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?

Sunsilk 'de Parfum' shampoo.
Original Vidal Sassoon shampoo and conditioner in the brown bottles
Rimmel 'Pink Shimmer' lipstick
Cherry flavoured roll on lip gloss in the glass tubes.
Impulse 'Chic' body spray
Body Shop Japanese Washing Grains
Body Shop Passion Fruit Cleansing Gel
Benetton 'Colors' perfume

Impulse vanilla kisses, dream matte mousse, maybelline great lash mascara in the pink and green tube and tommy girl. Lots of!

You'll never guess what I found in Savers yesterday.

Salon Selectives shampoo and conditioner. It's probably totally different from the 90s version but nostalgia made me buy some.

Sun-In! It was supposed to give you subtle highlights, but actually just fried your hair and made the roots look much darker .

@BitOfFun that is a great pic!

I, too, fell victim to the Sun In curse. Sadly, I was a natural redhead, so I ended up with yellow puffy cotton wool in place of hair.

What was I thinking?

Oh god sun-in! I turned my hair to candy floss with sun-in.

@ScorpioSphinxInACalicoDress

The Christmas soap fragrance I think was called "something special" or sth like that. My favourite Avon perfume was Moonwind. My mum had a tub in the bathroom and it was the smell of Sunday night bathtime.

You’ve just brought back my childhood! Avon Moonwind in an owl-shaped pot.

I can smell it now. Dear me. Thank you.

Revlon Flex shampoo and conditioner had the loveliest smell ever.

Hair mascara was shit but we all used it anyway - mine was blue.

Papier poudre from the Body Shop and superdrug did their own version. Wish I could still get it.

I remember tooth gems. You bought them in a little kit and superglued a tiny gem to your tooth where it stayed until it fell off week or two later. What were we thinking?

When blue nail polish suddenly became a thing and was in all the magazines I couldn't get it for love nor money in my small town. The chemists only sold Rimmel, no Hard Candy. Eventually my mum's hairdresser got me some dark blue polish from her supplier.

Lancome juicy tubes, or was that early 2000s?

@evilharpy I think I remember the flex stuff! Was it in pale yellow bottles and really thick? Lol at tooth gems!

Flex was fantastic stuff. It was like bright yellow custard, smelt amazing and left your hair so soft.

Whyyyyy did they ever stop making Flex? Everyone loved it!

I have totally blurred the 90s and 2000s in my brain.

MAC Lipglass in the color Spite. I just discovered recently that they still make it, and bought some. Still love it.

Body Shop Tangerine Beer shampoo,'it was lovely!

Cover Girl foundation compact with a little round sponge. Grey square case with gold flecks. It looked like a powder but was foundation. I used to wear a very thick layer to school. Oh dear.

These might be 80s but why did 'they' stop making Silkience shampoo and conditioner? They were magnificent and the smell was incredible.

Remember Poly Papilloten? Pink foam hair rollers and setting spray? They were great and much comfier than the rubbery ones!

Oilily perfume

And why did they stop selling Cover Girl? One of my first lipsticks was Cover Girl, the one you put on and then pressed your lips together when it needed topping up. Apparently it reactivated the colour so it renewed. 😂

Omg yes that cover girl lipstick.
Wasn’t there an advert where little beads of colour burst open when you pursed your lips ?oh I loved it !

@unmarkedbythat

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

The first thing that popped into my head too!

@unmarkedbythat

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

sigh me too, I have always missed my heather shimmer. Surely someone out there in the make up business has looked at bringing it back!

@Igotthemheavyboobs great minds

Yes there was Theroll it had Helena Christianson on it, she was also wearing the brown and beige matte eyeshadow duo which I really wanted too. She was my idol and I really really wanted to be her!

geekone Heather Shimmer never went anywhere, it's still for sale!

The fact people had a sense of humour and weren't offended by absolutely everything. I hate today's snowflake culture - we were more laid back in the 90s!

I loved Spectacular nail varnish. My Mum and I both had lists in our purses of which ones we owned so we didn't double up. My aim in life was to own all of them. I think I still have a few
I had some lovely eyeshadow stick things from the body shop. Pale pink and pale purple.
Natural collection from boots. I still use their mascara. A new one. Not one from the 90s.
We had a small makeup/beauty shop in the mall which sold all natural/eco type stuff. They used to do free make overs which we would book if we had a party. They did a lovely eyelash primer thing. Wish I could remember what it was called. May have been early 00s though not 90s.