Project Pan Is the Viral Beauty Challenge Tackling Overconsumption

Is 2026 the year we finally reach our limits when it comes to beauty products? Not quite… but our routines are undergoing a more conscious transformation, thanks to Project Pan.

Micro-trends and viral “aesthetics” have dominated the beauty industry for years (going back to “clean girl” or “mob lady” makeup this month?), and to keep up, brands have been rolling out new launches at record speed. In 2026, we can say that product fatigue has caught up with us. It seems we’re finally ready to ask ourselves: How many nearly identical lip products does one person need? And how many do I actually have?

Enter, Project Pan, a viral TikTok challenge that encourages users to brag about their empties, not their new purchases. The concept is simple: use the beauty and personal care products you have before buying new ones. This seems less like a challenge and more like something we should all be doing anyway, right? This is where social media accountability comes into play.

How does Project Pan work?

At the start of the year, Pan Project participants must take inventory of their entire beauty stash. This usually means digging products out of medicine cabinets, organizers, and drawers, and aligning them on the floor or on their bedspread. This exercise alone tends to be eye-opening: “This is literally insane…I won’t buy anything for the next 10 years,” one user wrote after building her lineup. From there, participants make a written log of all the products (17 lip glosses, 5 eyeshadow palettes, 12 moisturizers) to add up to a grand total.

The goal is to reduce this figure throughout the year by “hitting the plate” – using a product all the way to the bottom of its container – on as many items as possible, without unnecessarily adding new products to the total tally. Most users share monthly or weekly check-ins, recording their progress on specific products. At the end of the year, it’s become a tradition to compare your “graveyard” (your pile of empty produce) to the haul you started with.

Although the challenge is trending in 2026, it’s not new: the Reddit channel r/ProjectPan started in 2015 as a space for users to share their inventories, progress, and voids. Slowly but surely, the idea reached a wider audience on social media platforms (Instagram user @myprojectpanjourney has amassed nearly 20,000 followers documenting his progress for six straight years.) This year, Project Pan is reaching viral status on TikTok, with younger audiences — yes, even those at Drunk Elephant hoarding “Sephora tweens” — committing to using their products.

Will Project Pan really help me shop less?

The Pan Project is a great incentive to organize your beauty selection, take stock of what you have and find more satisfaction in using your products. But will it really temper the urge to buy the latest liquid blush or seasonal body wash from your favorite brand?

Biopsychologist Mary Poffenroth, PhD, recognizes an aspect of “gamification” in Project Pan that could scratch the same itch as impulse shopping. “Neuroscience research has consistently shown that setting a goal and then tracking progress activates the dopamine system, allowing even small signs of progress to trigger a release of dopamine,” she says. However, she notes, the magnitude of dopamine benefits varies from person to person.

Dr. Poffenroth explains that Project Pan stimulates both internal and external reward signals in your brain, which can lead to longer-term satisfaction than a noisy purchase: “Social media provides an external incentive of social praise,” she says, “Saving money is also an external incentive, and then there’s the internal incentive of feeling good about yourself by wasting less.”