How much makeup is enough?

“All the perfumes of Arabia...” goes the famous quote from Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is talking about washing her hands in perfume. And it has the basis of a mathematical conundrum doesn’t it? If one bottle of perfume can wash one hand, then how many jobs will I need to hold down to afford all the perfumes that will wash my hands every day?

“No more perfume!” screamed my mother, justifiably so. The amount of nailpolish I own is enough to repaint the house, as strange as it might look with thin stripes. The number of lipsticks I own is inversely proportionally to the number of times it gets wiped off by gorgeous hunky men who claim they must have me. And the number if eyeliners I own would be enough for an entire school to use as pencils.

Whether it’s a buried desire to be a painter or a buried desire to be a face painter, I feel like the more makeup I own, the more beautiful or successful I will be considered. This is what advertising does to us. We must own that non transfer lipstick despite not kissing anyone, the non smudge kajal despite rubbing our eyes because of dust and computer screen glare and foundation to cover up the skin that never sees the sun anymore.

I’ve wondered if I should get therapy many times but decided that if this is the worst addiction I have, then let it be. After all, beauty is in the eyes of the billholder.