Project Panning

Are you looking for a new project? #ProjectPanning revolutionises your beauty product’s life cycle.

As we become more ecologically minded in 2020, it’s time to give our consumer habits a makeover. This social media trend will revamp your makeup collection — from building appreciation for what you own to getting your money’s worth and reducing waste.

One day, you will reach for your golden oldie lipstick, only to get within an inch of application before you get a whiff of waxy Play-Doh; it is an unfortunate event. Like a strawberry in early autumn, its begun to spoil. Juicy looking, but still objectively rancid if it gets too close to your mouth. What a waste.

There is a shelf life for beauty products that we often forget about.
Mere weeks after purchase, our products are pushed into the grubby corners of bathroom cabinets and dusty bottoms of makeup bags. Cult classics, with an imaginary tag tied around them reading: ‘Special occasion wear ‘ONLY’, wait for years to be picked up again and appreciated.

There’s seems to be something so dull about our well-loved lippies and something oh-so-shiny about that new one on the shelves in Boots, a single Pantone shade pinker, wow! The cycle continues: along comes the next best thing, surrounded by hype, like a dusting of sugar that you can’t help but crave. That new lipstick wears its well-deserved crown for a little while until the next new fad.

As we navigate the consumerism crazed 21st century, it can be hard to resist the conveyer belt of enticing new ‘things’, tempting us from every angle.
Advertising and marketing envelope our social outlets and we can’t help feeling as if we are being left out, no longer ‘in-the-know’, if we forgo a big release or a coveted product.

You are forgiven for this desire.

But there is a price to pay for excessive consuming — not just the one advertised on the Chanel beauty counter but one with a far less beautiful reality; an overflowing makeup inventory and undernourished bank account.

Rather than inexhaustibly trying new product after new product, participants select to focus on a handful of items they already own; usually forgotten favourites or neglected stragglers they’re indifferent about. They then put all their effort into getting them used up and out of their collection — as well as making sure they are rotating through all the products in their makeup bag!

The name ‘Project Panning’ was coined from the act of hitting ‘pan’ on a makeup product — the tin tray of pressed powder products.

Often, they record their efforts. Everything from progress pictures, monthly product weigh-ins and tallies of each time they reached to use the item. The projects often span months (if not turning into a yearlong slog) with some choosing to refresh their chosen products if they grow too wary of using them.

What this does is allow you to gauge the level of commitment you are entering into when you buy products. As a result, not only are you deterred from overindulging but also encouraged only to purchase products you genuinely desire.

This is mindful consumerism. Many within the project panning community can see the worth of a product at a glance. Simply the number of uses you can get out of a single eyeshadow might make you think again, before swiping up that bright lime shade that caught your eye. You know, the one that you’ll only experiment with twice before it is strictly retired to Halloween only use.

It also aids to build a mental inventory of what you already have in your collection — what products you have duplicates of or areas in your collection that are lacking (that would benefit from a new addition, or two.)

Knowing what you want is key to not succumbing to the billboards whisper that they have precisely what you’ve always been looking for, in-store, RIGHT NOW! That said, however many highlighters you deem is ‘overdoing it’ or not, is your prerogative.

There is a little symbol on the packaging which should give you a general expectation of its longevity. Look out of the open cream jar illustration which includes within it the number of months (e.g. 12M) a product is safe to use for from the date of opening — the power lies with you regarding how strictly you adhere to these ‘rules’.

A good rule of thumb is; you’ll want to chuck liquid products within six months, cream makeup within a year and powers before they turn two years old. Some products such as mascara and eyeliner should be tossed at the three-month mark (this is because they’re likely to come in contact with your eyes mucous membrane) Are you evaluating your collection with slight disgust now? I’m looking at you lip-gloss-I’ve-had-since-I-was-sixteen.

At the very least, when a product has changed colour, texture or has a funky smell about it, it’s time to toss it ceremoniously into the bin.

Now comes the question of sustainability. With each new product entering your collection comes to an accumulation of waste when it inevitably gets thrown out a few months (or years) later. Why compound this by not getting your use out of a good product before it turns bad? Never mind not getting your money’s worth — beauty sacrilege!

You get bonus points if, after an item had been retired, you dispose of it with the environment in mind. Beauty brands such as The Body Shop and L’Occitane, among others, offer a free recycling service, so there’s no excuse.

Follow the hashtag #ProjectPanning on Instagram and YouTube to see others in the community, get involved or simply soak up the inspiration for your endeavours.

Whether you want to whittle down your collection or use up countless half-finished products that are approaching their use-by date, #ProjectPanning is the way to go.

Related posts:

On scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan shows the leadership secret of learning why things work; this lesson applies to today's leadership in business

Home To Me es una plataforma web que ayuda a los usuarios a encontrar compañeros de piso. Permite que los usuarios puedan filtrar según sus gustos y preferencias al resto de usuarios para encontrar a…

We might have the tools inside of us to hate, but that doesn’t mean that we necessarily know how to use them or even that we need to use them at all. And when we are taught to use those tools in any…