She maintains I did it on purpose, in that sort of lo-fi expensively-wrapped schadenfreude way that I'd routinely pull everything from my drawers and cupboards when I was little and then gigglingly drag her by the hand up to my room with the promise that I'd tidied my room up as a surprise, only to push open the door and watch the horror creep in through the early smile lines on her face.
Actually, the first one was an accident, just to clear it up. I did that kind of 'boy' thing of blindly picking something I liked because I thought she would like it. And she does like it, just not two lipsticks' worth. So, I helpfully redistributed it into my own possession, and wore it nonstop for a couple of weeks, and her name is Gabrielle. Gabrielle is an elegant lady with a little shine and a soft, sweet red appeal, like that juicy apple offered to Snow White. She has bite, but she's not so overt.
The second Chanel I ever had came to me by way of an uncalculated purchase. My Boots Advantage Card points had been teetering, 46 mere points away, from something beautiful and shiny and much-coveted. It was never helpful that I always had Franky flaunting and flirting it and making me feel I couldn't live without it. On the way to a job interview a couple of weeks ago, it started to rain. I was wearing the most hole-ridden pair of flats in the whole world and water came in and it felt like the whole world was against me: rain, a job interview, soggy feet and rapidly curling hair which was recoiling from the deluge and leaving me with disturbing kiss-curls. I'd forgotten my umbrella too.
It was a bad day, but then it got better. Through the purchase of a pointless umbrella (another to add to my stash), my balance heaved itself, puffing, over the finishing line, and I bounced up the stairs to proudly present my card at the Chanel counter and demand my prize: Chanel Dragon. And even though I never got the job (what's one more rejection when you've applied for 15 part-time jobs in retail, after all?), I wore Dragon for the whole week after and walked tall, if slightly bitchily (because red gives you that kind of hair-tossing strut and you want to wear heels). Dragon, to me, is Gabrielle's sister, spiky, bitchy and would stare down a Honey Badger and win.
I think you know that with me, it's nearly always the story I have to tell you in a roundabout way, rather than succinctly telling you, 'Here is a product I like. Here is why I like it.' I like the way my little tubes of red have found their way to me by an unconventional route, and even more, how I remember exactly what that strange route was.
Has a beautiful product ever 'found' you in a weird and serendipitous way?