April - June haul 2024

It´s time for a shopping update for the last three months, at the beginning I was feeling like I was doing very well, and buying less than usually, well that took a turn... 

Sensai, Clarins, Lancome and L:A BRUKET

Brush, tools and assortment of products

Sensai - Kabuki brush with satin pouch: This came with the Sensai foundation promotion. And works amazing with the foundation. 

Clarins - Lip oil balm in 01 pale pink (2.9 g): As this is the second lip product I purchase this year I have finished my quota for 2024 I set in my project pan for 2024.

Lancome - Le 8 hypnose (8 ml): I got tempted by this product on a stock sale, even though I am officially on a mascara no purchase - but as it was only 1.500 ISK or 11 USD, and thus cheaper than many drugstore mascaras I got tempted and decided to buy it.

L:A BRUKET - No013 Foot scrub soap (240 g): This I grabbed on a sale for over 50% off, I thought it might be genius for my sometimes tired cabin crew feet, as it includes pumice and oils.

Sensai - Total finish foundation in TF103 warm beige (11 g): I fell for the re-packaging launch of this product as it is claimed to be a cult favorite amongst Icelandic women. And it came on a discount and with a kabuki brush in a pouch. I was a bit baffled by it at first though, as I felt it did exaggerate fine lines on my face, but I found the solution to that to put less powder on. The rule of less is more is proven once again.  

Sephora - Pro foundation 56: I bought this during the Sephora sale where all Sephora products were on 30% discount. I decided to grab this as I feel like the BK brush 101 foundation brush being a bit to big at times. The Sephora 56 is much smaller, and gives a lighter coverage, which I prefer most of the time. 

Every drop - The original beauty + lip spatula (2 pack): I ordered this from Amazon (see here) to be able to get hard to reach remnants of products, glass jars with a pump in particular. The problem is though that the longer and bigger spatula, is too wide, a whopping 1,6 cm wide, and the pink part is not very flexible, and thus it does not fit into the average cream and foundation glass bottle, and I might have to cut a part of it off! 

Real Techniques - miracle concealer sponge: This I got tempted to buy to use with my Miild concealer, as it has a tendency to cake a bit and separate under the eyes - I had the idea that this might blend it out 

Sally Hansen - Cuticle massage cream (11 ml): This I stumbled upon in CVS, and as I had a coupon for purchase, which basically meant that this was for free - I snatched it as it comes highly recommended by a friend of mine. 

W7 - Brow grip - instant brow grip (13.5 g): My friend was decluttering a few beauty products and offered me to take what I wanted, and this looked interesting, so I decided to give it a try.

Lume - Whole body deodorant - invisible cream in soft powder (14 g): What a perfect idea, to be able to buy such a mini deodorant to give a new brand a try. And perfect for travel!

Covergirl - Clean fresh clean color eyeshadow in 222 dreamy pink (4 g): This was presented in a few Youtube videos as a potential dupe for Charlotte Tilbury pillow talk quad. I do not own the Charlotte quad, but it has been on my wish-list for quite some time. The Covergirl quad surprisingly though, especially the pinky shade, nr. 2 from left - pulls very warm on me, borderline orange. I am not sure if the Charlotte Tilbury quad would do the same. 

Kiehl's - Ultra facial overnight hydrating maque (3 ml): This I believe came with the Sensai foundation - and will be used for sure.

Initially I started to think I was not doing so badly for the last three months, but when everything comes together I was not doing so well at all, and I who had my eyes set out for a infra red face mask, and going on a mini weekend holiday next weekend, I am not sure at all how the year is going to go.

January - March haul 2024

So here is my haul for the first three months of the year, they are a mixed bunch, some are purchases I made abroad and some are birthday gifts. My project pan for 2024 is not completely going as planned, as I stocked up on an item I had really no plans to stock up on... but I hope it will go better moving forward in the year 2024.

Glow cream, toner, cleanser, creams and a tinted moisturizer

Glow powder, fizz tamers, lip products and eye wands

Face masks

Barbie beauty bag

Bondi Sands - Gloss finishing glow instant luminous bronzed sheen for face and body (100 ml): My friend gave this to me for my birthday, we had seen it used by someone on social media and it looked really nice, she was so sweet to remember, and gifted it to me amongst other things. 

The body shop - Aloe soothing toner (250 ml): I grabbed this during a sales night in Kringlan shopping mall when The body shop was offering 20 or 25% off of everything in store. As I have almost finished my current bottle of this, I thought it was ideal to buy one on a discount as there are just a few weeks 

Clinique - Take the day off cleansing balm (125 ml): I had made it one of my goals in my project pan for 2024, not to purchase it again until I had finished some of my makeup removers, but it was on such a good price I caved in and bought it for later. 

Peach & Lily - Matcha pudding antioxidant cream (25 ml): As a Ulta member, and happened to be close to an Ulta store in February (my birthday month), I did go in store and got to choose amongst pre selected items and was torn between this and a Kopari body cream, and ended on choosing this one. 

Ecooking - Night cream (50 ml): I grabbed this item whilst at work, during a flight back and forth to Kastrup airport Copenhagen, but as we had an unusually long stop in at CPH I ran into the duty free and bought this plus the Tromborg item listed below. I had just finished the jar of this I had before, and I LOVE it.

Dr. Jart - Ceramidin cream mist, intensive moisturizing (110 ml): My friend who gave me the Bodi Sands product also gave me this ceramidin cream mist, as I had mentioned to her I was very curious about this product (again I had seen on some instragram feed of an influencer). 

Saie - Slip tint broad spectrum spf 35 sunscreen tinted moisturizer (40 ml): I got tempted to buy this during one of my many Sephora visits, as it contains mineral spf, and could be perfect for work.

Garnier Fructis - Sleek and shine frizz tamer (8 ml): This I came across in one of the US drug store and thought it would be amazing, it is not so great. But it will suffice to use while I stay abroad for work for simple hair fixes, but for the stubborn small hairs, it does not work.

Kosas  - Air brow clear lifting treatment gel (1.77 g): This with the Kosas lip oil was a part of the Sephora birthday gift for 2024. There were a few options, and I was going back and forth between this one and a skincare set from Youth to the people. But for the makeup hoarder I am of course I opted for more makeup. 

Nature Republic - Honey melting lip in 01 Apricot (2.7 g): I saw Stait of Kait featuring this in one of her videos, and it sounded super nice, so I decided to grab in whilst in New York for work. So there went 50% of my colored lip product quota for 2024.

Tromborg - Baked minerals in silk (5.5 g): I had been eyeing this product for years, and finally pulled the trigger during a turnaround in CPH. It is a little bit dark and golden for a traditional highlighter (they also sell a lighter color called Highlight) but as this has been hyped among Danish beauty-bloggers for year I went with Silk.

Vieve - Eye wand in Hazelnut (1.4 g): I came across this brand not too long ago, and I had been very intrigued about it. And as I went on a short holiday with my friends to the UK, I decided to order some products and have them shipped my hotel in England. I chose this color as it is a medium brown shade and probably super versatile.

Vieve - Eye wand in Sand (1.4. g): I decided to grab another item from Vieve, as so many times before, I was torn between another eye wand and a liquid blush. But opted for the eye wand as I am trying to reel it in on the liquid or cream blushes. 

Kosas - Wet lip oil gloss plumping treatment gloss in Unbottoned (2 ml): The other half of the Sephora birthday gift. I swatched the color in store, and from there, there was no going back. The makeup birthday gift it would be. 

Purederm skin solutions - Deep purifying pink 02 bubble mask peach (25 g): Another friend of mine is also a lot into skincare, and gifted me this facemask and the following two packaged skincare products. 

Iroha Nature - Pre-soaked pads hydrating toner cica + blueberry (10 pcs 25 g): At first I mistook this for a facemask, but what a genius product, pre soaked toner pads. Perfect for travel.

Iroha Nature - Aloe vera and hyloronic acid Soothing and hydrating face mask (20 ml): The third skincare product I got gifted from my friend for my birthday.

PS - Moisturizing avocado sheet mask (23 g): Avocado face mask for 1 Pound at Primark, I just had to.

Primark - Barbie beauty bag: When I spotted this in Primark, I just could not resist and had to buy it. 

This was quite a lot for three months, but a few of the items were indeed birthday gifts. But as I got a few facemasks, I really have to put some effort to use these single use sheet face masks. 

June - July haul 2022

Well as I have started to fly again, with stops in the US and Canada on a monthly basis, I have had some opportunity to shop a bit, as well as I have picked up a few items in Iceland ofc.

Soap, sunscreen, deodorant and facial cream

Body cream, hair mask and Tangle Teezer

Makeup, facial spf and cream tester

 

Shea Moisture - African black soap (227 g): This has been a tried and true product for me, as facial soap for my skin issues - I was not in a dire need of a refill, but as I spotted it in Target I grabbed it. 

Eau Thermale Avéne - Mineral lotion spf  (100 ml): This I bought in Canada, as I was planning to travel abroad in July, only with hand luggage, and in need of some sunscreen that I could take on carry on (which has a max of 100 ml bottles). 

Hawaiian Tropic - Silk hydration protective sun lotion (180 ml): This I picked up in the supermarket in Iceland, I had not bought an Hawaiian Tropic in years - as I theoretically had enough spf bottles. But it came in very handy, as I squirted some of this bottle into a small travel bottle to bring with me to Croatia. The other spf bottles I have, come in foam and spray form - and would not be rebottled so easily!

Native Deodorant - Aloe and Green tea, sensitive (75 g): I have been very curious about aluminum free deodorant, and as I am finally seeing to an end of one of my 3 previous bottles, it was time to pick this one up.

La Roche-Posay - Kerium DS creme (39 g): I had picked up a tube of this for my nephew a few years back, as he was struggling with flakey eyebrows. And recently I had started to get flakey spots between my eyebrows and eyelids, I went on a mission to find a tube for me to use. And I really think it works!! 

Sol de Janeiro - Brazilian bum bum cream (75 ml): I smelled this exact product a few years back, and did absolutely not understand the hype around this scent as I really did not like it at first sniff. But now - omg I loved it!! Given the fact I have more than enough of body lotions, I just grabbed the small jar of it. But I might actually be tempted to buy other types, or even the scent spray.

Macadamia oil extract - Hair mask (250 ml): My hair after about 5 days of sun and sea in Croatia went totally haywire, and I managed to find this in one of the little shops on the island I was staying - and it managed to turn my haywire hair around after one treatment. But you do need to be consistent with it. 

Tangle Teezer hairbrush: My friend was so kind to grab this for me while she was on a holiday in UK. This has since moved into my gym bag - so I will never forget to take a hairbrush with me to the gym again

Kosas - Revealer concealer in 01N (6 ml): Did I need a concealer? 100% not, I already have about 4 concealers in different formats. Two in liquid format as a matter of a fact. Have I started to use it yet? No not yet... 

Kosas - Revealer skin improving foundation in Very cool light 120 (30 ml): Who am I? Purchasing two foundations in the same year? And I already have several in my stash (again in a few formats; liquid, mineral powder and pressed powder). I guess I just have to put real effort to in 2022 to doll myself up on an everyday basis.

Urban Decay - All nighter long lasting makeup setting spray (30 ml): This was purchased with the intent to take it with me to Croatia for the wedding to double insure the makeup. Then in the end there was no space in my hand luggage for more liquids. I just got one sprits from my friend who managed to take some with her to the wedding. 

It Cosmetics - Your skin but better CC+ color correcting full coverage cream spf 50 in fair (32 ml): I had gotten one or two testers of this particular product in Sephora a while back. And given my previous experience, this product performed exceptionally well, with good staying power, without creasing or looking cakey. And given the fact I was going to a wedding in Croatia, where the temperature would be around 35 degrees Celsius, I would need something long lasting. So I grabbed this during some online discount in Hagkaup Iceland

Revlon - Colorstay brow fiber filler in 303 medium brown (6.8 ml): I am about to run our of my Rimmel colored eyebrow gel, and on a recommendation from Lisa J on Youtube. 

La Roche-Posay - Anthelios mineral fluid 50 spf (50 ml): I got sucked in in a Canadian drugstore to pick this up (even though I have a bottle of Supergoop zink screen). Now I just have to be more active in using these facial sunscreens.

Laura Mercier - Translucent loose setting powder (5 g): This was a part of my Sephora birthday gift for 2022. And boy am I excited to give this a whirl, as this is a product that has been hyped up for years.

Laura Mercier - Caviar stick eye color in strapless (1 g): The other part of the Sephora birthday gift I selected for 2022. Another product from LM that I have heard about for years but never tried. 

Tower 28 - Beach please cheek and lip color in Magic hour (4.5 g): I had been curious about this product and this brand since 2019 or 2020. So I could not resist when I spotted it in Sephora.

It Cosmetics - Confidence in a cream, tester (? g): This came as a bonus with the It Cosmetics CC+ cream. Another leaflet for me to use up for sure... I might even have to go on a "tester use up" mission.

So will I perhaps calm down in my purchases in the months to come? Well I have two orders being shipped as we speak... and several items on my "research list" 

Current wishlist - makeup contemplations - January 2021

 I last made a wishlist in March 2020, before the true Covid-19 strike, and the entire list consisted of only eyeshadow palettes. Of that list, there are two items from that list still on my wishlist: Charlotte Tilbury - eyes to mezmerize - Oyster pearl (previously called Marie Antonette) and the Tom Ford quad in nude dip. Then there are also a few other items that have trickled onto my wishlist.

Westman Atelier - Vital skin foundation stick - 68 USD @WestmanAtelier

Photo credit: www.cultbeauty.com

I have really wanted to try this foundation for some time, as this is a clean brand, and in theory would not irritate my skin. But with the fact I do not see a possibility to travel abroad in the near future, I highly doubt I will be able to get this in the near future. Plus I have quite the accumulation of face products that need to be finished before purchasing more. 

Jo Malone - Wood sage and sea salt cologne - 142 USD @Sephora

Photo credit: www.jomalone.com

This perfume has been on my wishlist for years, but as I have a backload of fragrances in my stash, it really does not make sense for me to buy any more until I at least finish a bottle or two of the seven perfumes, of various siszes from 15 ml to 100 ml.

Nars Cosmetics - Lip gloss - Turkish delight - 24 USD @Sephora 

Photo credit: www.narscosmetics.com 

This gloss which was made famous by Kim Kardashian, I am super curious to try out at one point. Still I have way too much lip products, and this color might be too light for me to pull of with my dark hair.

Natasha Denona - Mini retro palette - 25 USD @Sephora

Photo credit: www.beautylish.com

The Charlotte Tilbury, pillow talk quad used to be on my wishlist last year, but now I am not so sure any more. With all my palettes, and the price of the Charlotte Tilbury one, and considering how many seem to love the Natasha Denona formula, I am a bit curious about the brand. And of the smaller palettes she has the mini retro appeals the most to me. 

Bare Minerals - Gen Nude eyeshadow palette - Neutral / Rose - 29 USD @Sephora

Photo credit: www.bareminerals.com

These palettes have been hyped so much for quality on Youtube, by several of content creators I follow. The colors that appeal the most to me are neutral and rose. The funny thing is though, when I swatched this palette in store, the neutral one looks more pink than the rose one, but then again the rose one is a tad cooler than the neutral one. The neutral palette resembles the Charlotte Tilbury pillowtalk quad more, but the rose one reminds me more of the Natasha Denona mini retro palette. What these palettes lack though is a beautiful high shine topper kind of shadow, like both the Charlotte Tilbury and Natasha Denona palettes have.

Nars Cosmetics - Voyageur eyeshadow palette - Suede - 29 GBP @LookFantastic

Photo credit: www.lookfantastic.com

This palette and the brand Nazar has also been on my radar for some time. But this now has been discontinued, and is not available on the company's website. And even though I love the color story, after a palette becomes discontinued, it somehow becomes less relevant, and not as appealing. But I am still curious about eyehsadows and other products from Nars. 

Anything on your list?

November - December haul 2020

 These last two months of the year I have not added a great deal to my stash, as a matter of fact I have only added two items.

Facial mask brush and foundadtion/concealer

The body shop - Facial mask brush: I had been contemplating to purchase a facial mask brush, and when The body shop was having a discount for black Friday weekend I grabbed the opportunity.

RMS - "un" cover up - shade 22 (5,67 g): I had had my eye on this product for some time, and had swatched it from time to time when passing through Shoppers Drug Mart in Eaton Center in Toronto, when one could travel over the world. With the current situation, covid-19 life, with not a lot of social engagements, and having to wear a mask when out and about I am not into wearing a full face of makeup. Still with my perioral dermatitis sometimes causing some redness around my mouth, I wanted something light that would blend in nicely and would not agitate my skin, and it looks amazing on my skin.

Beauty goals for 2019 - Results

My beauty goals for 2019 went so so, so to say!

I managed to finish four of the ten products I set out to finish in 2019, so a success of 40%. Which is a bit of a less progress from 2018 and 2017. But progress is progress, and now I have managed to use a few products up and thus declutter my collection of a few items.

The empties  of my Beauty goals for 2019

Managed to finish one item from this picture

What I managed to finish up:

Lumene - Bright now vitamin C eye cream (15 ml): Finally I managed to finish this eye cream, sadly the new eye-cream I have contains a whopping 30 ml of product. But compared to how many years it took me to finish 15 ml, I would prefer eye-creams to come in 10 ml bottles.

L'Occitane en provence - Verveine body lotion (250 ml): So glad I managed to finish one of my body lotions, many to go

Avon - Moroccan argan oil (30 ml): This is the second bottle of this hair oil I manage to finish up, and it works wonders for the ends of my hair, to say the least. I was so afraid I would miss this product so much I decided to grab the Ordinary, 100% marula oil for my hair.

Inglot - Bright amber - solid perfume (2,3 g): This was one of the first products I managed to finish up. Did I like the scent; yes, the solid perfume application; no.

The remaining products from 2019 - which I did not hit my goal on

Left outstanding, unfinished products, or the products I did not manage to finish are the following:

Bourjois Paris - Happy light luminous serum primer (15 ml): I can not believe I did not manage to finish this primer, as I have used it religiously for the last five months of the year, given the fact that I do not use makeup everyday. I would guess though it would only take me about five uses to finish it up.

Cover Girl - Ready set gorgeous - 115 (30 ml): After owning this product for years, believing the bottle was of a non see-through type, it turned out to be see-through! And now I can see there is just a tiny little bit remaining of the product. Starting the year at 2/3 remaining of the product, I am super glad it is as good as finished!.

Cover Girl - Ready set gorgeous foundation - December 2019

Origins - Drink up 10 minute mask to quench skin's thirst (100 ml): I am starting to think in this empties, the rule of five that remains, as I can guess that about five uses are remaining. Maybe ten.. but maybe I should really implement a Mask Monday this year, and really get this product done for good.

Express - Love Express eau de parfum (10 ml): I have never taken such a long time to finish this small amount of a perfum. At the beginning of the year 2019, I had a little bit less than a full bottle left, and I think I can estimate that I have finish about half of the perfum up, of what remained in the beginning of the year.

Maybelline - Color tattoo 24hr - gel cream eyeshadow - 35 on and on bronze: This is the second time this product is featured in one of my "Beauty goals" projects, as it was a part of my "Beauty goals for 2017" - that year my goal was to hit pan. Then this year, 2019, the goal was to hit side pan, which had to be modified as when I started to use the product, it was too stiff, so it had to be stirred up, which totally revived the product. But from the 4 month update, some visual progress can be seen. But if I can say that I reached my original goal to hit side-pan, I am not sure of.

Maybelline - Color tattoo 24hr - December 2019

Bourjois Paris - Somekey eyes trio - 09 Lady vert de gris (4,5 g): My original goal for this product was to hit pan on the only eyeshadow that was in this small palette without a pan. I seem to have made some progress though from the four month update on the shadow from April untill now. 

Bourjois Paris - 09 Lady vert de gris - December 2019

Other goals of 2019 were the following:

1. Not to buy any colored nail-polishes (nail strengheners and top coats not included in the definition of "colored nail-polish"). = I bought one nail topcoat from Essie (with a colored nail polish in a duo pack) = Small fail
2. No impulse buys, or buys just because there is a sale or discount = I did buy a Clarins eyeshadow brush on 40% discount (but I had been thinking of buying a brush like that before). Also I bought Inglot duraline, and a pink Inglot eyeshadow, as the store was closing in Iceland. Plus the fact I did buy a totally unnecessary lipstick and concealer on Christmas eve = Big fail
3. Max 1 perfume purchase = Did not purchase one perfum the entire year of 2019 = Success
4. No buy January and No buy March - maybe other months to be scheduled later on = Kept a No buy January and a No buy March - did not schedule other no buy months though! = Success
5. Max 2 eye-shadow palette purchases = Bought one eyeshadow palette, and was gifted one = Success
6. Max 2 brush purchases = Bought three = Small fail

Did you do a project pan - or set any goals for 2019 - how did you do?

Beauty goals for 2019 - Four month update

So how are my beauty goals for 2019 going, four months in?

A mark from start until now can be seen on some of the products

Solid perfume and eyeshadow update

The Bourjois shadow profile

So four months in and I have finished two of the ten products I set my goal to finish in 2019:

L'Occitane en provence - Verveine body lotion (250 ml): This product was my "give me product" of this project, as there were only about 60 ml left in the tube, and did I manage to finish this body lotion. It's texture was light and easily absorbed into my skin. But not sure I would repurchase.

Inglot - Bright amber - solid perfume (2,3 g): So glad this item is finished, I loved the scent, but not the "soldid" part, if it would come in a liquid form, I would consider repurchasing.

Measurable progress can be seen on another five products:

Lumene - Bright now vitamin C eye cream (15 ml): At the start of this project I estimated I had 4 ml left of this eye cream, and as I seem to have finished half of the remaining product, I guess I have about 2 ml left and should be able to finish that up in another four months.

Bourjois Paris - Happy light luminous serum primer (15 ml): I am about half way through this product, even thought I have perhaps only used 1,5 ml since I started this project. leaving me about 7,5 ml for the rest of the year. 

Origins - Drink up 10 minute mask to quench skin's thirst (100 ml): I have tried to implement mask Monday to use this product up, with not so much success, but still a bit of progress. 

Avon - Moroccan argan oil (30 ml): I have managed to use a bit of this hair oil, and will continue to use it.

Express - Love Express eau de parfum (10 ml): This item I did not mark, but if I compare it to the previous picture I have made small progress on it.

Non visable progress:

Cover Girl - Ready set gorgeous in the color 115 (30 ml): as this is a non see-through bottle, I have no idea how I am doing on this product, but at the start I had about 2/3 left, or about 20 ml.

Maybelline - Color tattoo 24hr - gel cream eyeshadow - 35 on and on bronze: The original mission of this product was to hit side-pan, but when I started to use the eyeshadow it was a bit dried out, so I needed to stir it all up into one spot. New goal? use it two times a month from now on? The only progress so far has been using up the stir-marks in the empty spaces.

Bourjois Paris - Smokey eyes trio - 09 Lady vert de gris (4,5 g): My goal for 2019 was to hit pan on the eyeshadow without pan in this trio. And I do believe I have made some progress on it, and is probably the most used eyeshadow in my entire collection in the time that has passed this year. 

How is your project going?

Beauty goals for 2018 - results

So as it has come to the end of the year, it is time for an update on my "Beauty goals for 2018" where I planned to finish ten selected items from my collection.

So out of the ten items I planned to finish or hit pan on, I was successful on seven of the items. 

Five products that I finished marked with X (original photo)

I did finish my Lancome kohl pencil

 

Two fails and reached my goal to hit pan on one (marked with /)

Did not finish this one but managed to use up about 1/3

So I reached my goals on seven of the ten items, and the items I reached my goals on were:

Dove - intense repair overnight cream (120 ml): used up 1/3 of the product that was left.

The body shop - Vitamin C skin boost (30 ml): estimated 6-10 ml used up.

Dove - Repair therapy, Color radiance hair mask (200 ml): used up the remaining 3-4 applications.

Wet and wild - nail polish in the color 442A (14 ml): when this got too thick and difficult to apply, I finally gave up on it, I had originally 4-6 ml left. And maybe I was able to use up about half of the remaining product.

Victoria's secret - Unwrap me, beauty rush, whipped cream and winter pear, body dial-a-shimmer lotion (200 ml): this item probably had about 100 ml left when I started the project. The pump on it broke early on, so I ended up depotting it and use it up from a different container.

Lancome le crayon kohl noir (0,7 g): it started the year 2018 as a 3,5 cm long pencil and was I able to use it until it became 2,5 cm long, at which point the kohl itself fell out of the pencil. And to use that 1 cm took me almost the entire year.

Maybelline - depotted eyeshadow in a champagne shimmery color: this item was a roll over product from 2017, and whas my goal to hit pan on the eyeshadow. Which I managed to do in early January. 

So the three remaining items I did not reach my goals on were:

Clinique - Blush in Fig (1,8 g): this is a depotted "gift with purchase" blush, and if I compare how the pan looked in the beginning of the year, I perhaps finished a little less than half of the blush I started the year with. OMG and this has been my primary blush of the year, and I probably finished less than 1 gram of it - BUT it is a very pigmented blush and I only need a tiny bit of it to give me a nice rouge on my cheeks. 

Estée Lauder - Double wear, stay in place powder makeup SPF 10 (16 g) - color 2N2 Fresco 01: I acknowledged the fact that it would be hard to use this foundation up in the year as the pan was and still is quite thick on the sides. And as can be seen this goal was far from reached. As a matter of a fact I kind of gave up in the middle of the year and abandoned this as my main foundation, and used Cover Girl - Ready set gorgeous, which I hauled in 2015. 

Bourjois Paris - Happy light luminous serum primer (15 ml): from the point I started the year until now, I have probably used up just over 1/3 of the product, so about 5-6 ml of product I have managed to use.

So all over I am pretty glad about my success, as there was more success than failure for sure. And super glad that I was finally able to use up the Lancome le crayon kohl noir, which I first put in a project pan for the year 2016 - so it "only" took three years to finish up. 

Did you do a project pan this year?

On a sample roll

I guess you could say I am on a sample roll at the moment, as I have been taking advantage of the fact that you can get a free sample of almost any item they offer at Sephora. Which is perfect for my sensitive skin which does not seem to tolerate any given product. So it is perfect to be able to test it before purchasing.

Sephora samples

 Samples and a blush

Beauty on the fly bag  - picture borrowed from Sephora.com

Sephora mask and Skyn Iceland eye mask

I would highly recommend to anyone to get a sample of the product you want to try out in Sephora, as one of these little pots lasts for several applications, so you can get a real feel for the product. And these were the three products I was keen to try:

It cosmetics - Your skin but better CC+ cream with SPF 50+ (fair);  This one at first try I really thought would not suit my perioral dermatitis-prone skin. As I got a few bums around my mouth after the fist application, but the trick with this one is to apply a thin layer. The first try I applied way to thick of a layer as I did't know the pigmentation would be so great. This I love to apply with a beauty blender, and it is quite likely that I would like to buy this in the future, as it has a high SPF factor, given that I probably do not apply it thickly enough to get the full effect of the 50+ SPF, but it might get to a 25 or 30 with how I apply the product. Full info here.

BareMinerals - Complexion rescue tinted moisturizer (opal); I used to LOVE the Garnier miracle cream, which was a light tinted face cream with SPF 20. I think that this might be something light and similar to that one, or I could use it as a base for other foundations which do not contain SPF. Full info here. 

Drunk Elephant - Umbra tinte physical daily defense broad spectrum sunscreen SPF 30; this I thought could be a perfect first step, including SPF, before applying a foundation which does not include an SPF, which I have in my arsenal. I also have a foundation which has only an SPF 15 so this could be the perfect base. Full info here. Have yet not tried it.

Benefit - Hervana blush (7 gr); I was missing a light pink blush in "my collection" and had really wanted to try one of the Benefit box powders, so I stumbled upon this particular blush in the Benefit store in Boston, where I had my brows done as well. I would have preferred to buy it in Sephora, and get points for my purchase, but as Sephora does not carry this color anymore, I opted to buy it in a Benefit store. And I love the color, a perfect everyday color, which is the type of a color I tend to get the most use out of. 

Madara - Anti polution CC cream SPF 15 (light beige and medium beige) (2 x 2ml); I can't even remember where I heard about this product for the first time. But I was lucky enough to grab a sample in a store in Reykjavik, and got both shades as me and the sales associate could not figure out which color would suit me better. But I figured that this might suit the same purpose as the Drunk Elephant umbra tinte spf sunscreen, to be used underneath a foundation which does not contain any spf. Full info here.

Sephora - Beauty on the fly bag; I grabbed this one in Sephora as I needed a small bag under my liquid products I keep in my cabin bag on the regular (a micellar water and toner). So I opted for this bag.

Sephora - Ultra moisturizing and brightening Rose face mask: I got this as a sample with my purchase when I got the Sephora Beauty on the fly bag. A pretty good deal here to get a mask worth 6 USD with a beauty bag for 4.95 USD. Full info here. 

Skyn Iceland - Hydro cool firming eye gels with hexapeptide technology (3,2 gr - one pair); One of my co-workers swears by this, so much he gave all of the members of our crew a pair of these. It is supposed to firm and de-puff in 10 minutes, and it is recommended to use this treatment once a week. Full info here. 

Have you tried out any of these?