Pan It! - 2024 Challenge

[ElleElleG]

Welcome to Year 7 of our Pan It! Challenge 

The "Rules"

To accommodate a variety of interests, you all are encouraged to pick items to pan that are most suitable to your collections.  For some, this might mean focusing on a particular type of product (like lipstick) and for others this may include a larger variety spanning your entire makeup or skincare routine.

Getting Started (please share the following)

• Which item(s) you would like to work on
• How long you will work on said item
• Goal: explore a new item, revisit an old item, decide whether to keep pass or trash, and/or completely finish item, etc.
• Starting photo of item

Please Use This Thread To...

• share what item(s) you are working on,
• provide comparative progress photos of your item(s) monthly (at the beginning of the month when possible),
• ask questions,
• encourage others,
• motivate others with the looks you create with your item(s)

Tips and Tricks to Panning/Getting Some Use Out of Your Stash:

Spoiler

• Take photos!!  When you think you aren’t making a dent in anything look back at those photos, I’m certain you’ll see some changes 😃 *this is the number one recommendation for everyone, regardless of how long you’ve been panning! Those photos add up and can help you realize progress you might otherwise overlook.
• If you goal is to hit pan or use something up entirely, try concentrating your brush/applicator in the same area each time you use it
• Multitask your products: eyeshadows as highlighter, lipstick as blush, eyeshadow as brow powder, etc. 
• Layer eyeshadow to create different colors (this is especially helpful to get use out of shades you’re not fond of).
• Have shadows with a ton of fall out?  Use water
• Watching the progress of others’ can be fun but try not compare your progress to theirs.  We all use our makeup differently and have different goals.
• Don’t restrict yourself to only using the item(s) you are working on.  It’s more than OK to incorporate other items or take a break!
• Makeup should be fun….if you begin to dread doing your makeup because you made a commitment to use a product that you now hate, TOSS IT!  Do not force yourself to use up something you don’t like.  Move on to something else!  (This includes excluding particular shades from your goals if focusing on palettes, etc.)

 Ideas to Help You Pan Those Items:

Spoiler

• Roll the dice: number your items and use a random number generator to pick what you will use each (day/week/month/etc.) 
• Layer/Mask: items you are less fond of under things you like
• Pan a Look: at the beginning of the week pick a look that you can wear everyday
• Recreate: a look worn by a fellow BICer, celebrity, etc.
• Spice up an "everyday" look by adding subtle pops of color (in the crease or on the lower lash line, mix lip products to make shades wearable, etc.)

Past Panning Challenges:

Pan It! - 2023 Challenge

Pan It! - 2022 Challenge

Pan It! - 2021 Challenge 🏆
Pan It! - 2020 Challenge
Pan It! - 2019 Challenge!
Pan It! - 2018 Challenge!
Pan It! - 2017 Challenge! 

[itsfi]

@cianni, it's one of the "lessons learned" I picked up from past pan it! challenges. Mentally it's helpful to keep motivated and, also it takes some of the pressure off and makes it easier to swap out a product if it's not working, rather than feeing like I need to work harder to finish it because I set it as a goal. I can always change the goal part way through the year if I'm finding that a product is working or not working for me. 

Having some structure helps me stay accountable. It also makes it easier to know how to summarize my monthly updates succintly - I can match my notes on a product with how it compares to my goal for it. I love your layout with a monthly notebook - it's all in one place for you to view. Sometimes, it's the little details that make such a big difference, isn't it?

[cianni]

@itsfi  Yes, exactly! The project only works as well as the planning that goes into it! Plus it’s nice to have it formatted in a way that you actually can/want to go back and refer to your notes later. My first iteration of a pan project was so all over the place that it’s impossible for me to make heads or tails about what I was talking about 😂

[itsfi]

omg yes @cianni! It’s funny (and fascinating) to go back and look at the first pan project. There are moments when I think “what were you thinking?” 😆 But that shows we’ve grown and learned. 👍🏼 Am excited to see what comes of all our pan goals this year! 

[faeriegirl]

Good luck @itsfi!

[itsfi]

Thank you @faeriegirl, and good luck to you too. 

[haleyvvvv]

I continue to be in awe of your palette panning, @itsfi!! What a great list of products to pan!! You got this!! 

[itsfi]

Oh my goodness, thank you for your kind words @haleyvvvv! 💛 I'm looking forward to another year of panning; over half of the pan products are new-to-me. 

[missjeanie]

Great spread of products, great goals.  @itsfi Any initial thoughts on the Ceremonia Guava Rescue Hair Heat Protectant Spray 6.7 oz / 200 mL ?  I have one here to try, but haven't gotten to it just yet. 

[itsfi]

@missjeanie, I've only used Ceremonia Guava Rescue Hair Heat Protectant Spray 6.7 oz / 200 mL once but so far, it's been good. I like that it's lightweight and that it's a quick, easy and effective detangler - it applies quickly and easily and has a nice slip to it that makes it easy peasy to run my fingers through my hair, conditioning and detangling it. It's easy to rinse out too, and leaves my hair feeling healthier and hydrated, without weighing it down or leavin a film or residue. Oh, and it smells divine! Fruity and tropical. It also functions as a heat protectant; I love the 2-in-1 functionality. It cuts down the number of products I need to remember to use on my hair. And, did I mention that it smells amazing!!!

[missjeanie]

@itsfi You had me at fruity and tropical!!!  I'll pull mine out to try after I shower tonight!

[itsfi]

@missjeanie, let me know your thoughts on it. I've added their recently launched guava mask to my wishlist, but that will be a purchase for another day. A much later day. I have a small handful of hair masks that I need to make a dent in before even thinking about adding another mask to my collection - you wouldn't know that based on my wishlist though. 🤣 Wish the mask came in a mini, like the JVN hair mask. Then again, perhaps a mini will be available when I'm ready to pick up another hair mask - I'm thinking summer. At the earliest. 

[AznAngelLiz]

Impressive goals @itsfi You can do it!

[itsfi]

Thank you so much @AznAngelLiz! The support and encouragement is so appreciated. Do you think you'll have a few product for panning this year?

btw, your new user profile photo looks great - reds look absolutely amazing on you❣️

[heavyhedon]

@itsfi -- thanks for tagging me, and for setting up such easy-to-read goals here!

[itsfi]

Happy New Year @heavyhedon! How have you been?

There have been a few years where I've blanked on what my goal is/was for a particular product and would have to go back through pages and pages of posts to find my original one. I came up with the chart after doing that far too many times than I wanted to. 🤣 Hmm... now that I said that, wondering if I should also make a quick & simple  notation on my washi tape for each of the products, so I can see it right there. 🤔

Do you think you'll do a pan it! challenge this year?

[heavyhedon]

@itsfi --

I've been okay, just couldn't get my computer to stay signed in to our community long enough to post.

I'm def doing a pan or two this year! Your idea about notation is a great one.

[itsfi]

@heavyhedon, I'm sorry to hear that your computer was acting up. Was it not keeping you logged in? Or was the screen blinking / flashing very quickly but never staying on a page? Or something else?

Yaaaay! I'm so happy you will be doing a pan or two this year. Excited to see what you have in your lineup. I love your seasonal pans too; reminds me to look at my stash for and use the things that work better on a periodic or seasonal basis.

Just added one of two notations to my washi tape on my pan items - "100" for things I'm aiming to completely use up and "WIP" (work in progress) for things I want to make progress on. 

[blackkitty2014]

@itsfi You’re so organized. I need to stop being lazy and keep track of my progress every month. 👏

[itsfi]

Oh my goodness, how are you even remotely lazy miss @blackkitty2014?!!! Have you seen the work you did last year with the items in your pan it! challenge?! I love ❤️ and am always so inspired by how you use your luxe beauty products, especially the makeup and the fragrances. Checking back in monthly has been helpful for keeping me focused on my pan items and keeps me accountable - some monthly posts are flowing with exciting news of progress and others are a reminder that I need to give some attention to products I've been neglecting (or to think about whether they are worth keeping). 

[CynthieLu]

I love how organized you are in your approach to your project pan. Your right, you got this! @itsfi 

I'm very inspired by your approach and dedication to using and finishing items in your stash. Your inspiring me to take a look at what I have and set some real goals. 😊

[itsfi]

@CynthieLu, thank you. This will be my 5th year of the pan it! challenge so I've gotten a generally good idea of what are realistic goals for me and the products I include in the challenge. There are always products where I don't end up meeting my goals but going through the challenge does provide a lot of insight into how long it takes to use things up and how I use products, as well as other lessons learned. 

We all set up our pan it! challenge differently, which is fantastic! It's fun to see everyone's approaches and what they choose to include in their challenge. I can be organized, but some of the beauties here have a well defined and refined organization system that is remarkable. I have 10 products to track; that's doable for me - something I learned after a few years of going through this challenge. Some of the folks here track uses and rotate products through seasonally, monthly, etc. That's some organizational skillset. 👍 I don't always remember how many times I dip my eyeshadow brush into one shade versus another when I'm mixing colors, so to track the number of times you've used a product when you have multiple products in use is impressive to me.

Our fabulous @ElleElleG does a great job in the original post of laying out tips and tricks for panning in general as well as how to get started with this challenge. It's a great time to look through your current collection to see what beauties you want to work through in this challenge. Jump on in when you are ready, be it this month, or the next, or 6 months down the line, etc.