Prospective Project 10 Pan

I am on a quest. This quest is to get my makeup collection down to a more reasonable size.

I went through a huge hoarding/collecting phase on and off over the past year and managed to accumulate a lot of products, many of which got thrown in the back of a drawer and forgotten. I recently realized that I would much rather invest in a few really great products than buying a lot of mediocre products that I don't use.



So now, the mission is to weed out all of the products I don't particularly love and eventually have a collection of products that really work for me and that I love. Since I'm not a wasteful person and I've spent a lot of money on this collection, I'm not about to just throw anything out. Instead, I will soon be embarking on a Project 10 Pan, of sorts.

For anyone who doesn't know what Project 10 Pan is, it's basically where you don't allow yourself to buy any new products until you completely finish 10 you currently own. People like to come up with their own rules to this, but that's the basic gist. Some people do it to save money, which is a great idea, and some, like me, do it to use products they never touch or need to get rid of.

So, starting January 2012, I will be embarking on Project 10 Pan. But Laurel! Why wait until January? Very good question. Basically, my birthday is December 31st and I plan on going shopping on my birthday. Rather than either not letting myself get something I really want or breaking the P10P rules, I'm choosing to wait so that I can do it right. I also need to figure out which products will be included.

Here are the basic rules for me:

• I will be choosing 10 products. The project will not be finished until those 10 products are completely used up. These products will be a mixture of makeup, skincare, hair styling products, and body lotion/fragrances.
• Other products not on the list that get finished during this time won't replace my original 10 products. They'll just be kind of an added bonus! :)
• There will be some products that I will have to purchase during the project. I only have one tube of mascara and I anticipate P10P outlasting my measly single tube. Things like that, that I only have one of and use up during the project can be replaced.
• With the exception of the products I don't have backups for and use everyday (like my poor, lonely mascara), I will not purchase any makeup, skincare, hair styling products, or body fragrance/lotion until I have completed P10P. 
• I will, however, continue to receive my monthly Birchboxes because they're already paid for and I think getting that monthly box of samples will keep me from shopping. If I receive a product that is a backup for one of my 10 products, I will not use it until I've completed the product on the P10P list (for example, if I decided to finish a moisturizer and receive a moisturizer sample in my Birchbox, I won't use the sample until I've finished the first moisturizer).

Hopefully that all makes sense. I will be doing a post at the beginning of the new year with the products I've chosen to use up!

Anyone who would like to join me on this endeavor, please do! I can use all the support I can get!