Blame It On The Nails

   So I lasted 14 painfully long hours without purchasing anything and then in one spilt second, without even realizing it was happening, I inadvertently broke my shopping fast.  I knew it probably wasn't wise for a recovering shopaholic like myself to visit any kind of store, but when my coworkers asked me to go to Duane Reade with them I figured I couldn't possibly get into that much trouble.  I mean it's just a drugstore and not Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue!  Before I knew it, however, I was unintentionally standing at the front register in Duane Reade charging $50 in nail polish to my Amex card.
   I may have given in to temptation in a moment of weakness, but I swear it wasn't my fault.  I mean how could I have known my coworkers were asking me to accompany them to the most amazing three story Duane Reade superstore in all of NYC.  My eyes opened wide with amazement as soon as I entered the first floor, which had a salad bar, Slurpee machine, frozen yogurt stand, soup station, coffee bar and bakery on it.  As I worked my way around the main level, taking in all the sights as my mouth watered, I proudly thought to myself "there's no need for me to spend any money here since I brought lunch today."  I confidently made my way to the second level and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was dedicated solely to Valentine's cards, candy and gifts.  Since Valentine's is a girl's holiday and I will be receiving rather than giving gifts I knew I was in the clear.
  As soon as the escalator reached the third floor beauty department I knew I was in trouble.  The adrenaline quickly began rushing through my veins and I immediately felt the compulsion to buy.  I tried to leave Temptation Island, but of course my friends were awe-stricken by the glorious sights.  When it became obvious that they were in no rush to leave I tried to take deep breathes and just sweep through the aisles refusing to look at anything.  Once I stumbled into the nail polish section it was game over. There must have been 500 bottles of polish on display both from Essie and OPI.  I knew if I caved and bought something I could justify the purchase since these were my two favorite brands of polish and I had never seen such an enormous selection before. In a matter of seconds I selected 6 new shades of dark purple, pinky-plum and dark grey, all of which are very on trend for winter.
    Due to today's minor indiscretion I've decided to qualify my forty day "no shopping" experiment.  What I really meant to say was that I would only be giving up buying shoes, bags, clothes and accessories.  Since cosmetics and other beauty products aren't in any of these categories I'm technically still on the wagon. Phew! I'm a woman for Pete's sake and a girly one at that so it's impossible to give up all things inherently girly.  What can I say? Blame it on the nails!