Welcome back everyone! It’s been six months since I started my Project Pan & Use-Up: Lips, Face & Eyeshadow Edition at the start of 2025, in mid-January, and now it’s time to check on my progress! I’ve been setting products aside every time I finish them or meet my goals and right now it’s looking pretty good! But let’s go through each item individually to see if I’ve been doing a good job of using up my makeup before I break down and finally buy my ever-growing list of ColourPop, Lawless, Rare Beauty, and e.l.f. products.
A Reminder Of My 2025 Edition Products
Use More Of (Pan):
- ColourPop Going Coconuts Neutral Shadow Palette
- ColourPop Nude Mood Warm-Nude Powder Palette
- Seint Beauty Custom Face Palette (trio of products)
- Thrive Causemetics Sheer Strength® Hydrating Lip Tint, “Kara”
- Bobbi Brown Lipstick, “Bunt Red”
Use Up Entirely (Empty):
- ColourPop Lux Lip Oil, “Fresh Peach”
- ColourPop So Juicy Plumping Gloss Balm, “Vacay Mode”
- Lawless Perfecting Powder Talc-Free, Skin-Smoothing Powder, 2-Light
- Bellapierre Cosmetics Mineral Lipstick, “Incognito”
- NARS Lipstick, “Immortal Red (Matte)”
Project Pan & Use-Up: Updates & Statuses
I think it makes the most sense to go through each product individually in order, as I have gathered them all in a Ziploc bag to do this review! So let’s start with:
ColourPop Going Coconuts
I’ll let you in on a little secret before I dive into my progress on the eyeshadow palette. Up until just a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize I forgot to pull the peel-away protective film off the mirror. I’ve owned this palette for at least two years — if not longer — and I didn’t realize the film was still there from when I first bought it. Goodness gracious! In my defense, however, I do my makeup in front of my bathroom mirror anyway so I don’t really use the in-palette mirror, I just thought that was funny.
But I’m super proud of my progress on Going Coconuts! The shade I decided I was going to hit the hardest is “Coco Crush,” the middle shade, which is a neutral shimmer shade with an undertone of “Shell Yeah.” By far my most-used shade prior to this project, I have officially hit pan! It’s hard to see because the shade itself is so shiny, but there is just a little fleck of silver that I can see in the bottom.
Verdict: Hit Pan (Massive Success)
ColourPop Nude Mood
Keeping up with the theme, let’s check in on Nude Mood. This was the less-used one out of the two ColourPop palettes, since I knew I was getting close on Going Coconuts and wanted to keep using it to hit pan. The shade I typically go for in this one is “Wink Wink,” and while there is a noticeable dip in the pan, I am nowhere close to where I’d like to be.
Verdict: Failure
Seint Beauty Face Palette
Seint, formerly known as Maskcara Beauty until a rebrand in 2020, is a brand that produces all cream products. The brand is best known for selling IID makeup — made partially out of beeswax, if I remember correctly? — that comes in different shades and can be stored in a magnetic, refillable palette. Seint, which I learned about and got shade-matched with through a family friend, is also unique for how everything is named; their “highlight” is typically what you think of foundation, and their “illuminator” is typically what you’d call highlight.
I have a trio of products that form this face palette, and I have hit pan in my highlight (base makeup) in “Candlelit.” I have also almost hit pan in my contour, “Olive.”
Verdict: Hit Pan (Massive Success)
Thrive Sheer Strength® Lip Tint
I chose this Thrive lip tint as a customization in a FabFitFun seasonal box — I think it was the fall or winter one — and I have been using those both on makeup days and non-makeup days. It’s perfect for adding a little bit of color that compliments my usual looks, but I can also wear it without anything else on my face and it doesn’t look out of place. You know what I mean? It’s hard to tell how much of it I’ve used total since adding it to my collection/this project, but like Going Coconuts I’ve been using this more and more to try and make a dent. There is a little under ½ inch of product left, and by my best guess, I’ve used about a little over one inch worth of product. First time using a Thrive lippie, but I love how it feels and I love the way the shade “Kara” looks on my lips.
Verdict: Hit Pan (Massive Success)
Bobbi Brown Lipstick
Ahh, Bobbi Brown! I think I’ve mentioned this once or twice on this blog, but I adore red lipstick. Every time I read red lipstick it makes me feel so beautiful and like I could take on the world — huge confidence boost for me. I can tell without even looking that I made very little progress on this lippie in the last six months; again, I’ve just been putting more energy into using up more urgent Project Pan & Use-Up products so this one definitely fell by the wayside. I’m not mad though, because I’m still happy to have this one around!
Verdict: Failure
Project Pan Score: ⅗
ColourPop Lux Lip Oil
This lip oil I think was actually the first product in this series that finished completely! I don’t think I can physically scrape off any more from the side of the little bottle. I have reviewed this Lux Lip Oil before, I just tried it for the first time last year, and long story short: I like it! I like the consistency, how it feels on the lips, the color — but I don’t know if I would repurchase it right away. I think I would be more interested in trying other lip oils from other brands, but this is a good fallback for sure.
Verdict: Empty (Massive Success)
ColourPop Plumping Gloss Balm
I also reviewed this So Juicy formula last year, as I tried it for the first time, and there is no product left! This I finished around the same time I finished up the ColourPop lip oil and I was surprised to see that I went through it super fast! I got this last summer and finished it sometime at the start of this year, and I like it about as well as the lip oil. It’s a nice plumping product and feels nice on the lips, but the Two Faced one I think I like more for that specific purpose (that one is more strong and tingly but I like it). I think I’d be more likely to wear the brand’s lippie stix than the gloss balm one just because of the different finish, but it’s a good choice to have in your back pocket if I ever want to purchase it again.
Verdict: Empty (Massive Success)
Lawless Perfecting Powder
The second Lawless powder I’ve purchased and the only setting powder I use, it wasn’t hard for me to totally use the last of this up over the past few months. There was notably a large gaping hole in the center where I could see the silver tin, and I had to mash up the collected product on the sides to make sure I got as much out of it as I could. Now there is absolutely nothing left and I’m going to repurchase this ASAP since I now have no setting powder to use now.
Verdict: Empty (Massive Success)
Bellapierre Lipstick
While I have used the Bellapierre Cosmetics Mineral Lipstick a few times, I know this one was like the Bobbi Brown — in that it was a lower priority. I also don’t know how much of this I started with, but I have between ½ and ¾ of it left. I imagine I can use this up a lot more with the absence of other used-up products, plus it is more of an everyday, versatile lippie than the Bobbi Brown. But for now, this one I didn’t do so well with.
Verdict: Failure
NARS Lipstick
I’m so mad at this NARS lipstick! I know I didn’t have a lot of this left — right now it’s sitting at about ¼ inch — but I tried so hard to finish this up before the June deadline! I know June isn’t over, but still. I again love red lipstick, so I love the way this one looks, but it’s one I can only really wear when I wear a full face and just a little product goes a long way. I’m absolutely confident I can actually finish this one up with just a little more dedication!
Verdict: Failure
Project Use-Up Score: ⅗
The Accidental Use-Ups & Surprises
So while I was focused on using these select products, an unintended consequence is that I ended up going through a few more products that I wasn’t even paying attention to. I’d like to take a minute to acknowledge these, since they are technically used-up products:
- Rare Beauty Brow Harmony Precision Pencil in “Soft Blonde” — I actually used up the last of this at some point during the last six months and had to buy another one, as it is exclusively what I used for my brows.
- Rare Beauty Always an Optimist Pore Diffusing Primer Sample — This was a free mini that came with the above brow pencil order. I thought it was okay, I don’t think it blurred my pores as much as the e.l.f. Poreless Putty Primer, but I wasn’t really paying attention or comparing the two. I did enjoy how it felt on my skin, however.
- e.l.f. Power Grip Primer — This was a recommendation and my only real experience with primer, in conjunction with the Poreless Putty. I use it regularly for most of my face (with the putty going on my nose), and I ran out! This is another repurchase since I did like it, but there are other primers I’m open to trying and want to try.
Progress Check & EOY Goals
So six months into this Project Pan & Use-Up, I’m over halfway there (officially)! Hooray! I know I ended up going through other makeup, but that’s just a bonus. For the next six months, however, I’m going to refocus my goals a little bit. There are some of these products I’m super close to finishing, so I’m going to primarily put my energy toward them:
- Use Up Entirely (Empty):
- NARS Lipstick
- Thrive Sheer Strength® Lip Tint
- Use More Of (Pan):
- Bellapierre Lipstick
- ColourPop Nude Mood
- Bobbi Brown Lipstick
