Shopping My Stash #3 (November 2017)

Hi Lovelies,



Welcome back! And welcome if you are new here 💕💕💕

Shopping my green beauty stash #3

So, these series of posts where I tend to use what I have versus shopping for new products, aka shop my own stash, has proven to be one of the most viewed posts, so I think it struck a chord with you too. The idea is simple, pick products from your own stash and try to use as much as you can during the month, with a goal to finish some of them off. This is not necessarily a repeat of favourites posts, as some items are used to be used and won't be repurchased. I am always clear about that and the reasons why, and I hope you appreciate that.

Green Beauty Samples

Samples

I posted this post on my IG a little while ago in a bid to publicly shame myself into using them up or doing something about them! This photo you see right here is about 1/10th of the samples I have to go through, and it is proving to be difficult to use them up - in our busy day to day life I tend to grab trusty favourites versus wanting to try anything new, and I find myself not wearing make up most of the time. I need to try harder. But these sneaky thingies are making babies when I am not looking, I swear! 

Amazing green beauty balms

Mahalo Balms

I was a lucky duck to win one of those rare Mahalo giveaways a year ago, and I had the pleasure to use three products from the range. While two of them are long gone (and in my "to repurchase" list in my head) I still have the original Mahalo Balm which is nearing a year and technically past the use-by date (don't try this at home, kids!), so I am very aware it might spoil very soon. So I need to go through this pretty soon. I also acquired a full size of Rare Indigo balm that was half full via green beauty swap with Italian blogger, and I only have about half a teaspoon left. I treat it like it is made of gold or something, it is so so precious to me, as it is amazing for my dermatitis prone skin! I will cry tears of a crocodile when it is gone, when both of them will be gone I should say. Between the two of them I will only repurchase one, and even that at a stretch - they are wildly out of my price range. All Mahalo range will be a permanent fixture in my stash once I will come into money. That is one brand worth splashing out for.

Pacifica Dreamlit brightener and Transdecent concealer

Pacifica Under Eye Brightener in Dreamlit and Concealer in Light

These I got via LLABP as I was so curious to try them for the longest time ever. I hit major pan or Ere Perez concealer I loved many months previously, and I fancied a change. Yes, I read countless reviews on these Pacifica products and knew these are probably not the fullest coverage and that they crease. And guess what? They are light coverage and they do crease. Now it is your moment to say "I told you so!" I guess I should have paid the attention to the reviews and just re-order the trusty fave. But all is not lost, the concealer went to my daughter who doesn't have as much of under eye darkness as I do, so she will probably use it up. And I will keep the Dreamlit as the colour match is actually pretty good for me - it is a bit more salmon-y in colour and that works well for canceling the blue. One swipe does not cover all I want to cover, and two layers tend to crease pretty quickly, so what I started doing with this, I put one layer or Dreamlit on and then I put  Alima Pure powdered concealer on top, which didn't impress me either, but as a combo, this seems to be working well. The powder concealer sets the liquidy Dreamlit as well as giving some extra coverage I need. If you don't have bad undereye darkness like I do, please be my guest, these might be your best products? Link here.




Lotus Wei Infinite Love

This too I treated like a liquid gold - it smells amazing and for me, this flower remedy works like magic - I really feel the difference when I use Lotus Wei products versus when I don't. And they somewhat helped me heal my emotional traumas I endured this year. I have a full review on these wonderful flower remedies on my blog, but as it is an old post, hit the search box for it. I am very sad to say I will no longer buy these - I can't afford to. We are one income family, so my play budget in next to non existent, so to splash out of flower remedies is an ultimate extravagance that only few people get. Lotus Wei products prices went up twice since my review came out, and now they are definitely out of my reach. I can only afford a couple of luxury products per year, and obviously I will choose Mahalo Rare Indigo versus this. I am very sad to let Lotus Wei go, and I will definitely resume them once I will come into money.



Nyr Hand Cream

This is the hand cream I am using exclusively for the last two years. Wonderful company, the cream works great, but at the same time I am after something new. Besides I started using excess of facial oils on my hands, so after finishing it up, I will put this particular hand cream on hold for a little while, but I can say I recommend it if you are looking for good hand cream, you can get it from my NYR page.




Balm Balm Frankincense Hydrosol & Lip Balm

Both of these came via Love Lula beauty boxes, and despite the stinky smell of Frankincense hydrosol, I loved it enough to get the second bottle of it. I find it amazing for my dermatitis prone skin & calming inflammation. The first time I got it, I mixed it with the remains of Josh Rosebrook Hydrating Accelerator I had at a time, I found it too sweet on it's own, so they balanced each other perfectly, this time around I am embracing it on it's own. (link to buy it here) The lip balm is 100% organic, which I always appreciate. I didn't find it amazing as a lip balm, as it does not stay on as long as I would like it to, but I really liked it as a lip mask, you know, piling it on and letting it stay on for an hour or so. Get it here.

Natural and nourishing lip balms that stay on the lips - Flying Wild, Hurraw, Fruu

Nourishing Lips Balms That Stay On The Lips, aka my Current Holy Grail Lip Balms 

That would be three of them - Rosemary and Honey one by Bees Flying Wild, Moon Balm by Hurraw (get it in Love Lula) - those two are tried and trusty favourites, used for years and repurchased over and over. Newer addition is Fruu, but it seems to be holding up very well too, and I am excited for this. My lips really suffer in harsh conditions, and I need something that stays on for hours. All of them are budget options, which makes me happy. What are your favourite lip balms for winter? Please share them below or join the discussion on my IG page here. 


So that is it for today. Don't forget to enter mine and Bloom Ocean giveaway, you still have three days to go. My followers also can enjoy discount with them with a code "greenlife" valid until the end of the year! And if you want to, you can also shop at Love Lula and get 15% off until 2nd December. I am about to make second order later today. I decided I need to get cordyceps supplement to boost my immune system. 

What are you using these days? And what did you guys get during Black Friday madness? I shopped small (and local where possible) and I am currently deciding on whether to make a blog post out of it or not - the thing is, I stocked up only on the things needed, so it would make a rather boring blog post compared to some of others. I think. We shall see.

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Lots of Love,
Renata.

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Project Pan 2017 - Natural Beauty Edition

Hi Lovelies,

Welcome back! And if you are new here, welcome 💕💕💕

Project Pan - Green and Natural Beauty (100%Pure, NYR, Lotus Wei, Jane Iredale, Dublin Herbalists and more

This is my first Project Pan post and I don't know all the rules, but I think I should pick ten items and try to use them up in a given time frame, right? I will bend the rules a bit and won't give myself a time frame, I will be happy to use up SOME of it, but in order for that to happen I need to line these products up in a little cute tray and place them Right Under My Nose, as that is the only way I will be able to do it. If the products stay in a different places of my house as they are now, I know I can easily forget them for months at the end! Hence the need for a Project Pan in the first place. My newest products are usually my fave products to play with, hence I can forget what else I have. And when it comes to skincare I am finally at a stage where I am perfectly happy with it and don't want to change a thing about it, so I kinda have to force to use some of the new skincare that is coming in. Bloggers life, much? Oh, and not all of these products will be repurchased for various reasons, but I will touch on that talking about individual products.

So, what is in my Project Pan?

Lotus Wei Inner Peace serum
(see review here) I am including it into Project Pan in a bid to make myself to use it more, aka on the regular basis, as I always forget... Lotus Wei almost made it into my 2016 Best Products but the only reason I didn't include them as I was not consistent with them enough. I should try harder.

100%Pure skincare minis

These came with their recent GWP (gift with purchase) and as I already know from experience that this brand products expire in 6 or so months, I need to get to work on them! So far I broke into one of them, the aqua boost, nothing amazing if I am honest with you. One of them is going into the green beauty swap.

100%Pure Coconut shampoo 

Acquired in the same order, I am working on it girl! I think I will review it as I really like it, but I can't give you my firm opinion on it yet, it *might* be giving me itchy scalp, but I can't claim on it for sure yet, as it is only two times I used it, the first time I used ot on its own and it did definitely made my scalp itchy (and so did my husband’s) but the second time round I used oil treatment prior a wash, and I am fine. I need to play with it more. Let me get back to you on this.

Earthwise Beauty products

Again, these products have a short shelf life, so mama needs to hurry up and enjoy the goodness while it lasts! Definitely reviewing them soon. In one word - amazing! (but not all of the products suit me).

Galore of samples

Dublin Herbalists (I am working on that review guys!) and many other samples are patiently waiting up for my attention! Waaay too many to mention, I could be sitting all day typing them names here, so I won't bother, as they will appear in my Empties posts anyways. I used to be good at trying them on, but I sort of let them pile up as you can see! I swear, they are making babies (aka new samples) when I am not looking!

Kjaer Weis foundation

I got it in the wrong colour so I couldn't use it in summer and fall when I had a slight tan. You know, the joys of internet matching yourself! I tried a sample of Paper Thin and seeing it was just a tad too dark, I went and ordered a shade down, and I gasped when it arrived, ghost town anyone? See the shade difference below. This is definitely one area when beauty products need to have a love child, it is me alone thinking that the difference in shades is too stark? One is way too pale and yellow based, the next shade up is waay darker and much more pink based. Kjaer Weis, if you are listening,please release a shade in between of Silken and Paper Thin, I can't be alone in-between-shades? And I feel it is too extravagant to purchase two shades of this to blend to your perfect colour. And too much work for most of people too. Because of all these reasons listed I tend not to reach for it, but I need to finish it up as it is borderline expiring.

W3ll People stick foundation

None of the problems mentioned above, this matches me perfectly, and it is not about to expire, but I need to use it up and probably won't buy it again for two reasons - it smells like crayon (mine did smell so from the start and the smell is getting stronger even though the label says it is still good for another year). Frankly it makes me gag and it also does not last on me, four hours is the maximum I can get out of it, and I need my product to do more than that. Yes, I can carry it with me and touch up, but I don't want to be worrying if my foundation is fading and settling into pores. And yes it does settle into pores. Sadly this product and I will part ways once I am done. It went really fast once I was using it, and I then I left it for a couple of months as I was testing new products.

100%Pure Organic Matcha moisturiser

I just had to get it once 100%Pure came out with their organic line. Sadly this does nothing for me apart irritating my skin, so now I use it as a (expensive) hands and body moisturiser. It irritates my hands also, but then again I am the most sensitive person, so if you are like me, stay away from this product. Everyone else, be my guest.

So I think that is it, that is all the products I want/need to use up quickly. That not might be entirely true, as all my 100%Pure products might be borderline expired or expiring soon, but I am keeping my head in the sand about this and don't want to accept the fact. Wish someone would tell me about their 6 months expiration date BEFORE I dropped a small fortune on the products. Throwing away almost untouched palette only after mere six months? Unthinkable to me and that really boggles my mind!

Another product I was going to add was Neal’s Yard Remedies Wild Rose balm (see review here), but it expired on me, so the problem sorted itself out. Not repurchasing either due to finding more amazing balms and the high cost of it. It also has "use within three moths after opening2 label, which also does not sit well with me, and I want to know why. Balms are waterless creatures thus they need little to no preservatives and can last for a year without a problem. Most balms have 12 months expiration date, so I want to know NYR reasons for it, but my inquiry email remains unanswered for months even fast forwarding it twice.

So that is my Project Pan post, there you go. I didn't intend it to be bitchy and I hope it does not come across like so! I am the least bitchy person ever, and anyone who knows me would attest to that. The thing is, in my blog I want to be as throughout about products as possible listing all I can think of about the products, and my only intention is to be clear and honest. I am not going to bash any products or brands here, nor I am telling you not to buy products just because I didn't like them. Quite the opposite, I want to be as clear as possible so you could make informed desisions yourselves. We are all different and what does not work for me might be your perfect product, you just never know.


What is in your Project Pan? Please share with me, I really want to know :)


Lots of Love,
Renata.

P.s. I give myself six months to use up the products. I will do update in three months.