It is the end of October, so you know that I am finally getting around to telling you what I used up last September. If you have read my 15 to Jess post, then you know that I am up to 115 out of 200 items. I only have 75 more things to use up by the end of the year. Now, I know that this is very much of a stretch. I would have to use up (not including September) 25 items in October, November, and December. I really do not use up that many items in a month. I thought that I could do it, because in the beginning, I had so many minis. As the year went on, items started to decrease in numbers and I am very happy to have gotten rid of a bulk of the clutter. I am happy with my current number 115, but I want to still push for that 200. I’m not going to use things for the sake of an empty though. I am using my items and enjoying most of them.
MAKEUP:
116/200 I painted my toe nails this bright red orange from Julep in the shade Gloria from the Bombshell collection. I will be keeping this for the toes. It is more red than I like for my fingers. Painting my nails is a miracle which is why I’m counting it as an empty to motivate myself to paint my nails more. Next year, I am actually having 2 nail polishes in my finish 19 in 2019. This shade will not make it in there though since I can only use it on my toes. It is a pretty color though.
BODY CARE:
120/200 I am not counting Dean’s Shampoo/Body Wash as he goes through them pretty regularly. I finished off two of my dad’s body scrubs. He leaves a lot in there, because he doesn’t want to work hard to get the last bits out. I get roughly two weeks of body scrub out of each bottle that he wants to throw out. I count them, because I am not using my own body wash most of the month. My dad never liked this lotion. I finally finished this huge bottle. I used it at night after a bath/shower, because it is unscented. I like to use scented body lotion during the day. I FINALLY used up my Bio-oil from my pregnancy days. This did nothing for my current stretch marks, but it did help against stretch marks during pregnancy. I didn’t get any stretch marks until I started to loose the baby weight. That is how I got my original stretch marks from my teen days. Any time I lose a lot of weight fast, I get stretch marks. I really want to try a stretch mark cream and a cellulite one, because I have both thanks to Dean. 🙂
HAIR CARE:
124/200 Hair care was where it was at this month. I redid my grey hair, although it is looking more brown toned than the icy grey that I was getting before. This is the last time that I am doing grey, because I think I will need to lighten my hair again. I’m going to do a smoky blue and maybe a purple. Since I have this darker ash vibe, I still want to play with color and maybe I can be a bit more vibrant but dark at the same time. I finished a one time use foil packet of a hair mask and it was okay. I used up this scalp scrub that I did not understand and all it did was dry up my hair. The Infusium 23 I received from Influenster for review purposes and I really didn’t care for it. I am sad that my Aussie conditioner is done. It is my favorite conditioner, but they are not CF. No repurchases in this category for me.
SKIN CARE:
126/200 I got the little deluxe sized sample of bronzing face lotion from Danielle and I really liked it. It gave a natural tan look to my face and never looked orange or fake. I didn’t care for the Kiehl’s face gel. It wasn’t moisturizing enough and I don’t think it did anything for my acne. It also pilled up ANYTHING applied underneath it. I ended up using this on my legs and it helped with razor bumps. There are cheaper things you can purchase for that though than this moisturizer. I really want to try their midnight recovery oil/serum thing. I’m not turned off by the brand. I just don’t like this product.
MISCELLANEOUS:
I finished up two pens. Both my favorite: PaperMate Ink Joy pens, but the orange is the gel pen. I am IN LOVE with the gel pens. I will repurchase another pack once I’m down to my last few ones. They have lasted two semesters so far with only one causality out of 10 pens. We finished up a mini toothpaste from the dentist and a pack of 100 cotton rounds. I am currently working on a huge bag of cotton balls. We don’t use them and they just sit. Honestly, I don’t see much of a difference between the two. I might switch to cotton balls, since it is more cost effective.
126/200 That is not bad for the end of September and nine months into my year long pan project. October isn’t looking too promising, so I think ideally, I would want to hit at least 150 to 175. 200 is looking farther and farther away. I’ll be relooking through my collection. I think there is one more color corrector that I need to declutter, but I pretty much did most of my decluttering already of items that I am not a fan of. I might be resubbing to Sephora PLAY in 2020 if my 2019 project pan goes well. That was my favorite sub box and I have been keeping an eye out in case I wanted to buy any months after the fact.
With Love,
Home Sweet Phoenix Cove 
Way to go! I see no real difference between cotton rounds and cotton balls either, though the rounds do make it easier to get into the corners of your face. Otherwise both are kind of wasteful products, though convenient.
I’ve heard about reusable cotton rounds. I am thinking about trying those out.
Same, though I question how well something like that would work on nail polish, which is what I use cotton balls for most.
Hmmm….That’s an interesting question. I have been using an old sock instead of cotton rounds for removing my nail polish and it is very effective. It does stain the sock though and doesn’t really come off of it. I would suggest using a sock instead of a reusable cotton round, because it wouldn’t be reuseable to long. I need to get one of those finger dips again. That’s my favorite removal method.
I used to love those! But now that my fingers literally split in cold weather I don’t think it’s best to use them. They’re also not that cost efficient, unless you diy one I guess. There’s not a ton of product in them. I also save the cotton from pill bottles. Not all of them come with one but if they do I save it. It’s a nice way to repurpose something that’s just going to get tossed.
I never thought to do that with pill bottles. I’ll have to start doing that myself. Thanks for the tip!