Who you calling "gullible"?

I buy cosmetics. Three times a year I meet two girlfriends, on our respective birthdays, for lunch at Big Bowl followed by a jaunt to the cosmetics uber-store Sephora. It was there I found a Peter Thomas Roth product called Unwrinkle Lip (which, may I add, is full of PEPTIDES, more than you can even believe). The saleswoman said, "I've heard this is fabulous." Naturally I bought it.

I used it, and I feel it has done, ummmm, something helpful for my lips. I used up the first batch, bought a second, and am now on my third. I liked it so much I bought another, even more expensive lip product, Spiff Upper Lip by Bliss. I use the Unwrinkle twice a day, the Spiff Upper Lip only at night. I don't know why.

I also paid for a professional make-up application lesson. I asked the young woman who made me up if she thought I was too old to wear bright lipstick. "Nooooo," she said, "you've earned your stripes." I bought several products from her too. (One product she recommended but does not sell is Revlon Colorstay lip stain -- and I do mean stain -- available at all the fine stores that sell Revlon. It sticks and sticks, and it doesn't feather. No more lip liner! I am especially fond of Nonstop Cherry which, the makeup expert advised me, "I use on all my brides.")

So there's gullible, and there's vanity, and there's doing what you need to do to feel better at any given moment. You can buy lots of cosmetics for the price of one Botox session, and it's also probably cheaper in the long run than drinking to excess, the choice my mother made.

Watch this space for a review of the PEPTIDE facial I'll be having next month.