A Little Math with Lip Products, and a New Self-Instituted Lip Product Ban

before i go on to my main post... a little heads up, the comments feature has been enabled on my food blog, which is once again here. there is also a "ask the foodie" feature for those of you who have any culinary questions :).

today, i was organizing my makeup stash... and realized - i have way too many lip products! i had 39, THIRTY-BLEEPING-NINE, lip products, not counting lip/cheek cremes/stains, lip care/lip balms, and lip liners. here's a picture of the offending stash:

i have, currently in my possession, the following...

1. three chanel glossimers, volage, wild rose & astral
2. three clinique long last glosswears, clearly pink, guavagold & bamboo pink
3. three l'oreal color juices, cherry on top, raspberry smash & watermelon crush
4. one MAC dazzleglass, rags to riches
5. three MAC lipglasses, prrr, nymphette & lychee luxe
6. two dior creme de glosses, beige silk satin & sweet praline
7. two dior addict ultra glosses, coral fantasy & pink trench
8. five bare escentuals BUXOM lip polishes, kanani, candi, skipper, marina & misty
9. five MAC lipsticks, lustering, see sheer, syrup, jubilee & ruby woo
10. two laura mercier hydratints, crimson & rose
11. two NARS lipsticks, jungle red & funny face
12. two MAC tinted lip conditioners, fuchsia fix & petting pink
13. one lancome color design matte lipstick, corset
14. one dior addict lipstick, rose bustier
15. one dior rouge dior, VIP pink
16. three guerlain rouge g de guerlains, gaela, georgia & brenda

PLUS...

1. two bobbi brown pot rouges (lip & cheek), pale pink & powder pink
2. three lip pencils, NARS funny face/jungle red & bobbi brown pale pink
3. benefit benetint (lip & cheek)
4. two NARS multiple sticks (lip, eye & cheek), orgasm & copacabana

which makes the grand total... a whopping 47 things that can be used on the lips at any given moment, many of which are similar in color family. note that, i did not include lip balms (i have 3 kiehl's in different flavors, 1 sunscreen one, rosebud lip salve, and 2 types of nivea labellos) because i consider these skincare and not makeup products.

if we crunch some numbers, and say that at any given moment, i use two products at a time (e.g. lipstick + gloss, or liner + lipstick... whatever it may be), then,

given the laws of math...      2 items chosen from a set of 47,

i.e. n C k = ( n! )/ [ k! ( n - k )!]
(combinations, not permutations since order does not matter and repetitions of same two-product combos are not allowed)

where n = 47 and k = 2, 

47 C 2 = 1081 combinations of possible lip colors!

i know that not everything goes with everything and so it's not quite 1081 combos, but it's HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of different looks i could be doing without buying new lip product!

holy batman in h*ll, i had no idea that i was being so wasteful... so, barring gifts & freebies, i am on a LIP PRODUCT BAN on further notice.

i know that lip products are probably my favorite makeup product... but really, do i need a 324878438th lip gloss, most of which i have a similar color for? probably not.

what's the #1 category of beauty product that you can't seem to stop buying, even though you have plenty?