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Thanks to #ThrowbackThursday, #FlashbackFriday and Internet memes, we get a daily dose of what life was like decades ago. Yes, whatever you wore and liked in the year 2000 or even 2005 can now be considered retro. The black lipstick and eye makeup of your emo days? That’s in the past. Your band shirts? History.
But for those who stubbornly held on to their scrunchies, maintained their super skinny eyebrows and secretly hoarded matte lipstick tubes, REJOICE! Certain 90s beauty trends are now squarely back in fashion and you can totally rock them all again!
Stop right now! The 90s are back!
Image: Glamour Magazine/Getty Images
Matte Lipstick
My first clue to the return of these trends was the huge number of matte lipsticks flooding YesStyle Beauty’s New Arrivals day after day. Asian brands, like Missha, Etude House and 3 CONCEPT EYES, to name a few, have been releasing glossy and matte versions of lip colors, ranging from lip stains, rouge and classic lipstick to lip crayons and pencils. Today’s matte texture is no longer confined to a creamy, waxy tube. New formulations transform liquid lip color to a powdery, semi-thick application, giving you a super smooth way to go from ombre to full pout with just a few swipes.
Drew Barrymore made matte lips look so good. Note the choker.
Image: Vogue.com
RiRe Lip Manicure image, BuyKorea.org, 3 CONCEPT EYES image, Stylenanda
Lip Liner
Along with the matte lip goes the lip liner. These two usually went together but if you were seriously cool and far above the rest, you rocked just the lip liner, creating a well-defined mouth. Earth tones were the preferred palette, which went well with some serious eye liner action, too (no cat’s eye or wings just yet). Nowadays, there’s the full color spectrum to choose from. You can go anywhere from a soft nude to a rich berry hue to an all-out vampy red that will set sirens blaring.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford was undeniably the queen of Revlon LipLiners in the 90s.
Image: The Internet
Nude Eye Palette
Raise your hand if you were one of the many who went gaga over Urban Decay’s Naked eye shadow palettes! While I was a complete idiot when it came to eye makeup, I still got one as a present (and probably as a hint to start wearing makeup) and I was seriously amazed at how pretty it was. Actually, it still is and no surprise there, because nude shades are back, y’all. Urban Decay brought them back into serious action but in the 90s, they were on every woman’s eyelids. “Fifty Shades of Gray” has nothing on hundreds of shades of brown, beige, tan, ivory, bronze and more.
Thank goodness for liquid eyeliner, because nude eye shadow now looks even more sophisticated, especially with a subtle cat’s eye or wings at the tips.
Frosted Eye Shadow
On the other hand, a little sparkle doesn’t hurt either. Frosted eye shadow matches glossy lips for some serious shine, with shades ranging from icy ivory and baby pink to periwinkle blue and glittering lilac. And your outfit has to be a baby tee, a pleated plaid mini and Doc Martens. Ice Queen Elsa will certainly wear it well.
Mineral eye shadows have added a glimmer of elegance to eye makeup. For some serious dramatic highlights, a strategic sweep of shimmery ivory shadow just under the brow and the inner corners of your eyes give you an extra luminous glow.
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera flashing their frosty eyes.
Images: Byrdie.com, Jim Smeal/Getty; Refinery 29, ILPO MUSTO, RexUSA
Colorful Hair
Rainbow hair, unicorn hair. Ask any 90s kid and they’ll say “Been there, done that.” Because they totally have. Gwen Stefani, The Spice Girls and Christina Aguilera are just a few of the celebrities who literally made waves with their super colorful manes back in the day. As the colors fade, especially if they’re vibrant hues like blue, pink or purple, you’re left with this awesome dip-dye effect that still looks cool. Nobody will suspect it was a bad dye job.
If you don’t want to go whole hog, there’s always hair mascara to let you dye just a few strategic strands, plus it washes off easily. And finally, there are clip-on hair extensions that will let you get away with a spectacular spectrum job for the day.
I want to believe Gwen Stefani was the real Rainbow Brite
Image: Reveal.co.uk, RexFeatures
