Beauty Confessions Vol 1 - Too many lippies or just enough?

I shamefully admitted how many lippies made it into my new, smaller handbag the other day on instagram. This was after sorting through and taking out a bunch of the ones that made it into my original bag.

Hello, my name is Doria and I am a beauty addict. I have been in love with makeup since making my first independent cosmetic purchase (with my mom's money after a great deal of pleading) at age 4--I was headstrong (even then). I have shamefully purchased products for their packaging only or for how they looked in the bottle/compact/palette/box without consulting reviews--not constantly but once in a while the compulsion is overwhelming.

I've made beauty confessions in the past, so I thought it might be fun to finally start organizing them into a series, occasionally adding new ones!

Today, I have to make a confession regarding my lippy collection. At what point does a collection cross the line to hoarding? I've asked myself this question regularly for a very long time. I still don't have the answer! To me, as long as my collection is taken care of and organized it can't be hoarding ... right? But then sometimes I look at my beauty collection and see all the unopened products and think, "Am I just a more organized hoarder?" Perhaps I'll never figure this one out.

The fact remains, I have a lot of lipsticks, glosses, pencils, stains, etc. And when I say a lot ... I mean a lot! I have lipstick that are literally 14+ years old. I don't use these ones anymore obviously, but I can't bare to throw them away! Some are from right around the time I started spending all of my hard-earned paychecks for the first time on high-end brands when I hit 16 (MAC being one of the primarily culprits at the time). Some I purchased for special occasions--prom, weddings, first dates, graduations, etc. And some I purchased because I saw a review and knew I simply couldn't survive without that shade (which was literally 1 shade away from about 10 others I owned) joining my collection. What if someday I needed that exact shade and I didn't have it?!

I have lippies that have never been removed from their boxes ever. I'm getting a bit better about that ... but only slightly.

In my defense, I very frequently purge. Each month (sometimes more frequently) I will go through some of my collection and end up with a box or two of products that go to my sisters and bestie. I also will not sacrifice paying for essentials to buy lipsticks--the kids come before my collection always, so I suppose that shows some restraint.

Do I really need all of these lipsticks? The logical answer is "no". I totally acknowledge that, but I have always viewed my collection as just that--a collection. Some people collect stamps, coins, postcards, shot glasses, action figures ... I collect makeup. People have plenty to say about it (I'm sure if you're like me you've raised more than a few eyebrows from family and friends), but I honestly let it roll off my back. I don't boast about my collection because it really is just for me, but in the off chance someone sees it and say something, I just shrug it off and go about the rest of my life. I'm sure we all have collections of some kind--I'm just able to wear mine on my face!

What about you? Do you collection cosmetics? Any particular kind or just cosmetics in general? Do your family and friends have something to say about it?