Project 20 Pan items 15 - 17

Hello everyone!  Just a quick post tonight to share my thoughts on the latest three items I've finished for my Project 20 Pan.

Nivea Hydrocare Lip Balm; Palmer's Cocoa Butter Concentrated Cream; Covergirl Lashblast Length Mascara

Number 15 was a Covergirl Lashblast Length Mascara in Black Brown.  I usually alternate between a brown mascara for more natural looks and black if I go for something more dramatic/evening-ish.  And if I'm feeling lazy and skip eyeshadow altogether, I'll just use a brown mascara to darken my lashes a bit.  I quite liked this mascara - it gives good definition (a must for me) and really just makes my lashes darker and longer, without making them look much thicker.  This is pretty much my exact criteria for a good mascara (I don't like the look of really thick lashes on me) so I will be re-purchasing this for sure.

Item number 16 was another HG product of mine, Nivea's Hydrocare Lip Balm.  I don't have a backup of this so I was hoping it would last until the end of P20P.  At the moment I'm using a Palmer's Lip Butter to tide me over until I can repurchase a Nivea one.  It's very moisturising but without feeling sticky and I like the tube style packaging (more hygenic than dipping your finger into a pot and getting lip balm under your fingernails...yucky!), it doesn't have a fragrance (I dislike overpowering fruity fragrances lip balms) and I have been through more tubes of this than I can remember.  The only downside is it doesn't have SPF so I tend to use this during Winter and then in Summer at night, but switch to an SPF balm during the day in Summer.


Number 17 was a Palmer's Cocoa Butter Concentrated Cream.  I was using this as a hand cream after the Body Shop one ran out.  It is nice and moisturising, like most Palmer's products I have found, however can take a while to absorb into the skin and can leave a bit of greasy residue.  Also, the fragrance of this is quite strong.  I do generally like Palmer's products, but probably wouldn't repurchase this particular cream as I found the "concentrated" formula to be too greasy.  For a cocoa butter product, I would prefer something with a more "lotion" like consistency.

Not long to go now- only three items!!  Although, to fulfill the requirements of at least 10 makeup items, all three remaining items have to be makeup!  I'm almost finished another perfume though, and am quite a way away from finishing any makeup so perhaps I will end up doing project 21 or 22 pan.

Project 20 Pan items 6 - 9

Hi everyone,

In the past few weeks I have finished off a few more items for my Project 20 Pan.

Covergirl Olay Primer, Ralph Lauren Romance Perfume, Maybelline Coversitck Concealer and The Body Shop Touche Lumiere Concealer

Covergirl Olay Primer - this is a silicone based primer and gives a good matte surface for your makeup.  I really liked this and will repurchase after P20P is over, however, priced at around $25, this is one of the pricier "drugstore" primers so I would tend to wait until this goes on sale.  Also, this primer is good for absorbing oil from your skin throughout the day to prevent your foundation from sliding off, however it was not the most moisturing of products (I use a moisturiser underneath) so I would probably not recommend this for people with dry skin.  Don't be alarmed by the opaque, completely white colour of this, it blends in nicely and won't make you look like a geisha!

Ralph Lauren Romance Perfume - I gave my thoughts on this in my Perfume Collection post so I won't bore you by repeating myself!

Maybelline Coverstick Concealer - this product was ok, nothing special but does what it is supposed to do.  Sometimes I like to use a cream concealer (as opposed to liquid) on days when I have more to hide (e.g. pimples, very dark undereye circles etc).  I like the idea of a stick as I think it is probably a little more hygenic than a pot that you stick your finger in everyday.

The Body Shop Touche Lumiere - I like to think of this as a rip-off of Touche Eclat (which I purchased earlier this year, but am yet to try out).  It's a liquid undereye concealer in one of those automatic twisty brush type contraptions.  This has a peachy orange tone which is good for cancelling out the blue/purple tones of undereye circles, which I often have.  I'm still searching for the perfect thing to cover them and I have my eye on a few products from Benefit, once P20P is done...although I think the perfect solution would probably be to get more sleep, but I don't have time for this!  Touche Lumiere has good pigmentation and covers discolouration quite well.  As far as I'm aware, this product has been discontinued.

I'm now almost halfway though, how exciting!!  I have been tempted a few times, but so far I have managed to resist.  A few items thus far have been skincare, perfume and lip balm.  It was part of my original plan to include these, however I think I will add a clause to my Project 20 Pan.  As I think that makeup items are really what I have too much of, I have decided that as part of the 20 items which I use up, a minimum of 10 items must be makeup items.

Thanks for reading!!

Project 20 Pan items 4 + 5

The fourth and fifth items I have used up for my project 20 pan were a Covergirl pressed powder and a Body Shop Body Butter.

No. 4 & 5 empties.

As I’ve mentioned I’m a uni student on a pretty tight budget so I tend to purchase most of my makeup items from places like Target, Priceline etc.  A major downside of this is that the range of shades is usually quite limited (compared to some department store brands), especially for a fair skinned person like me.  This Covergirl pressed powder is one of the only powders thus far that I have found at Priceline that comes in a shade light enough.  I think Maybelline used to have a shade in the DreamMatte powder that was really light but I haven’t been able to find it recently so perhaps it was discontinued.  I also have a Bourjois mineral pressed powder to try out as well, which looks promising.  Apart from being a good match for my skin tone, I found the Covergirl powder to be really neither here nor there.  I just use it for setting my liquid foundation.  My major criticism is the smell – it’s really heavily fragranced, but an “old lady makeup” smell, if you know what I mean.  I’ve noticed the packaging of this has changed since I bought it so perhaps they have changed the formula as well and gotten rid of the smell– I hope so, because I will probably repurchase this after P20P is finished.

The Body Shop Body Butter was in the flavour (or fragrance, seeing as you’re not supposed to eat them!) Brazil Nut.  I used this as a hand cream as it was quite a small tub and would probably last very long if I used it over my whole body.  I actually quite like this kind of container for a hand cream as I can just chuck it in my handbag without worrying about a tube exploding or leaking all over the inside of my bag, which has happened to me before, and it is such a mess to clean up!  It is really moisturising and leaves my hands nice and smooth.  I have problems with dry skin on my hands due to using alcohol based hand sanitisers at work, which are very drying, but this really does the trick!  The other thing which I really like about this product is the smell – it’s a sweet, nutty fragrance which is nice and subtle and not overpowering – there is nothing worse than using a overwhelmingly fragranced hand cream which completely overpowers the perfume you are wearing.  I plan on purchasing another Body Shop Body Butter to replace this once I’ve finished the Palmer’s cream that I have moved onto, but I think I might try one of the other fragrances just for a change.  Let me know if you have any recommendations!

Thanks for reading!

Perfume Wishlist + P20P update

Let me start by saying I love perfume!  In the past 1-2 years I have built up quite a collection, and I plan to do an overview of my collection in the near future (i.e. after exams), but for now, here are a few on my current wishlist....

Viktor and Rolf Eau Mega

Lancome Tresor In Love

Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne

Ralph Lauren Romance Always Yours

Dior Miss Dior Cherie L'eau

Images sourced from FragranceNet.com

Obviously these are planned purchases for a long way down the track, when I have finished off a few of my current perfumes.

In other news, yesterday, I finished product no. 4 of my Project 20 Pan, only 16 to go!  No 4. was a Covergirl pressed powder.

Have a great weekend!