Lori here ~ still giddy after the surprising Shamus win~
Still slaving away on the book I had to ask for a teeny extension on (due this week) and my brain only has so much room for creativity today - I apologize in advance for the randomness of this blog.
To some extent, I think everyone is an impulse buyer -- aka a sucker for the newest thing. Luckily I am not a gadget girl, so my impulse buys are fairly inexpensive (with the exception of my love for cowgirl boots) and since I shop at low-rent stores like Walgreens and Walmart, usually my impulse buys are food/cosmetic related. The choices double this time of year with Halloween and Christmas looming.
Mmm. Candy. Have you seen the candy aisles lately? The plethora of Hershey's Kisses flavors these days astounds me, but I love trying the latest flavor sensation (hint: cherry cordial tastes just like chocolate covered cherries and the toasted coconut ones are perfect). Same goes for M&Ms (hint: the strawberry chocolate ones suck.) Whoppers -- I love peanut butter but was it really necessary to mess with Whopper perfection? Or the strawberry milkshake ones? Shudder. I am still browsing the candy section in SD on occasion for the chocolate bar with the bits of bacon in it -- yes, bacon and chocolate. Two perfect foods in one. YUM. I picked one up in Florida and wished I would've bought two. Okay, two hundred.
And this is embarrassing to admit, but I am a sucker for...mascara. I see 14XXXXX the Volume!!! and my eyes glaze over with lust. I imagine my eyelashes so long and lush that when I blink I actually mess up my bangs. Seriously. Brown-black, black, blackest black, black noir (come ON, how much of a sucker was I for THAT one??) I even keep buying a brand that doesn't do crap for lengthening my lashes, but it smells like lilacs. Lilacs! How important is it that my freakin' eyelashes have the whimsical aroma of flowers? Very. I sniff that damn tube like a junkie--even when I'm not putting on my makeup I pick it up and inhale. I even texted my sister in law for Christ's sake about my latest mascara discovery.
The one new product I've managed to avoid buying is the automatic twirling mascara applicator. Oh, I've looked at it. Several times. Two things hold me back from that impulsive purchase - 1) I'm afraid I'll put my eye out. I'm still traumatized by what we here in the Armstrong house call the "eyelash curler" incident, 2) I'm pretty sure this brand won't smell like lilacs.
Share your cheap and embarrassing impulse buys FOFO's!
Thanks everyone who congratulated me on the Shamus. Still stunned, still thrilled that Karen and I were nominated together, still totally bummed I missed bar time networking at Bouchercon.
Hmmm. Impulse buys. I always seem to buy a soda at the checkout stand at the grocery store. I bought The Suicide Bunnies, but is not embarrassing in anyway because I love that book. Magazines. I buy magazines like they are going out of style.
Posted by: Jeff Shelby | October 22, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Love love love Suicide Bunnies.
One of my favorite books was an impulse buy: DIVORCED, BEHEADED, SURVIVED. About guess what? Henry VIII's wives. My favorite obsession.
Posted by: Karen Olson | October 22, 2009 at 10:28 AM
For me it's iTune. I'll get a $25 iTunes card and I'll leave it sit in my account and then one day I'll impulsively buy song after song until it's gone.
When I used to go to China a lot, I'd go to the markets in Beijing and buy watches impulsively.
Posted by: Wilfred Bereswill | October 22, 2009 at 01:24 PM
The Mystery Bookstore-Los Angeles keeps a display of Suicide Bunnies books on the checkout counter, because no one can resist them. (They're perfect stocking stuffers, if you want to buy one online from them: www.mystery-bookstore.com)
I am a sucker for anti-frizz products. The only one that really works for me is so expensive that I too guilty to buy it, even though it would probably be cheaper than the vast array of worthless $3.99 bottles and tubes on my bathroom shelves.
In fact, I bought a tube of a NEW and IMPROVED anti-frizz gel from Herbal Essence just this morning. Sigh.
Posted by: Clair Lamb | October 22, 2009 at 01:30 PM
What's the name of that expensive anti-frizz product, Clair? Inquiring minds want to know. I too have a basket of haircare products that don't work. But my real impulse buy is earrings. In fact, anything shiny and under 20 bucks, I'm there.
Posted by: AlisonGaylin | October 22, 2009 at 03:20 PM
Bumble & Bumble's Curl Conscious. It smells really good, too. Once in a while I get a bottle for my birthday or Christmas. . .
Posted by: Clair | October 22, 2009 at 04:52 PM
Clair - that's where I got mine - Bobby said "Hey you gotta see this" and I was like "MINE!!!"
Posted by: Jeff Shelby | October 22, 2009 at 05:41 PM
I'm actually going to be in LA next week. I've got to know what Suicide Bunnies books are all about. Bobby save me one.
Posted by: Wilfred Bereswill | October 23, 2009 at 07:12 AM
Hmmm... I bought a boat. Technically, I don't think that counts as an impulse buy. I mean, it's not like I drove past a marina saw the boat docked with a For Sale sign and said, "That's it. How much?"
I've sort of wanted one for awhile but held back, hobbled by the question, "What do I do with it when a hurricane's approaching?"
Then my experienced boat-owner friends pointed out that if I put in a boat lift, I could secure the boat above the surge level. Right then and there I decided to start the process of finding and purchasing.
So no, that wasn't really an impulse.
Not like the time I evacuated the Keys ahead of Hurricane Rita and ended up in a hotel room, bored, with Internet access and a credit card.
Yes, I know what you're thinking but the story isn't that good.
I ordered a digital camera.
Posted by: Mary Stella | October 23, 2009 at 09:15 PM