More like a plastic throne, actually.
Rule out the commode, and no I'm not talking about our beloved Neelkamal chair that can be found in every Indian household.
Just like Aegon Targaryen aka the Mad King from The Game of Thrones, I too managed to construct something that would make me lose my mind eventually. The infamous iron throne in the series was constructed by melting several swords of the enemies by the breath of a dragon, no less. In my case, I am the fire breathing dragon who burnt her own money and became the fallen enemy as well. You see it's a long story and I'll type it out because time hi time hai aaj kal!
Spoiler alert: my throne is made of plastic containers and tubes, and this story has no dragons. There is no throne either, it's just a pile of plastic. Big, bad pile of plastic that I'm pretty sure is sitting tight in your house too. This is not dragon level cool, but good enough.
SO, lock down = More time at home = Me time = Self care = Bring out the masks, lotions and potions that were not getting enough attention during the era I used to go mall hopping. But, as it turns out my skin prefers pollution and bone-chilling, skin-drying office AC air compared to good air quality index and regular masking and scrubbing.
Nonetheless, you know that feeling of getting your hands on a coveted product that ALL the influencers are raving about on Instagram—yeah that's the point where it starts going downhill. IDK why but it feels like a solution to all my personal and professional life trapped in a fancy jar. SO not the case.
No matter how good (or bad!) the product is, mandatory millennial ritual of posting an unboxing video, may be a couple of stories about your first impression (yeah even the ones who don't post it do enact it in their head. Sorry tribe, I had to let out this secret.), and loving/hating announcement has to happen on social media. Don't ask me why, I don't make the rules, but it seems like a natural next step after any purchase.
And even before this expensive elixir gets a chance to reveal its magic, the excitement starts declining because the latest purchase seems to be aggressively fighting a real estate war on the dresser. If mindless shopping is a crime, we're all guilty party.
You see, the old 'normal' allowed us to roam around aimlessly which more often than not resulted in either 'just-want-see-what-the-hype-is' or 'it-was-on-crazzzy-discount'. But there's another one and I'm not sure if anyone else does that apart from me, it's the 'too-awkward-to-roam-around-empty-handed-so-I'll-buy-A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G'.
Also, the forever on sale online shopping websites made me memorize my 16 digit debit card number. All in all I was acting like a true Carrie Bradshaw fan and "liked my money right where I can see it...hanging in my closet." Or sitting pretty on my dresser.
Plus working for a beauty and fashion magazine meant receiving latest collections and launches of skincare and makeup in beautiful/intricate/heavy/unnecessary coffers ever so often. I've no idea why but opening these boxes felt like winning a lottery of sorts. And I was winning that lottery every other week. In short, I was neck-deep in retail therapy.
And this was just the happy part of the story.
The instant gratification monkey used to make me happy for some time but then the Law Of Diminishing Marginal Utility used to kick in and bring down my interest if the product didn't show instant results. Damn you, economics.
Attending a weekend wake for the same product by pushing it to the back of my cabinet or giving it to another family member used to be my go-to closure. Or so I thought.
Because it turns out I hid so many products out of my sight that the pyramid of dabbas to throw started competing with the member of my fam who has the cutest height-moi! It is one thing to know in your heart that you are a hoarder and another to see all the clutter in front of your eyes. The situation is S.C.A.R.Y. if you've read a bit about carbon footprint, climate change, and are living through a pandemic. My skincare routine cannot be the reason for another global issue, says the woman with a tiny mission in her heart.
So, the plan is to take tiny steps and share everything here on the blog so you all (i.e. just my mumma papa rn) can call me out if i go off the rails.
Please let me know if you too own a lot of crap in the name of skincare. And even better would be if you could suggest some zero waste solutions!
Cheers!