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?

Oh and liquorice bubble bath from the endangered animals range in body shop!!
Ksngol hats
O2 body spray

Global hypercolour t shirts

@SteveArnottsbeadyeyes

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

Uh oh, I think we are the same person!

This thread is more and more like a big comforting hot bath of nostalgia (slimy pearls optional) every time I look at it!

Does anyone else remember thinking that when L'Oréal launched their makeup line (early 90s, maybe 93?) it seemed so luxurious compared to the Rimmel and Cover Girl we were used to? I think I recall reading that they aimed for a sort of midway point between cheap cosmetic ranges and high-end. The packaging was so slick compared to cheaper brands and it was a little bit more expensive. I wasn't earning much at all at the time but I remember splurging £5.99 on a lipstick.

And who remembers when Olay briefly did a make up line? They did a gorgeous berry lipstick which I bought loads of when I heard the range was to be discontinued.

RU was a ‘youth’ range of Rimmel’s wasn’t it? I had a copper eyeshadow duo from that which I wore to death.

Also had some super sticky, super pink Bourjois lip glosses which I loved, despite the classic ‘glueing your hair to your lips’ issue...

@TooMinty if you’re also had a little wooden box thing with make up and lipstick from the Body Shop you might be!

@hauntedvagina

Oh my god, so much!!!

Hard Candy nail polish, they were the ones with the little rings on the bottle, weren't they?

No17 Bon Bon lipstick, there was also a Heatherberry that I loved. Les Belles de Ricci perfume. The Miss Selfridge T-shirt with the tie dye heart. Ruby & Millie lipgloss in the twisty pens. Accessorise flip flops. Trio sets of cleanser, toner and moisturiser. Wet and wild mascara (curtesy of a school friend who holidayed in Florida once a year). Anything from Morgan or Kookai.

oh les belles de Ricci - if anyone can point me in the direction of a perfume that smells like this, I would be for ever grateful 🤩

I was still a kid in the 90s but I remember miners make up, Lipsmackers lip balms (There was one called Cosmic something, it tasted AMAZING), Collection 2000 eyeshadows, hair mascara, So! Kiss Me body spray and Claire's roll on body glitter. I remember my friend came to school with a Lancome Juicy Tube and I was so jealous!

Not make-up but I remember getting the Just Seventeen body spray free on the front of the magazine. It was amazing. As was the Beverly Hills 90210 body spray and perfume ( around 1993?)

@PerpetualStudent do u know what that rings a bell-I think you're right!

I also used to love thinking I was so grown up when I went in to La Senza-back when it was a bit posh and you got a lovely bag with tissue and those scented beads...and the silky satin robes in the fitting rooms!

@MobLife OMG! Yeeees! Wow this thread is awesome

@MyCatHatesEverybody

I used to love a lipstick from Avon where the lid kind of slid to the side as you pushed the lipstick up... I think it was called pop top and the tube was bright yellow? I had a shade called toffee pop iirc.

On the flip side what I remember as being proper shit was a wash in wash out hair colour that came in an individual sachet similar in size to an options hot chocolate, I think they were called Shaders. I remember sitting in the bath for ages waiting for the colour to take and of course it never did.

Toners and Shaders! I've got really dark hair and could never get any colour from them. I do remember dying my hair blue/black once though!

I used to wear lots of blue/purple iridescent powders from Barry M. I used to buy it from Body and Face place along with bath pearls and fruit shaped soap

@isabellerossignol

Did anyone else order from the Club de Createurs de Beauté? I ordered loads of Agnes B makeup. There was a great peach coloured tinted moisturiser that was great for pale people like me as it didn't go streaky and orange like tan tinted moisturiser.

Ah, I was just thinking about that, but couldn’t remember for the life of me what it was called! I used to buy from it. I remember a lime hair rinse thing- you had to mix it with cold water and put it through your hair after you had washed it. Made for a very cold end to the shower! It was supposed to make your hair shiny....

I often had a bob and my friends always told me to dye my hair red a la republica, but I never had the guts! Still think about doing it now, but not sure!

Those foul sticky lipglosses that stuck your hair to your mouth if it was windy.

Does anyone remember the Virgin Vie beauty brand? Sort of mid-range, competing with Boots No7. I seem to remember spending a fortune in there. Think they ended up going down the MLM route before going bust....

St Ives menthol deep conditioner which went from scalp tingle to flayed alive in 0-60, anyone? Especially fun when it got into certain parts of one's anatomy in the shower. Ouch.

Revlon ultima II glowtion, used to make my legs look amazing. I was so gutted when they discontinued this

Not make up but Babyliss steam straighteners!

MathsFiend I do! They had a store in the Trafford Centre, I seem to remember they had a bubbling/crackling moisturiser that came in a can. An old work mate called me out of the blue years ago....to give me the usual MLM sales pitch and try to get me to have a Virgin Vie party.

I also loved Dazzle Dust by Barry M.

Body Shop used to do a peach-based face scrub; I can’t remember the name of it but it smelt gorgeous. I really wish they’d bring back some of their original lines.

Garnier (I think) used to do a vitamin C face wash and moisturiser; smelt a bit like oranges, felt lovely on my skin.Think it was called Synergy C.

Body shop beech lipliner.

@VirginiaWolverine I loved that face powder!
This is similar
https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/becca-hydra-mist-set-refresh-powder.html

Omg yes synergie C I loved that

Synergie skin care was fabulous! So fresh.