Perfume and Cosmetics - A Serious Addiction

As a woman, I think I am addicted to perfume and cosmetics. I don't think there is a woman out there who doesn't own a tube of lipstick or mascara. I think at my thirteenth birthday party I hired a beautician to do my and my friends' makeup. Since that day forward, I have had this small addiction to buy new beauty products every so often, let's say on average every six months. I wonder if it is a socialized thing or women inherently want to look beautiful.When I go into a department store, or Sephora, for example, I have this urge to try on as many cosmetics that I see. It is fun to experiment. Sometimes I'm in more of an eye mood, where I'll want to try on every single color eye shadow I see. And sometimes it's all about the lips. I will experiment with different shades of lipstick and lip gloss. Sometimes it does seem silly though, that there are so many different types of the same cosmetic out there. For example, you can find eye shadow in a powder, stick, or gel form. It is all the same thing, right? People are trying to come up with more unique ways to sell makeup.It is also fun to try on new perfumes. You may need one kind of perfume for a date, another for a business meeting, and yet another for just every day use. Sometimes women just want to smell beautiful, and not necessarily to try to attract a man. In fact, I don't really think the real reason women want to look beautiful is for men. It is for themselves. And for the greater competition against other women.I think there is a sort of pressure on women and competition amongst them to look beautiful. Even to the point that people are willing to make themselves look more beautiful for their whole lives with cosmetic surgery. I wonder why someone would go to such great lengths to make their eyebrows one centimeter higher than their eyelid. I think Hollywood has a lot to do with this. It started out with just celebrities going to get face lifts and nose jobs, and now it is not so uncommon among the rest of the population.I think girls do grow up wanting to look pretty. Take for example a little girl playing with two dolls. One of the dolls is just average looking, the other more pretty in appearance. The girl will most likely like the prettier doll better. Is this something innate or learned from society? We grow up watching our mothers put on makeup and movie stars with their newest fashions. We want to be like them. We want to look feminine.While I would never go get a face lift or nose job, I am just fine with continuing to buy the next Mac or Clinique product out there. But next time you buy your own cosmetic, the thought might occur to you, am I buying this out of an addiction, to look beautiful for myself, or someone else?