Summer is Here: A General Update

Hi everyone,

I can’t believe it’s almost been three weeks since my last blog post. I guess that is what exams do to you. However, I finished my (hopefully) last ever university exam last week and my last long summer is officially here. This post is just a bit of an update as to what is going on at the moment in my life and hopefully what to expect from my blog over the summer months. 

This summer is going to be a busy one for me. I have a lot planned and I want to enjoy every part of it! In five weeks I will be graduating from university. I will be on the hunt for something to wear for my graduation ceremony. If you have any suggestions then please do let me know as I keep looking through online clothing sites and nothing is jumping out at me. I’m looking forward to graduating and finally having something to show for all the hard work that’s gone into my degree. I still can’t believe that it’s finally over though! I then have the huge task of moving from Sheffield down to London which is going to be a pain to pack everything away. I’ve been keeping up with my Project Pan and I have a huge amount of products I’ve used up so expect quite a few update posts in the next few weeks!

After graduation I will be heading to Germany for a week or two to start work on my PhD (it’s joint between London and Germany). I’ve never visited Germany before and I’m excited to see somewhere new. I’m also excited to shop the duty free counters! I’m hoping to do a travel post on what makeup, skincare and other things I will be taking so keep an eye out for that.

The day my exams finished I booked up a holiday to Thailand and Laos where I will be spending two weeks working hands on with elephants. I will be spending 5 weeks out there in total and I’m super excited. Working with elephants has been something that I’ve wanted to do for such a long time and I’m so looking forward to visiting Laos as well. I’m hoping to pick up a few beauty bits whilst I’m there as well as the bits and pieces that Jeanette has sent me over the past few months have been really great. I’ll definitely be writing some posts about my experiences and any items that I pick up whilst I’m out there.

Finally in aid of the big holiday I will be stepping up on healthy eating and my general fitness. I’ve recently ordered a set of Jillian Michaels DVDs from amazon and will be starting the 30 Day Shred plan tonight (eep!). I’ve read so many good things about it, as well as a good friend recommending it to me. Normally I tend to get fed up with fitness DVDs as you do the same thing each time but with the different levels I’m hoping it means I won’t get too bored and be put off by it. 

I hope this post hasn’t been too long and waffley. Alongside the posts mentioned look out for some product reviews, I have a lot of products that I’ve been testing out recently and lots of things I want to share. 

What are your plans for the summer? If you have any suggestions on posts you would like to see then please let me know!

Love Rae x                  

Project Pan: My first Update

A few weeks ago I started my project pan. I very quickly used up the last of a few products and I’m actually quite enjoying the sense of achievement I get when the last dregs of product are squeezed out the tube/bottle. It’s also becoming a great way to rediscover some products and assert my hatred for others. So here are the first 6 products I’ve used up:

No 7 Quick Thinking Makeup Wipes

I think these are the best makeup wipes I have used ever, and I’ve tried a lot of different wipes. They are so soft and gentle on the skin while being very effective at removing makeup. The clip lid is also really handy for keeping the wipes moist, right down to the last one. The only downside to these is the price and so I don’t think I will be repurchasing these very often, especially now I’ve discovered micellar makeup remover.

KMS Free Shape Quick Blow Dry Spray

The amount of time this cut blow drying down by is truly amazing and is definitely something I reached for on those days when I was pressed for time in the mornings. It is definitely something I want to repurchase and when I’ve used some more products I think I will be repurchasing this.

Radox Eastern Spirit Shower Gel

Radox sell super cheap shower gels which always smell so nice. The scent of this one in particular is so nice. It’s a brand I always go back to and will probably be always be a brand I go back to.

Murad Skin Perfecting Primer – Dewy Finish

This worked really well as a primer and although it has a dewy finish didn’t make my shine-prone skin overly shiny. My main concern with this primer is that it is tinted and although it blends out nicely I found that it made my face look a totally different colour to my chest – probably due to how pale I am. For this reason I’m still on the hunt for the perfect primer. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Proactiv Solution Night Repairing Lotion

I used the whole Proactiv solution system at the beginning of the year and I found that it worked really well for my skin and I got far fewer blemishes than normal during the stressful exam period. I think the system may be too harsh for my skin to use continuously but I would highly recommend it to anyone who has problem skin.

Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Foaming Face Wash

This was my go to face wash when I was about 15 and I don’t think it really does anything for my skin anymore. It smells nice and foams up well but it’s just not for me anymore.

Project Pan has come at a really good time for me. On the 21st April, to celebrate World Month, if you go to and Origins counter and bring any empty skincare product (from any brand) then you can trade it in for a complimentary full size moisturiser. There are two to choose from: either the Starting Over Age-erasing Moisturiser with Mimosa or A Perfect World SPF25 Age-defense Moisturiser with White Tea. If you have any empty containers around then it’s definitely worth taking up the offer! I think this might be cheating a bit with my project pan and trying to use up my countless bottles of moisturiser but the offer is just a little too good to resist, as well as it being an opportunity to get some old bottles recycled.

So that’s the round up for my first project pan update. I will hopefully be keeping on track and will be back with another update soon. Is anyone else doing a Project Pan at the moment? If so how are you finding it?

*Update: You can find my Second Project Pan Update here*

R xxx

Project Pan

I recently accepted a PhD position in London. I’m super excited to be moving to London, as well as a little apprehensive about moving to the capital. It’s something I would never have dreamt about when I started my undergraduate degree almost 4 years ago, but I feel ready for the move now. Unfortunately this will mean that I will have to move from my uni town back home over the summer before I then make the big move in September. While I was at home for Mother’s day I realised how many bottles of different products I have. It seems that while being at university I have accumulated vast amounts of products (usually due to forgetting things when travelling between uni and home and then buying more) resulting in so many half empty bottles.

 

So with my impending move in mind, I have decided to try and use up a lot of my products. As you can see there are a lot of products here and this probably isn’t even half of it! Eep. The news of Carmine merging with Glossybox will probably help and stop me accumulating more moisturiser samples. I was actually sad to hear this news as I have found all of my Carmine boxes to be so great. What are you opinions?

Anyway back on topic! Most of the items I have accumulated are skincare and hair care products but the aim is really to de-clutter my life a bit. I’m hoping to add a couple of makeup items in the mix as well but we’ll see what happens. I think I will try to post monthly updates on the progress I am making (or at least posting when I have accumulated a decent amount to write about). Hopefully this will help to keep me on track and prevent me going off track.

Wish me luck!

Rae

xxx