All the ‘90s beauty products we wish we could still stuff in our Caboodles
Just like Cher Horowitz’s main thrill in life is a makeover, my main thrill in life used to be a ‘90s mall. And with ‘90s malls, come many many ‘90s beauty products. I don’t know if it was age or inability to buy anything that cost over $10 but I was purchasing so much makeup and beauty products in the ‘90s. Especially considering I didn’t wear makeup regularly until 2006. I remember being bored with my friends and walking to the drug store just to see if there was some nail polish or Lip Smacker to buy. Ob-sessed.
These days, ’90s beauty trends are poised for a major comeback. Actually, as Fashionista put it, 90s beauty trends are back. (See the revitalization of frosted lip gloss and the return of some iconic ‘90s scents.). So let’s go through the ‘90s beauty and makeup ESSENTIALS you HAD to have in your Caboodle. (Or, if you’re me, you’re Caboodle knockoff that wasn’t AS cool.)
Bath & Body Works. . .ANYTHING
The best present you could get your friends in the ‘90s was LITERALLY ANYTHING FROM BATH & BODY WORKS. I’m not joking. We’d exchange present at Christmas time as young girls who get $10 in allowance are wont to do and every gift would be something from Bath & Body Works. And if you were shopping for me it better be cucumber melon or sun-ripened raspberry. If I saw any hint of that Freesia stuff I would THROW DOWN.
Wet N Wild Nail Polish
Wet N Wild was my first foray into nail polish (I’m now a Sally Hansen devotee for most nail stuff) and all I wanted was to wear red. Then blue. Then anything else bright. I have never been super-skilled at painting nails so I usually tried to convince my friends to do it but over the years since the ‘90s I’ve at least become. . .adequate.
CK One
OH BOY. Let me just say I never owned any CK One but I thought CK One was the COOLEST THING EVER. Calvin Klein ads have always worked really well on me (meaning I become convinced I need everything they’re selling) but never actually made me get anyone to buy them for me. Again, I was more the kid who had the off-brand version of the thing we were supposed to have. Which meant instead of CK One I used a lot of. . .
Designer Imposters perfume
…U! This could be purchased at your local drug store and though I didn’t quite understand how I was supposed to use perfume I knew that fancy people used it and therefore I wanted in. This was the cheapest option available to my pre-teen self and it was great. Until, of course, it was mocked in Clueless and I felt like a fraud.
Body Glitter of ANY KIND
Again, I wasn’t wearing normal makeup in middle school but I WAS covering myself in head to toe body glitter whenever I had the chance. (Okay maybe just face and shoulder body glitter but still!) I had this tub of blue body glitter I loved, in particular, that had tiny hearts in it and the trick was to dab some goo body glitter by (BUT NOT IN) your eyes and then carefully place a single heart right beside your eye. Killer.
I think we all ended up looking like this though:
Bottled Emotions Perfume
(I had Playful) There were LOTS of perfume options in the ‘90s for us and it was great. Obviously every single celebrity (it seems) has a perfume line now but something was so fun about trying out different perfumes as a kid when you had no idea what life (or real BO) was! The Bottled Emotions perfume was great because it came in a little skinny bottle you could carry in your mini backpack and you got to PICK AN EMOTION. It was basically a mood ring for your scent.
(Mine was EXACTLY like this except purple)
Colorful Mascara
The first mascara I ever owned was a tube of bright blue mascara I bought at Hot Topic and didn’t know how to apply. I mean, really, had no idea. But I think part of the problem was definitely this mascara, in particular, which was not only clumpy but also so dry. Anytime I went to wear it (like to the roller rink) it didn’t end up working and I ended up with one set of blue eye lashes.. So, I’d just dump glitter on my eyelids instead.
Lip Smackers
I just want to say I STILL have a million Lip Smackers. That is my current, in 2014, at 30 years old, collection. (BOW DOWN). But my love for Lip Smackers started in the ‘90s. Dr Pepper was specifically my jam but really I was a fan of them all. A million different flavors and now they even come with SPF and they’re still my favorite.
Bonne Bell Lip Shades
Now, if you wanted a classier version you could get the Bonne Bell lip shades, which came in my ‘90s shades like EVERY SHADE OF BROWN IMAGINABLE. I was a pre-teen who had a really wide mouth for my face so adding color and drawing more attention was NOT my main goal but whatever. This was an option for the cool kids. I’ll keep my Lip Smacker, thanks.
GAP Perfume
Rounding out the perfume tour of the ‘90s was none other than the GAP perfume line. Let me take a moment to say that my mom bought a cardigan from the GAP in the ‘90s that I inherited and STILL OWN TO THIS DAY. So, we were * to the tune of All About That Bass * ALL ABOUT THE GAP in my house. The perfume line just solidified that. Except KEEP THAT “GRASS” SCENT AWAY FROM ME, YOU MONSTERS!!!!
(Main image , CK One pic , Full-body glitter pic via, Bottled Emotions perfume pic via, Mini backpack pic via, mascara pic via, Bonne Bell Lip Shades pic via, GAP perfume pic via)
