The In-Depth Panning Post

Hello everyone!
This may be a verrrrryyyyy long post, so bear with me. This is going to involve a lot of rambling about my goals for makeup usage this year.

background: WHY am I doing this?

I know my makeup collection isn't the biggest thing of all the beauty people in the history of the Internet - I only really got into wearing makeup around two years ago, when I had too much time to watch too many YouTube beauty videos. Even then, I didn't actively buy new makeup or anything until about a year ago - and I didn't try to buy a whole load of makeup. I'm sure I have more face products than a lot of people, but my collection does not rival a YouTube beauty guru's by any means. Unlike some beauty vloggers, I can't make a 25-minute video just about my eyeshadow collection because there's not much to say.
Still, it's all a bit much for me. I don't have 25 minutes worth of palettes and eyeshadow singles - and I probably wouldn't be able to make a video 25 minutes long about my entire collection - but I still feel like I have more than I need and I want to make use of it.
And that's where I am right now. Around a month ago, I made an inventory of how much I own - skincare, eyeshadow, face products, even makeup remover and face wash - and it all came to 142 items, and around $1200. (EEEK!) With all of that in mind and a recent introduction to the panning community on YouTube and Reddit, I needed a plan.

Panning Plans this year

Right now, I have five project pans and a pan that palette planned for 2017; I just started pan that palette and the first project pan at the start of the year. If I finish every single item in every single project pan this year, I'll finish 53 items by the end of December, and almost $600 worth of products. (that is assuming, of course, I actually FINISH everything.)

At the end of every season, I plan on doing some kind of empties post as well, just to help keep a tally of things I've used up and decluttered. Though things like makeup wipes, face wash, and body wash are not technically part of any project pan this year, I'm still counting them towards my empties, because I put them in my initial inventory at the end of December.

I'm not including those in any particular project pan because, though I have backups, it's not hard to go through them. Makeup wipes are generally single-use, and I already use face and body wash most days anyway, so I don't need something like a project pan to remind myself to work on those kinds of items. I'm also treating things like mascara and lip balm the same way - I use lip balm too regularly to really need to actively pan it, and I don't have a ridiculous number of mascaras, since I'd throw them out in three or four months anyway. Though all of these products will count towards empties goals, they're not going to be part of project pans.

I plan on remaining subscribed to Ipsy, at least for this year. If you don't know what that is, ipsy is a subscription makeup service - $10 a month, and you'll get 5 items (mostly samples but sometimes full-size) and a fun reusable makeup bag. (If you're interested in signing up, click the link in the "where you can find me" page.) I plan on remaining subscribed because it allows me to try new items and get the "OOH NEW THINGS!" feeling without having to buy the full size of each item. If I like an item from a bag, I can make a note of it when I need to repurchase that kind of product again; if I don't like the item, it technically only cost me $2 and it'll probably be gone in 15 uses anyway so there's not much harm done.

Though I plan on remaining subscribed to Ipsy, I still want to have a net loss of items. They'll send me 60 products this year; I hope to send at least 60 products out of my makeup bins. Some months will be different than others - I know I'm getting a makeup brush this month and four makeup/ skincare items, so I know I really need to declutter 5 items to get out more than I bring in (instead of 6, like most months.)


So, in conclusion, my goals are as follows:
- keep my collection at or under 142 items
- go on a low-buy (buy few to no non-ipsy items)
- pan and declutter to stay in proportion!