Ahh, ignorant youth. Today I am sharing three stories from when I was young + stupider than I am now. You will also see pictures of me when I was 21 years old (spring break 05 woo hoo! VIPs forever.)
1. I don’t have that yet! I should probably get it.
As a young pre-teen, I became obsessed with a particular line of products. Body washes, face masks (3 varieties), body exfoliators, foot exfoliators, scented lotions…their beautiful, tropically colored bottles sang to me in the Target aisle and begged me to take them home. Each time I visited the store, I’d use my allowance money to adopt a new one until I had amassed the entire collection. I gradually developed an expensive (and expansive) 20-step beauty regimen.
Fast-forward a few years, and I was standing in the same Health & Beauty department with my cousin. “Funny thing about this section is, the only thing you really need is soap,” she said. The declaration blew my mind with the sheer simplicity and truth. I couldn’t go to the Health & Beauty department after that without those words in my head….and I have way less stuff now.
Moral of the story: You probably don’t need every product at the store.
2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Spring break 2005. Panama City Beach. Chilling on the beach with my girlfriends as MTV Spring Break rocked the stage, the sun warmed our skin and vendor booths cropped up along the perimeter. We walked by a booth touting a brand new kind of eye drop. The tagline: “It’s like a breath mint for your eyes”. I felt adventurous and in the mood for something new, so I volunteered to try the free sample.
In the aftermath of what happened, I have no recollection of how good I expected this eye drop to feel…but moments later, I was clutching my stinging eye and wishing I wasn’t wearing contacts, and above all wishing I’d thought this whole thing through. Breathmint my ass, there are some things that should never be minty fresh.
Moral of the story: If you don’t know what’s in it, you probably shouldn’t put it in your eye. And hindsight is 20/20. And spring break with girlfriends is super fun.
3. Buy ALL the gift baskets!
The first time I attended a silent auction and was old enough to actually bid on things for my self, I accidentally won two bath & beauty home spa baskets*, chock full of shampoos, soaps, conditioners, body washes and lotions.
I went home to put everything away…and upon evaluating what I already owned, realized I couldn’t fit everything in my bathroom cupboard. I resolved on the spot to use what I had before buying anything new, I’d use up my enormous inventory.
Little did I know, it would be 3+ years before I bought another bar of soap, and this resolution would bleed over into other areas of my home, helping me reduce clutter all over the place.
Moral of the story: Use what you have before buying more.
* If I’m being totally honest, I also ended up with a third basket, which was not beauty-related. It was an all-around fiasco in first-time Silent Auctioning.
YOUR TURN! What is the worst beauty decision you’ve ever made? (I’ve already confessed to putting a breath mint in my eye, it can’t possibly be worse than that. So spill it in the comments below.)
