Day: July 30, 2020

Pan Those Eyeshadows 1 (Intro)

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As discussed in my last post, I have way too much eyeshadow. I was able to bring my collection down to 53 palettes, which (with pressed glitters removed) leaves me with 720 individual shades – and zero that I’ve hit pan on.

I’m generally light-handed when it comes to shadow application, which I recognize is a contributing factor, but I truly feel like after 5 years of really being into eyeshadow I should have pan on a few shades by now. In 2018, I did a year-long One Week, One Palette project, but haven’t ever really dug in and tried to use a single palette or just a set of shades for any long period.

So here we are – starting a Pan Those Eyeshadows Project. (Shout out to Rebecca Morgan and Too Much Tash who inspired me to give this a try.)

A peek at the palettes that got selected first

Here’s my rules:

  1. 5 shades will be in the palette at a time.
  2. The shades will be chosen at random, first randomizing the palette I choose from, then the shade within the palette.
  3. I can have more than one shade from the same palette within the project at once.
  4. I will not have two shades that are super similar at once. (Ex: two matte creams, two metallic browns that are the same depth)
  5. I will keep at least 2 mattes & 2 metallics at all times.
  6. I can rotate out a shade after:
    1. Hitting pan.
    2. It’s been in the project for 2 months.
  7. I will not count how many times I use each shade (because I’m lazy and it’s not that serious).
  8. I can use other palettes or shades in these palettes to supplement, but at least one shade from the set must be included in every eye look. (Except very specific special occasions.)
  9. I will review my progress monthly at the end of the month (since it’s July 30 when I’ll first use this set of shades) and will try to remember to post an update here.
  10. Every month I will also choose a Colourpop Super Shock Shadow to complement the quintet. (I’ll pick, instead of it being randomized.)
  11. I am allowed to change these rules whenever I want. 😀

Here is my first set of shadows:

  1. Too Faced, Grand Hotel Cafe – Gingerbread Cookie: Gingersnap (gold metallic)
  2. Colourpop x Disney Designer, It’s a Princess Thing: Poison Apple (metallic)
  3. Too Faced, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar: Peanut Butter (matte)
  4. LORAC, Mega Pro 4: Eggplant (matte)
  5. Colourpop x KathleenLights, Dream St.: Kaleidoscope
  6. BONUS SSS: KathleenLights (because the TF shade may need help, and this is a super similar shade match)
SSS, then the 5 shadows in order as listed above

Surprisingly, I went exactly with the first 5 randomized choices, and this fairly cohesive color scheme came out! I know, I wouldn’t believe it if I saw someone pick it on YouTube, but you’ve got to trust me.

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll come along with me on this journey to get more (obvious) use out of my eyeshadow collection!

If you’re doing a similar project, please comment with what shades you’re using or share the link to your blog post or video/playlist about it!

– Natalie

P.S. Here’s some referral links to some of my favorite sites. Use if you’d like!

  • Rakuten (formerly Ebates) â€“ This is a great way to earn cash back from online shopping (that you’re already doing) at many of your favorite stores! (Including Sephora & Ulta!) If you join through this link and make a purchase of $25 or more, you’ll get an extra $10 cash back and your own referral code, and I’ll get $15 as well.
  • thredUP â€“ I love using thredUP to clean out my closet and shop for new pieces at a discounted price – sometimes they’re even brand new with tags! When you join thredUP through this link, you get $10 to spend and I get $10 to shop after you place your first order.
  • StitchFix â€“ This is a great way to try out some new items for your closet, without the hassle of going to the stores and the bonus of a personal stylist. If you sign up with this link, you’ll get a FREE styling fee (usually $20) on your first Fix, and I’ll get $25 credit once it ships.

Palette Retirement Day

Natalie1 Comment

After doing a full year of One Week, One Palette in 2018, then a whole year and a half of using my collection without direction or goals, I decided it was time to come up with a plan to start using my eyeshadow more intentionally again. Since COVID-19 shut things down in mid-March, I’ve been working from home, but I still wear makeup a few days a week or more due to video calls and generally wanting to feel like myself. Even so, the eye shadow looks haven’t exactly been inspired lately – usually just a brown or two in the crease with a shimmery brown on the lid.

Today I finally got the energy to go through my (excessive) collection of eyeshadow palettes. I really started getting into makeup around 2015 when I had my first full-time job, and quickly started buying (hoarding) palettes. It started with a birthday purchase of the LORAC Mega PRO 2 palette. Somewhere along the line I got very good at working my Extra Bucks at CVS and ended up with a collection of Milani Everyday Eyes. A deal on HSN landed me with the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, and we were off to the races.

I’ll just admit it – I have 66 palettes. (And one on the way! Though it’s the only one I’ve bought all year.) And what’s a girl to do with nearly 900 pans of shadow? Keep them all to herself until they are past their prime, not even think of offloading some to friends/family/Marketplace until a global pandemic hits so no one would even want used eyeshadow anyways, and justify keeping them all by telling herself eye shadow doesn’t really expire.

So the result of my palette check-in today was the following:

  1. “Retire” 13 palettes. That’s right, not declutter. I still can’t get myself to toss things that could reasonably still be used by me. This baker’s dozen contains five of the OG Milani Everyday Eyes, four Wet N Wild 10-pan Color Icon palettes, two Elf Mad For Matte’s, and two palettes I got from Ulta for free with purchase (one Ulta brand, the other Makeup Revolution). These palettes will stick around for now. Some are barely used and still in good enough condition that I could reasonably give them to a sister or friend when I can travel to see them again, but a couple are just going to stay for collector’s purposes (hoarder’s) and nostalgia.
  2. Updated my inventory. I went through my product inventory on Airtable and moved the “retired” palettes to a new sheet.
  3. Prepped for a new eyeshadow project. I added a column in my palettes inventory to designate how many pressed glitters are in any given palette, as well as a way to show how many shades had pan or were completely finished.

This left me with 720 individual pans of shadow throughout 53 palettes. (Plus the RawBeautyKristi x PUR palette with 18 shadows that I bought in a haze of FOMO).

With these remaining shadows, I’m going to start a “Pan Those Eyeshadows” project, similar to Rebecca Morgan and Too Much Tash on YouTube. (I know many others do this type of project too, but these are the two I keep up with.) Follow me over to my next post, where’s I’ll share the details of that project, as well as my first set of shadows!

– Natalie

P.S. Here’s some referral links to some of my favorite sites. Use if you’d like!

  • Rakuten (formerly Ebates) â€“ This is a great way to earn cash back from online shopping (that you’re already doing) at many of your favorite stores! (Including Sephora & Ulta!) If you join through this link and make a purchase of $25 or more, you’ll get an extra $10 cash back and your own referral code, and I’ll get $15 as well.
  • thredUP â€“ I love using thredUP to clean out my closet and shop for new pieces at a discounted price – sometimes they’re even brand new with tags! When you join thredUP through this link, you get $10 to spend and I get $10 to shop after you place your first order.
  • StitchFix â€“ This is a great way to try out some new items for your closet, without the hassle of going to the stores and the bonus of a personal stylist. If you sign up with this link, you’ll get a FREE styling fee (usually $20) on your first Fix, and I’ll get $25 credit once it ships.