Lipstick/Gloss...A Personal Discovery

The other day, I picked my purse up, and realized it's weight was akin to a ton of bricks. I stopped then and there, and decided I had to go through it and investigate the situation.

I began removing things and putting the like items together. As I was doing this I realized that every other item that I took out was either a tube of lipstick or lip gloss. At first this wasn't all that alarming to me because I knew I had a several tubes...I love to gloss up.

Anyway, as I continued to work, the pile of lip gloss and lip stick grew and grew....I began to fear at that point that I may possibly have an addiction in the form of lip wear...

When I had completed the process I looked around at the piles of items. There were two bottles of perfume, glasses, (sun and reading), there were keys, a wallet, and a cosmetic bag....and there was the lipstick/gloss collection...Oh yes..without a doubt it was a collection...

The pile of lipstick/gloss was so large that I just had to count them. As the number grew I had to face the truth. The potential for addiction was no longer a possibility. It was a harsh reality. Not counting what was in my cosmetic bag, I had 37 lipsticks/glosses in my purse. I was seriously stunned. I thought.. Oh Snap!! There are 37!! Really?? Clearly,I had uncovered the weight issue my purse had.

Now I know that I am not the only addict of this sort and others like me might even understand an excess of lip wear, but 37???

The, number, albeit large, is not the only problem with this "collection". The next step for me was to take inventory. Before inventory, I thought that I might be able to justify the situation by saying that everyone needed a variety of lipstick/gloss in their purse because you never know what color you might need.

Post inventory I realized that I had a variety alright. There was, Mac, Clinique, Loreal, Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Revlon, and the list goes on..Let me just say the brand name was where the variety factor stopped cold. My inventory revealed that of the 37 one was a clear lip plumper, which no woman should be without, another was a Red lipstick for occasions when I happen to have my sassy pants on, and the remaining 35 were each and everyone Nude in color.

At this point I had to ask myself if I had some deep seeded fear that there will be a massive run on Nude lipstick/gloss and it will no longer be available?

During the time that I sat there trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I had unearthed an addiction that I was completely oblivious to, I remembered something that had happened just a few short weeks earlier.

It was a week before Christmas, and my Mama called me. She said "Arlene, I have just about finished buying your Christmas presents, but I wanted to get you something else. Is there anything you can think of that you want?"

I answered, of course, with Mama don't get me anything else. You shouldn't have gotten me anything at all. Then in true Mama form, she responded with "I'm buying you something else so you might as well tell me what you want."

Well, you'll never guess what I said next..

My response? "Okay Mama. Just get me some "Nude" lip gloss from the Clinique counter....I mean crack up!! Thank God my Mama listened to me because Lord only knows what I would have done if she hadn't. Y'all know I needed one more so that it could dwell in my purse among the other 36 I already had.

This recollection was just so ridiculous that not only did I laugh at myself, I had to share it.

Now, I want you all to know, so that you can sleep better tonight, I did scale back the number that made it back into my purse. I think it now hovers somewhere around the 25 mark...

I know you are thinking that the number could have been lower, but I've already explained that the clear lip plumper and the red lipstick are a must....I mean you always want your lips to be all plumped up and Sassy can come on when you least expect it...

That being said..Y'all can see that as far as elimination goes, I have done the best that I can.....