The vanity case

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The vanity case

Hi, my name is Tracey and I’m a beauty addict. Yeah, I’m okay with admitting that.  I’ve been a card-carrying slave to most things pretty and shiny since I became old enough to handle my own make-up brush and, as far as vices go, I say there’s a lot worse than being a gloss junkie. So I proudly own up to being an addict.

But I’d never actually thought of myself as vain (what an ugly word) – until a rather embarrassing incident at the supermarket last night.

Somewhere between the frozen yoghurt and ice cream (I’ll leave you guessing which direction I was headed), I had a collision with someone else trying to shop at warp speed and my handbag exploded like a glossy grenade. 13 glosses, two face compacts, a hand cream, two lip balms, an eyeliner (which I thought I’d lost – hurrah!), blotting papers, a tiny vial of perfume and my favourite lipstick skittled across the aisle for all to see. Within nanoseconds I was on my knees, blushing madly as I scrambled to stuff the evidence of my addiction (plus an embarrassingly half-eaten health bar) back into my gaping tote. It felt like my knickers were being paraded on a baggage carousel at the airport, or like someone was snooping through my diary and sniggering over the poetic moments. It was so exposing.

But it got really mortifying when I noticed the faces of some of the women pushing trolleys around me. Instead of sisterly empathy (it could happen to anyone, right?), I got appraising glances. One well-heeled miss even mumbled something about a “vanity problem” to her guy as they wheeled away.

Vain?! That’s a little tough, isn’t it? Just because a girl likes her gloss a little (okay, a lot) more than usual doesn’t mean she’s self-obsessed and conceited. Does it?

Does it? I’ve gotta say that the mean supermarket ladies have got me rattled. How fine is the eyeline between keeping up appearances and conceit? When do you think a beauty addiction turns into serious vanity?

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Comments 16

  1. lol that reminds me of my daughter (17) asking me if I look at reflections of myself as I walk past a shop etc and I said no because I couldn’t remember doing it but then I caught myself doing it yesterday and I remembered what my daughter had asked! So it can be quite sub-conscious sometimes and we don’t even realise we are doing it. I was doing it the other day to check I didn’t look ridiculous before I entered public so I don’t see it as a problem really! I do have to let my daughter know that I DO do it! It’s only natural.

  2. I think I am too but I’ve also got another serious problem – I have a knack of losing things! Just ask my mum she will tell you how I’d always lose my shoes! Combine that issue with beauty addict and I’m always losing my fave lippy! Oky, so I just need something like a ‘bell’ I can ring if I lose it – you know like getting a friend to ring your phone when you’ve lost your phone. Works well except when the ringer is turned off. :/