to me, but it is at other Walgreens stores not far away, so I may pick one up.
Molton Brown Vetiver & Grapefruit Bath & Shower Gel, travel size: This is one of the shower gels from the Molton Brown discovery set that I bought about a year ago. You already know that I love MB, but I don’t think this is a scent that I would buy a full bottle of. The vetiver and grapefruit scent is more masculine than I typically like. Plus this scent has a sharp note that’s just a little too sharp for me. Repurchase? No, but it would make a good Father’s Day gift!
Spongelle Exfoliating Body Wash-Infused Buffers, Freesia & Pear scent: I couldn’t have enjoyed my first Spongelle heart-shaped exfoliating body buffer more! I loved the light Freesia & Pear scent. I estimate that this body wash-infused buffer lasted me about a month rather than the two weeks the company says it lasts. It’s a cool device. It feels like it has a bar soap inside that diminishes with water and use. The buffer provides gentle exfoliation. Repurchase? If I didn’t have two more to try out, I definitely would. Freesia & Pear heart-shaped buffer is on sale now for $2 off, $12 each. If you sign up for emails, you can get 25% off your entire order.
Nature Island Botanicals Bar Soaps: I finished up two different NIB bar soaps. The first soap, Oatmeal scrub, is a body bar that Daphne gave me to try out. To be honest, it is the first NIB soap that I actually hated. I dislike soaps with pieces of anything in it, and the oatmeal shards were hard and irritating. Awful. I would never buy it. The second soap was one of her ocean-scented soaps that I love. She makes them slightly different every time, but they come with either a real or a faux scallop shell on the top and usually blue and off-white or blue, green and white swirls. I love them!
Facial Skincare
Derma E Ultra Hydrating Alkaline Cloud Cleanser: This automatic foaming cleanser is very lightweight and definitely “cloud”-like. When I first starting using it, I tried to find out from my connection at Derma E why this cleanser is alkaline. Unfortunately, she didn’t know. Usually alkaline products are not recommended for facial cleansing because they can be drying and can cause inflammation especially for sensitive skin. Nevertheless, I was game to try it, and fortunately, I had no ill effects. This is what I found on another website about alkaline facial cleansers: “It also improves general skin health and immunity, combating bacterial infections such as acne, boils and ulcers. Its antimicrobial properties help heal wounds without causing any infections or septic conditions.” Another website said alkaline face wash can remove facial hair! Sadly, it didn’t seem to do that for me. Repurchase? No, I’ll stick to hydrating CREAM face washes, but if you have oily or combination skin, it is a nice, non-stripping cleanser especially for warm weather.
First Aid Beauty Gentle Foaming Face Cleanser: This facial cleanser is one of my favorites. It comes out of the pump as a thick, white gel and it foams up when it mixes with water. As it sits on my face, it bubbles up and disappears like an oxygen mask. It’s very gentle and lightly hydrating. I love it! Repurchase? I already did, but I just bought another one from Amazon because I think FAB has discontinued it. Boo hoo!
V10 Plus Water-Based Peeling Rice Bran + Seaweed Extract Masque: I really loved this chemical-based exfoliating mask. It’s a gel that you apply to your face, then massage in circles, and you watch the dead skin cells ball up on your skin before you rinse it away. Repurchase? I will at some point in the future because I have two other similar masks to use up first. This one is truly terrific.
City Beauty UpLift Serum: I think this is the third bottle of CB UpLift Serum that I have finished. It’s a light blue lotion that comes out of a glass dropper. I use it along my jawline to try to keep that skin as firm as I can. Using it in conjunction with Multi-Action Sculpting Cream is even better, though I often use it on its own. Repurchase? Yes, I did. I have one in my stash.
City Beauty Lid Lifting Treatment: Because I’ve sung the praises of this spackle-like eye cream that I use only on the skin under my brows/above the crease to firm the skin, I’ll just cut to the chase. Repurchase? I just bought two tubes during City Beauty’s 20th Anniversary 40% off Sale last week.
City Beauty Skin Perfecting Daily Veil Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 39: Skin Perfecting Daily Veil SPF 39 is a broad spectrum mineral sunscreen with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. That said, it cannot be super lightweight even though they call it a “veil”. To me, the “veil-ness” comes as a result of the smoothness it creates. I like this mineral sunscreen especially to wear on its own rather than over foundation. It has a slight tint to it that makes me feel like I’m wearing a skin tint. And it does have a slight white cast upon application so it does have to be worked in a little bit. Repurchase? I have so many sunscreens, I won’t buy it now, but I will in the future.
Racinne Ultimate Youth Power Neck Emulsion: I found this empty jar of Racinne Neck Emulsion in one of my cabinets, so I must have liked it. I don’t think Korean brand Racinne exists anymore, or at least this product is listed as “currently unavailable” everywhere that used to carry it. Maybe it still exists in Korea, but I don’t know. I believe it was a gel cream with hyaluronic acid, ginseng and antioxidants as well as a wound-healing, tissue-repair complex. Oh well, glad I got to try it.
Derma E Vitamin C Instant Radiance Citrus Facial Peel, sample packet: This sample got me on my way with fabulous Vit C Instant Radiance Citrus Facial Peel. It’s an exfoliating, brightening mask that provides instant results. Repurchase? I have a full size jar I’m using now. Buy this stuff!!
Health & Beauty
Just CBD Gummies: I love this fruit-flavored CBD gummy bears. Each one has 10 mg of CBD. I take two at night to help me sleep. They also are calming. And they help my occasional IBS flare ups. Repurchase? Yes, I did from a local store. However, they are less expensive from the Just CBD website where now you can get 20% off with the code Just20. Also they sell lots of different shapes and flavors with different amounts of CBD in them.
Remedio Soothe Active Renewal Balm: I liked Remedio Soothe Active Renewal Balm to soothe occasional muscle aches or pulls. I didn’t use it all the time, but only when I needed it. That said, the balm dried out as a result of not being used often enough. Fortunately, I used up most of the jar. Repurchase? No, I need a CBD muscle relief cream that won’t dry out when it’s not being used, especially one that costs $49.
Hair
Vegamour GRO Hair Serum: I started using Vegamour GRO Hair Serum in mid-December to see if it would help regrow some hair at my temples where my hair has been receding over the past couple of years. Although it is somewhat difficult to tell because my new growth is white, it does feel like and look like there are baby hairs growing. The new hair seems to be growing more on my right side that was less bad to begin with, but I think there is some new hair on my left side. Repurchase? Yes, I bought a second bottle. I signed up for the subscription service on the Vegamour website to get the reduced price, but I have to adjust the period of time that they send it because I think a bottle lasts me 2-3 months rather than one month. I’ll keep you posted on if there’s more regrowth progress.
Fragrance
Commodity Milk Expressive, travel size sample: I think I got this sample as an Ipsy add-on. It lasted me a couple of weeks, so I could get a sense of whether it suited me. It’s a milky, soft, comforting scent. Here’s the description: “Warm and calming, this scent opens with a unique Cold Milk Accord. Then, as the minutes pass and the scent comes to life, you’ll begin to notice Skin Musk and Warm Marshmallow. After that comes the additional warm notes of Mahogany Wood and Tonka Bean.” The “Expressive” term means that it is supposed to have great sillage (broadcasting of the scent) vs. “Personal” that stays closer to the skin. Repurchase? It has so many of my favorite notes that I added this scent to my Scentbird queue so I’ll get to try it again in the fall.
Beauty Tools/Accessories
Koh Gen Do 100% Pure Cotton Pads: I use Koh Gen Do 100% Pure Cotton rectangular, larger pads to remove my eye and face makeup. One pad removes it all. I love these because, to me, they are super soft. Sadly, KGD has discontinued the easily recyclable cardboard box for a plastic bag. Boo. However, the plastic bag contains 80 rather than 60 pads. Repurchase? Marcia generously just gave me a bag of them. I’m so lucky!
Swisspers 100% Cotton Premium Rounds: In addition to the Koh Gen Do cotton pads that I use to remove my eye and face makeup, I like to have the smaller Swisspers Cotton Rounds on hand to apply toner. I’ve been using them for years. I buy the 900 count at Costco. Repurchase? I have more in my stash.
Project Pan March 2022 Progress Report
The month of March really was a good one for me for using up beauty products. I used up 19 products! Woo hoo!
I ended February with 28 empties, but I realized that I counted Atelier des Ors Iris Fauves eau de parfum twice. So I really started March with 27 empties. If I add the 19 empties from March, I am ending the month with 46 empties, woo hoo! I’m about one-third of the way to my year end goal. I wish every month could be this good. I have a feeling April will be an empties drought after this extravaganza 😉
Tosses/Expired Products
I’ve gotten in the mood to start throwing out old products that are expired or unusable. In fact, I tossed three large bottles or jars earlier this month and I didn’t even record what they were. I just wanted them gone while I had the will to get rid of them. Here are two small jars that I held onto and will get rid of now.
LUSH Santas’s Lip Scrub: It pains me to throw out this 1/3 used jar of red Santa’s lip scrub. It tastes like Coca-Cola, and I love the red color. It used to come with small red hearts in it, but the year I bought this, they left out the hearts. Because lip scrubs kill my lips, it’s ridiculous for me to save this since I never use it. Buh-bye!
IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness: A few years ago, a sales associate at my local Ulta suggested that I try Bye Bye Redness as an under eye concealer. I did, but the color was too dark for me, and I seldom used it. It has thickened, and it’s old. See ya!
WOWOWOWOW! This is so impressive, Allison! You really outdid yourself! This was a very impressive month for you, indeed!
Lola+Seicento recently posted…Spongellé Bulgarian Rose Body Gift Set
I love reading these posts. You really did a great job in March of using things. I’m in a toss mood and have thrown away a lot of products that have passed their useful life. I did have to toss two Beauty Blender sponges just this week. One started to disintegrate when I washed it and the other was just so tempting that my dog Lucy needed to try it. She didn’t ingest much of it but she didn’t leave it in shape to be used again.
Marcia recently posted…Project Pan: March 2022 Beauty Empties