Last week, Hola Isabel told a charming little story detailing how her love of lip gloss almost won her a free plane ticket some years back. Lip gloss love is well documented around these here Internets, but I do believe that's the first I've heard of it ever paying off with any monetary or tangible gain. Frankly, I was impressed. It made me reconsider, if only for a moment, that my mother's giant, well-stocked, Let's Make a Deal-worthy purse might not be as ridiculous as I've always thought. It also made me wonder if the number of lip glosses, balms, and sticks in my purse at any given moment might make me a contender in a similarly ridiculous contest myself. So I counted. Turns out both Isabel and Metalia have me beat. I had no idea who I was dealing with, obviously.
Consider the contents of my purse right now. I travel lighter than these ladies, it seems.
(Annotated version is here.)
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in myself. I knew I was carrying around more lip glosses than necessary, but I really thought that number was at least six. If I'm going to be obsessively over-prepared for any possible lip glossing or coloring emergency, I might as well go all the way.
Of course, at home and work, I am significantly more well-stocked. Consider the evidence.
I have lip stuff in my desk drawer at work...
on my desktop at home...
on my dresser...
in my bathroom drawer...
and in my linen cupboard...
Not pictured is the lip balm always stashed in my jeans pocket, nor the two or three typically distributed in various sweatshirt and jacket pockets, nor the one on my bedside table, beside my book. All told, I currently have no fewer than 45 lipsticks, glosses, and balms on hand. And that's after a deliberate lip-stuff clean-sweep a few moths ago.
(More fun with Flickr notes here. I would also like to note that I found three more glosses and balms missing from this photo only after I'd already put all of these away. You'll just have to imagine them included above.)
It's a sickness, really; I'm sure it is. Luckily, it's a sickness I know many of you share, and there's safety in numbers, right?
17 comments:
You, too, with the Chicken Poop? It's a plague! Down with the Chicken Poop! :)
that's AMAZING. I've never been able to wear lip gloss or lipstick because it just comes off too easily. I've had one pot of lip gloss for about two years that looks awesome for five minutes and then goes away.
However, I do keep various types of chapstick in: my car, my office, my purse, my desk upstairs, my kitchen, Birminham's bathroom, and my parent's house. I can't get enough of the stuff.
You are truly prepared for any sort of lip balm emergency. Which is good--I imagine thermonuclear war causes thermonuclear lip chapping!
Wow. I am pretty good at talking myself out of superfluous / impractical lip gloss purchases. I feel like I don't need to do that anymore. Lip gloss addiction looks like fun!
You are definitely not too late to hop on the bandwagon. I am waiting to show my purse contents until I get a new handbag. (Hopefully at the Coach outlet at Albertville this Friday!)
Thanks for the warning. I did enjoy how organized everything looks in the photos. Seeing things in straight lines with edges lined up gives me a cranial high.
I see you're reading Prep. Let me know what you think of it when you're done.
I had no idea you were so addicted to lip products.
And, um, I'm sorry to bring it up, but is that a designer tampon in your purse? It's pretty.
Ha! Wow. I think you might have me beat...for now! I actually went through my stuff and chucked a bunch of old lip glosses because it was just a gunky mess, so I'm all streamlined and shit. It's kind of boring. I'm impressed with your collection!
NPW--What do you have against the Chicken Poop? (I mean, aside from the silly name, of course.) Seriously, I love, LOVED that stuff initially, but then it started irritating my lips all of a sudden. I can't explain it. The Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker caused similar problems somehow.
Noelle--I'm like the sister in "In Her Shoes," except with lip stuff instead of shoes. I'm addicted to buying them, and then rarely wear them (or, wear the same ones over and over and promptly forget about the rest). It makes the collection all the more ridiculous, actually.
Liz--I hadn't thought of that, but it is good to be prepared for thermonuclear disasters, I suppose...
L Sass--I've had to start talking myself out of the impulse purchases, too, because I'm so A.D.D. with lip glosses and such. (See my comment back to Noelle above. It's pointless to keep buying them if I'm never going to use most of them.) Ooh, and have fun at the Albertville outlets!
BK--Whatever floats your boat, my friend. ;-)
Poppy--My addiction to lip balm is, I think, well documented, but I've maybe never revealed the fact that it crosses over into other lip products as well. Lip balm is a gateway drug, don't you know? Also, hee... no, it's just a plain old Tampax, but they changed their wrappers recently. They ARE pretty, I have to say. :-)
Nabb--I chucked a bunch of them a few months ago myself. I have no idea why I still have so very many on hand. Clearly I'm NOT all "streamlined and shit" like you. :-)
I kind of liked the Chix poop, but I haven't used it in a long time. I think it's too "flavored" for my taste.
I have a lot of lip stuff, but I really only use one or two. My fave is Alba Terra tints lip balm. I defected from Burt's Bees a while back. I have no less than 6 tubes of the stuff at any given moment.
Obsessive, indeed.
I have noticed that whenever I see you, you are always wearing super cute lip gloss. But I didn't realize it was because you are addicted! I will buy some Neutrogena stuff! Can you recommend a color for me since we are twins? (Seriously, I am horrible at picking a good color.)
That is a STASH. I keep thinking I need to pull mine out and take a picture like you did. You might have me beat!!
Cute purse, by the way!
Whiskeymarie--My friend Carrie has been raving about the Terra Tints lately. Knowing what a lip-stuff fanatic I am, she has twice now pulled it out of her purse and said, "Have I introduced you to my new lip balm yet?" Perhaps I'll have to get some of that. (You know, because obviously I don't have enough choices on hand already.)
R--Really? That makes me laugh. I had no idea my lip gloss was particularly noticeable. To answer your question, these are the Neutrogena ones I wear most:
1. Moistureshine tinted lip balm in "Pure" (shade 80). This works nicely as a sort of slick lip balm, and has a pretty subtle color on my lips (which I've been told are darker than most pale girls' lips, so maybe that won't apply to you).
2. Moistureshine Lip Soother in Glaze (60). Metalia raved about this stuff, too. It doesn't have a lot of color, but it's shiny, lasts a pretty long time, and feels sort of cool and tingly on.
3. Moistureshine Gloss in Swizzle (25). This is the stuff with a wand applicator. It's a little bit glittery, but still a subtle, pretty color (I think).
I would tell you about the other ones I have, too, but this reply is ridiculously long and detailed as it is. I'll stop now. :-)
Isabel--You're kidding! Based on the contents of your purse, I thought for sure you'd have a bigger stash than mine! Yikes. I do have a problem, it seems.
Gosh, you had me feeling great comfort simply by saying that this would be a girly post...and then for it to be about lip gloss...pretty sure I felt a big hug around my heart!
Although, you do seem to be much more educated in the variety of lip glosses out there. I tend to pick a couple of brands that I like...particularly MAC and Bobbi Brown (and I'm pretty sure I read before that you're not a fan of either of those)...and buy them in every color that I like!
Oooohhhh, last summer the GAP had a pink lemonade lip shine that I scored on sale for $1.99. It was FANTASTIC!!
I...whoa. I'm speechless. Your lip gloss collection kicks ass. Well done, my friend. Well done.
I love it. Your photos are so CUTE. I don't know why, but they are.
Have a blast in Austin.
:)
OMG, that's a heck of a lot of lip gloss! I only have 3 lip glosses in my purse, but I also have 5 lipsticks...
Shesabigstar--On the contrary, I am surely NOT more educated than you! I'm cheap when it comes to lip stuff. I don't think I've ever mentioned Bobbi Brown or MAC, simply because I've never used them. I think the most expensive lip gloss I own is the $13 Kiehl's one. I'm cheap and easy: all about the drug store (i.e., Target) stuff. :-)
Metalia--Wait. My collection has impressed YOU?? Wow. The number is more out of control than I thought. It really is time for another clean-sweep, I think.
Paisley--Thanks. (And thanks.) :-)
Anniina--I don't ever use even half of those. I really should do some organizing and tossing. This has become clearer and clearer the more comments I read!
Post a Comment