Of hoarding things

 

I am a huge hoarder of things. Old receipts, tickets, gift wrappers, fancy papers I collect it all. Not for no reason do my parents call me a rat. I store all these things in a corner of my cupboard. One can even find cinema tickets from years ago in that small box. Well, recently I have started decluttering it and have thrown away those scraps of paper but not before using them for writing. This habit of mine extends even to the collecting of makeup and skincare products. Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine and she reminded me of my makeup products collection back when I was in college. I remember there were like a dozen different bottles and tubes in that small rack in the hostel room. Sometimes our room smelled a mixture of rose, lavender, lemon and strawberry, and sea. Sometimes it smelt like a chemist's shop. It was all due to my love for those cosmetic products. Even now when I remember those days I start laughing.

I have always loved collecting makeup products (well, only those which are in an affordable range). It’s true that if by some weird play of destiny, I win a lottery or come across a huge fortune the first thing I will want to do is buy high-end makeup products. In my wildest of dreams, I see a prince charming gifting me the gift sets of Charlotte Tilbury, Chanel, Valentino and Dior ( yes, I can keep aside my ‘I am independent I need no man to gift me things’ idea for this). Nevertheless, as farfetched as my dreams are I never stop imagining, hey because I don’t have to pay a single rupee for my imagination.

So, for now, I collect the ones I can afford (with my father’s money, of course). For a person who loves buying this stuff, it’s a surprise that I hardly use any products on my face. I love to collect those precious items and yet you will see me apply hardly any of it on my face. I have sensitive skin that doesn’t adjust to any of the products and rebels in no time. So I make do with only buying, but hardly using it. But one thing I love to do is get my people ready to use these products. I am no makeup artist but I like to think that I do quite a good job of it.

Something about opening the new makeup products and taking in their fragrance makes me extremely cheerful. The smell of compact powders or new blushes is light yet pleasing. The color of new lipsticks that I swatch on my hand and see whether it suits my skin tone reminds me of the drawing and painting days in school. On days when I am down, I apply either a tinted lip balm or a lipstick even at home and I find that it instantly cheers my mood. Applying makeup feels like making a painting, first with the careful sketching and then coloring.

When I was younger, I didn’t have enough confidence to wear makeup when I went out for functions and festivities. I always feared that maybe I have overdone it and now people are going to make fun of me. Applying a simple lipstick and an eyeliner felt like I have done some extra makeup. It was when I came to pune and started my college life I realized that many people are comfortable in their own skin and we must do what we love, irrespective of how people judge us.

Every person loves collecting some or other items. For some it can be perfumes, books, toys, coins, stamps etc. Human beings are simple creatures, we collect what we love.