Tomorrow I’m going to a high school friend’s birthday party. I haven’t seen her since we graduated - over ten years ago. For the first time since being back in the States, I went to the mall (in search of a present). I happened upon the grand opening of a Sephora inside the JC Penny. Starbucks coffee and pastries were served,
as well as Miss Oregon Teen USA handing out roses. She gave me her last rose. I wonder how old she is. 17? 18?
I went a little consumer crazy and bought too much stuff today. This included a Philosophy coconut shampoo, several products from Urban Decay, a MAC blush, Tweezerman slant tweezers, two Sephora make-up brushes, Dolce & Gabbana perfume (Light Blue), 6 shirts, two body butters in Satsuma and Pink Grapefruit, a hot dog pretzel with cheese sauce from Auntie Annes, a medium Orange Julius, and $2.00 worth of chocolate covered gummy bears from Sweet Factory. Whew!!
I know I shouldn’t have bought so much, but I do what others in denial do… I reasoned with myself:
- I’m worth it!
- I just came out of a 3 hour root canal procedure, I should treat myself.
- All the name brand stuff I bought is much cheaper here than in Korea. For example, Estee Lauder’s Idealist, which costs $73 retail costs $130 in Korea. (Although this wasn’t part of my purchase today.)
- I’m the kind of person that might buy on impulse, but once I get it home and try it on again, I have no problem with returning some or all of it.
- I spend like this once every one or two years. I hardly buy any clothes in Korea.
To help me decide on my purchases, I ask myself: Do I really need it? Does it make me look and feel fabulous?
Ok, I don’t really need all the shirts, body lotions, or junk food. I will say this though… the makeup makes me feel effin fabulous! Just like one of my favorite Molly Ringwald movie, they’re “For Keeps.”
Philosophy’s delicious lotions and bath products. (The top left is Margarita.)
July 14th, 2007 at July 14, 2007 - 6:58 am
Growing up with three sisters with long hair, my mom would buy Suave shampoo because she thought it was pretty decent and cheap to boot. A couple of years ago, 20/20 (John Stossel–author of Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity) did a story comparing different types of shampoos using the Stanford girls’ swim team whose hair has suffered years of abuse in chlorine swimming pools. In the end, it was Suave the came out as the best shampoo, handily beating all the exotic and expensive natural ingredient shampoos. Let’s just say that under a microscope most of the expensive shampoos were rip-offs.
It’s funny because once my sisters fled the nest, they experimented with exotic and expensive shampoos and lotions, but now that they have families of their own, they are using Suave again. And, they could afford more expensive shampoos if they wanted to. I don’t have to worry about shampoo though, as my hair is cut extremely close to my sclap. It sure saves time drying, combing, and styling.
BTW, I’ll be home for a two week vacation at the end of August. I can already see myself needing my stomach pumped as I go crazy on food that I haven’t been able to get here during the last year and won’t be eating again next year (Lucky Charms, Big Red soda, sauerkraut, Rocky Road ice cream, sweet corn on the cob, dill and sour pickles, etc.).
July 14th, 2007 at July 14, 2007 - 11:18 am
Nice work, you definitely had an awesome shopping day! My girlfriend would have enjoyed a day like this, she loves Sephora! Too bad there aren’t any Sephora stores in Vancouver. Time for a road trip to Seattle!