DESCRIPTION
This was a little observation of a day of shopping in Melbourne. After all, shopping is such a wonderful and inspirational experience for me. It's amazing the people you can meet... [702 words]
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
A girly-girl with an eccentric family and a will to wear earmuffs and get away with it. My stories are just observations of life and fashion that need to be told from a perky perspective! [April 2006]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (1) The Family Gathering (Short Stories) A short story about my very crazy family. Highlights include having a party in a cemetary, and Cousin 'I'm a bad pirate' John. [726 words] [Humor]
A Shopping Excursion Hanna Rose Ashton-Lawson
My two best friends Ericah, Erin and I were
wandering about in Melbourne Central Shopping
Center after attending an art lecture at RMIT.
I was on the hunt for shorts (�Um, I don�t know
Ericah. Sporty ones I guess. Uh, ones that don�t
look like underwear. Mmm, not like the last ones.�)
We were ambling towards Morning Glory- purveyor
of Hello Kitty Mobile phone covers and Blue Bear
notebooks, when I was ambushed by a nasty headache.
Panadol was needed if I was to continue the hunt
of the short-shorts. Melbourne Central has a LOT
of shops. It�s all very well for those days when
you�re wandering around aimlessly between the
Korean Bread shop and Pooch Outfits R Us, but
were looking for a shop! A chemist. Any chemist.
Hello Kitty would have to wait.
We found a store directory on the food court level
(out of interest, it was very close to the Korean
Bread shop). It wasn�t any old store directory
however, it was a �welcome to the Space Age,
touch-screen, animated instructions store
directory.
We prodded our way through the �health store�
options, past health food shops and aromatherapy
stores, until we found our treasured chemist.
Ericah poked at the option, and a new page
appeared on the screen. �You are here� confirmed
a man�s voice that boomed out of the speaker,
(yeah like we didn�t know�). An arrow danced
across the screen and wiggled around, directing
us towards escalators and along walkways.
With a clear indication of where to go, we bade
Animated Touch-Screen Store Directory goodbye,
then continued on our journey through Valley-Girl
Heaven. When we finally arrived out our
destination, eye-rolling was necessary because
the chemist was situated right beside the entrance.
The exact entrance that we had come in at. Ugh.
I spotted the packets of paracetamol behind the
counter, so I asked the shop assistant for a
twelve-pack of Panadol. She glanced at me
uninterestedly. I stared back with interest. While
I may seem cruel and my description might sound
brutal, I must say that her make-up was terrible.
It looked (and forgive me for saying this) a
little �Emily Howard�, a bit �Little Britain-esque�.
All over her face the foundation (two shades too
dark) and powder (flaking off) was caked on. I
suspected that a trowel or small spade may have
assisted in the application of the offending make-
up job. It was her lips though, that captured my
fascination. This woman�s style icon must have
been the always classy Pamela Anderson, or even
possibly the grotesquely breasted Lolo Ferrari. I
have reason to believe this because this woman�s lipstick and lip liner job was very similar to that fashioned by Pammy and Lolo.
She favoured a beige-brown lipstick, but had most
unfortunately selected an extremely dark lip liner.
Dark lip liner with pale lipstick.
I realise that there will be someone out there who
can achieve a certain degree of stylishness while
modelling this �look�, but I am yet to meet her.
Feel free to prove me wrong, but I believe that
this make-up look should be avoided. Always.
Now normally I�d overlook certain things like that,
but there was something else that made me observe
her lips with a interest. The outer line looked as
though it had been applied with a crayon. A big,
thick dark coloured crayon. The kind that can be
found at the very bottom of a �10 items for 10
cents� bin at St Vincent De Pauls.
�No,� said those poorly sketched children�s
drawing lips, �we don�t stock Panadol.� Her
mascara clogged eyes glared at me as she paused
for a moment. �The smallest we stock is this
packet of thirty,�
�Oh,� I replied, taken aback, �um so there are no
smaller ones?�
�No,� said Clown Lips coldly, �This is what we
have.� In other words �take it bitch, this is it.�
I unwillingly paid the $6.49 for the jumbo packet
of painkillers (�Your Chemist� brand), and left
the store with Ericah and Erin by my side.
�She was mean!� I exclaimed, immediately losing
all sympathy for her unfortunate make-up
application. Ericah smiled craftily, �Did you
see her lips?�
I didn�t end up needing the painkillers because my
headache went away almost instantaneously and
Ericah had to carry the huge box in her handbag
because it wouldn�t fit in mine.
Submit Your Review for A Shopping Excursion
Required fields are marked with (*). Your e-mail address will not be displayed.