Makeup junkies

They're everywhere in the Valley but they can be hard to spot. Are you one?

It was innocent enough. Others were using it and you just wanted to try it. You liked the way you looked and felt afterward. It gave you confidence.

And now you're addicted. You want more makeup. An addiction to makeup doesn't happen overnight. Junkies say it can take years to develop. By the time it's in full swing, a woman may have 50 lipsticks or more and enough mascaras, eye shadows, nail polishes, free cosmetic bags-with-purchase to open her own store.

We're not talking about anything as serious as a clinical addiction, where your friends and family stage an intervention and you enroll in a 12-step program. A beauty binge doesn't cause hangovers, bloodshot eyes or dark circles ? this is makeup, after all (and you can hide all of that).

At worst, the chronic cosmetic consumer may suffer from the occasional pang of buyer's remorse, a deficit of drawer space or too much time spent on Web sites like beautyaddict.com and blogs for the lowdown on the latest products.

Do not confuse the cosmetic junkie with a woman who is heavily made up, although she may be. The addict is not easy to spot. Product acquisition is her game. She is a sucker for packaging and the promise that lies within. She wants the next new lip gloss and adds it to her secret stash. It's about product. It's about too much ? yet not enough. It's a hunger that can't be sated.

Cosmetic junkies help keep the country's colossal $40 billion beauty market machine running. Every year, there are more innovations and higher quality cosmetics available, says Leigh Anne Rowinski, a beauty industry analyst at Information Resources Inc., a market research company.

"I'm definitely a makeup junkie," confesses Mary Marchetto, who works at Douglas Cosmetics in the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley. Douglas is among several large chains of stores like Ulta and Sephora devoted entirely to prestige and niche beauty products. For the product-obsessed, these emporiums are veritable playrooms ? makeup fairylands filled from floor to ceiling with creams and glosses, perfumes and potions.

Marchetto, a former Chanel and Dior cosmetics saleswoman, admits to having a closet at home filled with innumerable products.

"Everyone who works in makeup is a makeup junkie," adds her colleague Nikki Nikisher.

Jeanne Decloe of Upper Macungie Township says she's a former makeup junkie who kicked the habit by throwing most of it away. Decloe says she didn't like the excess, it began to feel messy, disorganized, plus, "it's a money-zapper." She reconsiders after a moment.

"I'm totally into lip gloss. I have 24 of them at home."

Her friend Toni Fay, 48, of South Whitehall Township admitted to being a "skin cream junkie." She also has an impressive collection of miniature Clinique products and bonus gift bags.

There are collectors like Jackie Thomas, 27, of Bethlehem, who says she has spent "probably thousands" on beauty products from at least every major cosmetic company, particularly the prestige lines found at department stores and makeup stores like Douglas and Sephora.

"I have four cases full," says Thomas. "Even if I don't need anything, I'll come in and buy."

Some women enjoy the pursuit of the hard-to-find niche products or luxury brands, such as La Mer and La Prairie.

"There's something about getting a new Dior lipstick," Marchetto says. "It's the luxury of a brand new lipstick, taking it out and rolling it up."

The majority of women buy their beauty products at mass market stores, such as groceries, drugstores and retail chains such as Target, Wal-Mart and Kmart. But the proliferation of free-standing makeup emporiums shows the beauty industry has tapped into women's desire to touch and feel the product, spend time browsing the merchandise and getting free samples and advice from knowledgeable saleswomen, says Rowinski, the beauty market analyst.

But what ultimately drives women to buy a cosmetic item is if she connects emotionally with the product or perceives she will experience something new by using it, Rowinski says.

Women are not as loyal to brands as they once were, "brand promiscuous" is what the industry calls it, simply because there are so many products and places to shop.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Christine Staropoli, 38, of Perkasie and Stephanie Donovan, 29, were so thrilled to have discovered Douglas Cosmetics, that in their haste to cross the street they almost got hit by a car.

Like some others I spoke to, Emily Rarig, 17, of Emmaus, doesn't wear a lot of makeup, but she still covets it.

"It's fun to play with," says Rarig, who keeps her stockpile divided among four baskets.

"It's fun digging through the stuff and seeing things I haven't seen in a while."

By Wendy Solomon. Contact: wendy.solomon@mcall.com, 610-820-6780
Source: www.mcall.com