My Love Affair with Makeup

I admit it: I'm a beauty junkie.
When I was seven, my mother sold Avon, and I was enchanted with it even then. I so wanted everything in the catalog, especially the cosmetics. I would beg to play with the lipstick samples. And my mom was sweet enough to accommodate me, even though I was surely hurting her attempts to make an income when we weren't exactly flush with money.
I even wanted to wear the makeup that came with my Barbie styling head, though even then I thought the colors were limited: pink, pastel blue and lilac. Please!
I don't know who I inherited these crazy cosmetic fevers from, but they were there then, and they burn just as hot now.
I could flame through the aisles of any CVS, Walgreens, Target, Ulta or Sephora and be content to browse, sample and dream. I try not to buy too much - frankly my husband and I don't have enough house, and I try to tell myself I don't need 20 shades of red lipstick, never mind how badly I want them! (And there is a shade for every mood.)
But the fever still burns. I subscribe to a number of beauty and style magazines, and my favorite parts are almost always the makeup trends.
When Allure reports about what looks were hot on the catwalks, whether it's bold red lips or cat eyes, I'm at the edge of my seat. When Allure has a story about great looks for spring: I have to see what makeup colors the models are wearing and look through all the color recommendations: never mind that I personally wouldn't wear teal eyeliner. I still want to know about it! If InStyle has a story saying that plum-hued mascaras are back and bigger than ever, I start fantasizing about purple-fringed peepers.
I could while away hours in any store that sells makeup, but the websites are almost as much fun. If I don't want to shop for real, I "pretend" shop, browsing and dreaming about this perfect matte rose cheek blush or some awesomely bold-hued quartet of eye shadows.
It's a dangerous world out there, at least for my wallet, when I get one of my favorite magazines in the mailbox or I see CVS has a sale, but I love the colors, the magic of makeup, the way you can become a new you with a few smudges of this and a brush stroke of that.
It's color. It's art. It's transformative. It's beauty.
What could be lovelier than that?