Ever Feel Very Overwhelmed by Your MAC Collection?

[abbyquack]

So I know we all love our MAC here, and it's true that it is totally awesome, but do you ever feel that it's just like taking over your life, literally or figuratively? I have so much makeup that it's just overflowing in my storage areas- it's just everywhere right now, I don't even know how to contain it!

Add to the fact that I've been on somewhat of a shopping spree the past little while, meaning it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Then I feel like I can't stop buying, which is really obnoxious. I'm so worried that if I skip a product now, I'm going to regret it later. Certainly these LE collections are what makes MAC's $$, but then takes mine!!

And then I get all paranoid that someone's gonna break in to my house and take my thousands of $$ worth of makeup. I'm so overprotective of it

Anyone ever feel similarly?

 

[chickatthegym]

^ I def know what you mean... If I am traveling somewhere, I look up to see what CCO is nearby so I can go check it out. And I promised my husband I wouldn't buy anymore makeup for a month... I didnt even make it a week

I don't think this message board helps either lol

 

[Tahti]

Ugh, I know...
I am NOT good at managing to not spend my money on makeup (MAC and Illamasqua are my two vices). I get a grant from the government as I go to college (740euro a month)... I always make sure to take out my months rent to make sure I don't spend it (320e) and without fail, I spend EVERY SINGLE CENT on makeup, every single month.
It's gotten to the point where I've had to make sure I stick to a strict budget of 80e per week - 60+ of which goes on clothes and makeup, and 20 goes on sushi and cigarettes. Oh, my life xDDD

Makeup addiction : your face rejoices, your bank balance says OUCH!

 

[TISH1124]

I am overwhelmed everyday...I have over 250 l/s and l/g, 16 pro palettes, 5 blush palettes, 30 MSF's so imagine all the other items...I have stuff I can never or will never wear...yet I keep buying more....I ask people what color they are wearing and go buy it only to realize I already had it...but because my collection is out of control i forgot....I am really at times ashamed of myself...I truly know it is an addiction and I am pissed that I can't just say NO!! My friend and i have put ourselves on a restricted Buy for awhile because we are both just pretty fed up with ourselves and the MAC addiction.

 

[Corvs Queen]

Werd to everything you said abbyquack. I just don't want to think about it right now. : /

 

[elongreach]

I don't have AS massive a collection as some of you, but I can fill a 5 drawer container just to give you a picture and I feel overwhelmed sometimes. I think it's a lot of choices. Am I in the mood for purple, or pink, or smokey, oh I haven't used blue in a while. After a while, I start to think, do I really need this blue/green that looks a lot like Surreal and Steamy and Warm Chill, blah, blah blah. You have to have the pure willpower to know how to edit your collection.

In these times, I find myself more selective about what I'm purchasing (that's probably MACs fault more than my "willpower"). I also keep a chart of my purchases on Google docs, so I know exactly what I'm spending on my hobbies.

If you really are overwhelmed I would suggest maybe letting someone close to you know and maybe give yourself an allowance for makeup every month or quarter. I would pick someone who isn't the one that nags you about how much money you spend on makeup. Find someone who can just maybe tell you to slow down. Like Tish has a friend who has the same problem, so they can relate, and have a relationship where they can say STOP!

 

[TISH1124]

^^ I agree...and I get snappy at her when she tells me I don't need it and vice versa...but at the end of the day we so appreciate the support we give each other. I just came to the point where I know that there has to be more important things to spend my money on than another slightly different shade of green, red, purple..and getting pulled into the hype is where it all begins....Limit your time in the collection threads....it will draw you in to over spending. I don't have to have everything everyone else has. I have other colors that I can create the same look with...that is what my friend and I do...we like the challenge of looking at our stash and figuring out how we can duplicate that new quad....that new lipstick....etc...

 

[pdtb050606]

I agree with what everyone has said, it is completely overwhelming to me at times. I've actually unsubed to a couple of the collection threads b/c I know they don't really interest me, so I cannot be tempted. One place you can count on to find me though-Color Craft thread

I know it's a sickness, that what my hubby tells me

 

[Blushbaby]

I must be in the minority.

Don't get me wrong, I love make up, buy a lot of it, have a lot of it (but by no means as much as SOME of the collections I've seen on here) - but in comparison to everything else in my life, I have far more important things to get in a tizz about. I don't lie in bed with my traincase next to me!

My boyf and friends humour my fascination with MAC but it's all lighthearted. I only really got crazy about it over the past 2 years anyway (when I joined Specktra coincidentally!) so it's not taking over my life and I won't allow it to.

I've never bought for the sake of it and I don't understand people who do that and buy shades that don't even suit them!

I won't buy a shade if I already have something similar (hence why I can't bring myself to "collect" MSFs) - it just doesn't make financial sense to me. I certainly don't go mad in a MAC store only to put it up for sale to pay off a credit card bill a week later. If I haul, it's cos I've got the money to - end of.

I think it helps that as addictive as my personality can be at times, I can be equally as fickle..so one week I'm craving a blush or I must have that eyeshadow and then 3 days later, I'm like "whatever". I think that's maybe why I haven't been evicted from my flat, hitting the bailiffs with a load of paintpots!

Seriously, you've got problems if you're getting into debt for makeup and I don't think it's something that should be laughed at or brushed under the carpet.

I'm proud of my collection, I don't like people poking about in it, but the bottom line is ..it's just not that serious in the cold light of day.

 

[elongreach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TISH1127 we like the challenge of looking at our stash and figuring out how we can duplicate that new quad....that new lipstick....etc...

Exactly! Plus with all the duplicates in the quads and trios nowadays, that's very easy. Besides, you have 250 lipsticks! I bet if you brought 5 colors with you to MAC, you could probably match it up almost to a tee.

 

[abbyquack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blushbaby Seriously, you've got problems if you're getting into debt for makeup and I don't think it's something that should be laughed at or brushed under the carpet.

I know you probably weren't addressing me directly, but it's kind of depressing, because I really do feel like I have a problem that needs to be curbed. It's getting a bit too much, what am I ever going to do with all this makeup of mine? I've sold the things I think I can live without, but most of it isn't going anywhere, because I can't bear to part with it. Add to it the fact that I have not permanently settled down in life (I am a college student and I work in Alaska in the summer), so the fact that I've got to move around, and schlepp this huge collection with me, is a little overwhelming. But why do I feel like I need every new item?

I agree w/ Tish and PD... that I need to stop visiting the collection threads as much, because then I won't be swayed by what every one else is doing, and only get what I truly want. But I do love specktra, it keeps entertained through the monotonous parts of the day (school and work hehe).

Anyways I am glad I'm not the only one that feels a bit dissatisfied with things, although I wish that none of us did have to feel that way. I just feel like I want to slow down, but then a part of me wants all the new makeup too. I'm torn

 

[lushious_lips]

My husband says I'm a MAC addict.

I do feel overwhelmed by all the collections.

 

[xxManBeaterxx]

Im pretty much fed up with my collection.. I have accumulated just SO much makeup over the past years i dont know where to start. Its getting to the point where I'm just using the same colors again and again and i have the rest of my collection neatly packed up in 3 priority mail boxes and nike shoe box. Also it doesnt help that i LOVE to get back ups of things, espeically MSF's and eyeshadows. I just have this fear that if the product runs out or i break it and mac doesnt repromote it, im gonna miss it soo much :\ Fear NO more!! Im getting rid of back ups!!!

But im trying to cut back. I recently sold and still planning to sell a BUNCH of my products i hardly use. I promise myself that i can only have 5 lipsticks and 10 lipglosses at a time and i can only buy a new one when one runs out. Also I restricted myself to only 2-5 things from each collection.. and im not allowed to buy blushes/bronzers/beauty powders again.. no matter how much i like it.

My makeup as its own corner in the house -_- Ever since we moved I still havent found a good place to store them.

some of the boxes opened

 

[TISH1124]

^^ Good Plan...I have cut out all lippies for I will never run out...and blushes and MSF's ...it is overwhelming....


Also....on another note...I don't think anyone is making light of the thread....Because most people on here are buying what they can afford...Just simply stating their MAC buying is getting out of hand and overwhelming as to how much makeup they have and can ever use...I buy because I can afford to buy...But yes I could spend that money on other things but that becomes other obsessions too....My point is I need to stop buying just to buy and use what I have...Period...Not because of financial reasons but because of it's getting outrageous how much makeup one person can accumulate and actually use.

 

[abbyquack]

^^ Yep agreed tish! Tbh, the only thing I really buy is makeup. I spend a little on clothes here and there, but my only expenses are the phone bill and gas and food. But still I feel like my life needs balance. I don't feel like I'm spending way too much, but maybe what I'm spending it on is way too much for me. It's a little unusual, and I feel there's maybe a psychological reason behind it that I don't really know about.

 

[TISH1124]

Sara and I said the exact same thing today...We use makeup to fill a void...but we don't know exactly what that void is ..... Maybe boredom....Not sure...But it has to be a reason that ENOUGH is never ENOUGH..when it's overflowing

 

[Nzsallyb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TISH1127 ...Not because of financial reasons but because of it's getting outrageous how much makeup one person can accumulate and actually use.

word tish!
i feel this way too sometimes. and sometimes when my BF just tuts at my makeup stash, i remind him of his car hobby!!

i travel around alot due to my study, and i have a giant heavy duty tool box for all my makeup, which makes me VERY aware that i have alot of stuff.
but i have one solid rule: no backups in no circumstances!!!!
a good example of this was merrily blush. i am NC15, and merrily=very very pigmented. so pigmented that i doubt that i am EVER going to run out of it lol

 

[GlamQueen21]

I get overwhelmed by many collection and I've tried limiting my budget to certain things that I want from each collection and I end up buying almost everything from a collection (i.e. Hello Kitty). I get scared that if I skip a collection, I will regret it and will feel like a complete idiot for skipping a collection that I'm sought after. I'm now limiting how much that I'm spending every two weeks since this out of control spending has got to be put to a stop.

 

[TexasBelle]

Oh, I know the feeling! My makeup is overtaking our bathroom . . . and we have very little counter space in there to begin with. I know that I buy more than I need, but I'm kind of in an experimental phase right now, trying to figure out what works on me and what doesn't, and which brands I like and which I don't.

I have discovered, for example, that mineral foundations with bismuth break me out, and that Stila eyeshadows don't show up on my eyelids, and that Lancome and L'Oreal mascara makes my eyes burn. I have found that most blue eyeshadow looks disastrous on me, and that red lipstick looks far better on me than pink.

But discovering these things cost me a fair amount of $$ . . . and I don't just want to toss products in the trash (well, I got rid of the eye-burning mascara, at least). And so products are piling up. Sometime I need to sanitize the products I know I'll probably never use again, and see if any of my friends want them.

At least I have pretty good willpower when it comes to new collections. I was able to pass on Hello Kitty completely, and only bought two things from Sugar Sweet. But Style Warriors is another matter all together . . . that looks so fab.

And see, there I go again! Planning ahead to buy products I really don't need. It's quite the vicious cycle, but it's fun, too.

 

[TISH1124]

^^^ it is fun...But try not to keep your makeup in the bathroom if you can....the moisture/dampness will ruin it quicker than you would like...