Addicted, yet...

I don't wear makeup often. When I do, it's all basic.

I'm not really comfortable wearing it, I enjoy the application more than the actual wear.

BUT, I just want to buy so much stuff! I know I have what I need. But for whatever reason i just want more, and more, and more.

Looking at it and the thought of buying it seems amazing, but then I think, should I spend $50 on a palette I won't wear that often? 

I've become addicted to high end makeup and it's driving me nuts, especially so that I don't wear it enough to have as much as I do. I can't justify buying it, to the point where I can't buy anything because I can't find anything else that I "need."

What's with this urge to collect all of this stuff I will never use as much as I should? How do I get this beast to calm down?

Megan1016 said:

What's with this urge to collect all of this stuff I will never use as much as I should? How do I get this beast to calm down?

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Is it the shopping or the *having*?  There's actually a brain chemistry reason for the former:  Shopping is literally addictive.  Studies have found that shopping and finding new stuff releases a burst of dopamine, which is a happy-making chemical.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/2011-05/got-shopping-on-the-brain-blame-the-dopamine/

I've posted some other links on the forum somewhere in one of these no-buy threads that I should track down and put in an easy-to-find location for times like this!  Anyway.  Dopamine is also the chemical released when you take drugs like cocaine, heroin, or meth, and just like that's one of the reasons those drugs are highly addictive, that's one of the reasons shopping is as well.  

The main thing nowadays helping me not go overboard in shopping is procrastination.  And exhaustion.  And crankiness.  I really wanted to go on a Target run tonight after work, but end-of-the-month nastiness at work attacked, and once it was quitting time, I just wanted to come home, eat far too much brown rice, and work on my _Psych_ first season rewatch.  (And I'm tempted to go to bed right now even though it's not even 9pm on a Friday night.)  Unfortunately, I don't really have any good advice other than figuring out a way to put roadblocks in your way of shopping.  But there's the reason:  One of the same reasons certain drugs are insanely addictive.  Sometimes if you can stop getting those bursts long enough, it breaks the cycle.

As for the latter, I've read it has to do with a different brain chemical called serotonin.  It's basically a feel-happy chemical.  I have no answer for this.  Not being able to let go of stuff I already have is my big problem.  I have an entire room full of stuff that I haven't even touched since I moved into this apartment five years ago.  I call it the Room of Doom.