To ask what make up you loved in the 90s

[PennyDreadfuI]

I'm on a bit of a nostalgia trip this afternoon after finding a stub of MAC Viva Glam (the first iteration) which I bought from Harvey Nichols in 1994 (amazingly it still smells fine and applies just like it did 26 years ago). I bought it from one of my first pay packets and went on a waiting list to get it. I also remember being on a waiting list for ALL the Hard Candy pastel nail polishes a couple of years later - £12 a pop and I bought five or six! Also waiting list for Chanel Rouge Noir - took months to get my hands on it and in the meantime I mixed black and red nail polish which resulted in a lovely streaky mess 😂

At the start of the 90s I was a sort of goth/Manic Street Preachers fan hybrid so lots of smudged black eyeliner and red lips and glitter for nights out. Mid 90s I was Courtney Love obsessed with hair, clothes and makeup to match. Towards the end of the decade it was all MAC Spice lipliner and Carmex with shimmery eyeshadow. And for all of it, skinny perma-surprised brows which never grew back.

What were your favourite looks/fondly remembered but long gone 90s beauty staples?

Heather Shimmer lipstick. Would probably still wear that today tbh!

Stargazer foundation and powder, blue, purple, black or deep red lips (i found one called Morticia), black eyeliner, purple or black mascara and either black or neon nails

Heather Shimmer and Black Cherries lipsticks from Rimmel and also Hide The Blemish concealer stick.

Heather shimmer and coffee shimmer lipstick. Peach fuzz perfume from the body shop and lots of brown eyeshadow!

Heather or Coffee Shimmer, really sticky lip gloss and dewberry or white musk Body Shop smellies.
And really thin over plucked 'sperm' eyebrows 😬

@unmarkedbythat they still sell it!! I have some and yes it’s still ok to wear.

And lots of Natural Collection stuff from Boots! Do they still do it?

Oh and Charlie Red and Exclamation body sprays!

Was randomly sticking glitter on your face the 90’s as well it did that creep in in the early 00s? I used to do that too.

Me too @SteveArnottsbeadyeyes. I now recognise that the mother of my boyfriend of that era was an absolute saint. She’s probably still hoovering up glitter to this day

MAC spice liner with mocha lipstick.
More early 00s, but urban decay did a little pocket sized palette with eyeshadow, lipstick, etc about 8 little pans, which I loved dearly.

Stargazer luminous yellow eyeshadow

Oh hard candy nail polishes YES!
I loved the dior concealer in a blue tube with golden rings ... can’t remember the name but it made the skin totally flawless.
Loved everything bourjois, (sp?) especially their pastel eyeshadows. Ruby and Millie minty lip gloss. Lip ‘stains’. Body shop makeup, especially their brushes and the ‘all in one face base’.
Bronzing pearls! Oh and kanebo. I used to adore the kanebo counter, I’d save and save for one lippy. Rimmel clear complexion foundation. I can smell it now!! Boots 17 eyeshadows. Cornsilk powder. Lancaster tanning creams.
I so Loved 90s beauty shopping!
Hours spent in superdrug dipping my finger in the sparkly Barry m pots. Golden days

Oh Stargazer was such a goth staple! And Leichner foundation - Camera something I think it was called? They did a pure white one which I loved. Of course.

Yy to Black Cherries! I discovered it in the late 80s when I only had a Saturday job and money was tight. I can picture the little push-up tube so vividly.

I loved Fuzzy Peach from The Body Shop - if anyone can suggest an alternative I'll be forever grateful! Other perfumes I wore included Vanilla Fields, Coty Wild Musk, Opium, ones by Yves Rocher (Ispahan and 8th Day), Magie Noir, Paloma Picasso, Eden, Casmir, Tocade, Deci Dela, Angel... I loved perfume and still do!

@Cornettoninja Yes my navy blue bedroom carpet -as all bedrooms were navy blue- never recovered from random gold glitter dust being constantly poured all over it!

[quote SteveArnottsbeadyeyes]@unmarkedbythat they still sell it!! I have some and yes it’s still ok to wear.[/quote]
You have completely made my day :) Thank you!!

Oh I’d forgotten bronzing pearls - guaranteed to ruin the interior of every handbag!

I had a bit of a Morticia vibe going on too, I had a red lipstick from Next and it was the perfect shade of blue/red.
I also wore The Body Shop Mostly Musk perfumed oil, you had to put it on then let it dry or it stained your clothes.

@unmarkedbythat I only found out as went to my mums house and she had a tube - she’s 75! It really is a colour that suits everyone.

@Therollockingrogue Kanebo! God yes. And Shu Uemura. So aspirational.

So many brands are gone forever - one of my favourite nail polishes was pearly one by Outdoor Girl. And remember when Yardley did makeup? Their eyeliners were fantastic and they did a lipstick called Tea Rose in a beautiful gold metal container which I still miss to this day.

Spectacular nail varnishes. So many colours! I liked to mix them together. It never occurred to me that this might not be a good idea.

Silver iridescent face glitter. I even had tiny iridescent stars to stick on my face and nails.

Purple lipstick - not a great look for me

Blue spray-in hair dye - it was more of a paint, really

Oh yes I loved those Yardley lipsticks. I remember a little pharmacy where they’d have cosmetics you couldn’t really find in boots. Yardley, Leichner , dermablend, and so on. God I loved it in there

Spectacular nail polishes oh yes they were unreal!

@Therollockingrogue

Oh yes I loved those Yardley lipsticks. I remember a little pharmacy where they’d have cosmetics you couldn’t really find in boots. Yardley, Leichner , dermablend, and so on. God I loved it in there

Pharmacy makeup was fantastic. You just don't get stuff like that any more.

Remember miss selfridge launched a make up range in all mad colours? They had this sparkly talcum powder like a loose highlighter. You’d rub it on to go clubbing and you’d look like you were wearing a shimmering American tan body stocking . And then after Christmas everything would be reduced to like 50p so you could stock up on tangerine lipstick and pots of glitter suspended in vaseline.