Having been a makeup hoarder lover for over 10 years, I’ve been trough the online growth of the beauty community. Back in 2008, I wanted to learn how to make my eyes look bigger (they’re tiny) with makeup and so I went on youtube, had almost no relevant search results, and one of the first videos I found and watched was from Panacea81 (Lauren Luke). This was when she was on the rise. That was basically the launch of beauty gurus on youtube.
Guys, I remember the video of the person who invented project pan. I will be doing one soon so I’ll expand on this on that post.
I’ve gone through all the makeup fads since makeup started being a thing in social media. Trends, brands, influencers came and went and I still have the products to remember – them and the money I spent at the time. Here’s a list of some real historical cult favourites (and please, if you ever – or still – own any of these, tell me in the comments, so I don’t feel ancient alone).
MAC’s 187 Brush
My. GOD. First brush, first MAC counter visit, first high-end purchase. This was my first in so many ways. This was the brush to have, when duo-fibers were fresh on the market: the first replacement of paddle brushes to apply foundation (before the flat top kabuki brushes or the existence of the Beauty Blender). This is so OG. Not ideal for foundation in my opinion, but great for a light application of very pigmented blushes.
Make Up For Ever purple shadow nº 92
Ka-POW. For all the purple eyeshadows that make you look like you got punched in the eye, this one gives a punch of vibrancy to whoever looks at you when you wear it. This was discontinued and the brand never really replaced it. I never got rid of mine. It was the first product that I ever heard being called a “cult favourite”. And given that a good purple eyeshadow is hard to make, I understand why.
Revlon Colorstay Foundation
Ten years ago it was known as MAC’s Studio Fix cheaper, better sister. Ah, it was a time for heavy, full coverage foundation that would cover anything from pimples to a young girl’s insecurity. In present days, the popularity died down, but it never really went away. Here and there some “influencer” rediscovers it. It was the first foundation I bought with my own money – extremely hard to get in Portugal at the time – and I still repurchase it to this day. It’s heavy, but long lasting and transfer resistant. Got me through a lot of all-nighters in college.
MAC pigments
MAC pigments were the sh*t back then. There were people who filled nail polish racks with these guys. MAC still sells them, but the packaging is smaller – now it holds 4,5 grams instead of 7,5 grams. Just for a comparison, a regular size single eyeshadow holds 1,5 grams. Who the hell ever used up a MAC pigment? NO-one. The deal with these is that they are supposed to be very “versatile”: they’re a loose powder, so you can add these to clear nail polish, lipgloss, etc and make your own products. Let me tell you: anyone who has ever sported a blue lip, never did because they added MAC’s Mutiny pigment to clear lipgloss. These are eyeshadows, people. That’s all everybody ever uses them for. And the thing is, they’re not the best eyeshadows out there. And the fact that they’re loose makes them messy as hell.
Still, I won’t part with mine. They’re MAC piggies, man. They make you cool.
Urban Decay Original Naked eyeshadow palette
It’s old news but I’m paying homage. This was ground breaking: for the first time a high-end brand made a palette with 12 (!) full sized eyeshadow pans (that were what? 18$ for each individual pan?) for less than 50 bucks, and didn’t skimp on quality. Paired with that was the fact that it was a fully neutral eyeshadow palette, and for the first time a neutral colour wearer could use all the shades, without getting stuck with that one shade that’ll never get used before you need to replace the palette. When it came out, I had to wait about a year to get it because it was always sold out!
Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey
I remember looking for reviews of the best lipstick on Makeupalley‘s website back in 2009 and Clinique’s Black Honey was the top voted one. This was a time where makeup reviews were virtually unexistent on youtube. It think its popularity came from the 90’s brown lip trend – which always looked good on me.
Soon after that, though, it was quickly forgotten and replaced by the nude and light pink lipstick trend (oh, we’ll get to that) – and brown became poopoo. If there’s anything that Kylie Jenner did well was to bring the 90’s brown lip back and kick the corpse lips permanently to the curb. Every “beauty guru” that turned their noses up to brown lip shades like they would actually stink now rave about their poopoo lips.
Brown can be very flattering and I feel vindicated.
MAC blushes in Dollymix and Pink Swoon
Back in 2008, the trendy MAC blush was Dollymix. People used to describe it as this super intense, pigmented colour. It isn’t. It’s just that there weren’t many on the market to compare it to. It has a medium, buildable intensity – very easy to use, actually. The popular colour that followed Dollymix was Pink Swoon. MakeupByTiffanyD helped make that shade really popular. Bright bubblegum blue toned pink. There are 23758 other shades like these now from other brands, but they are still a good choice.
I’m not even including Well Dressed in this post- that fad came later on.
Coty Airspun Powder
Coty Airspun powder – this one made a banging comeback with baking! A banging baking comeback. A bangbakeback.
…I’ll stop now.
I have the old version, with the card packaging like the picture above. I didn’t take a picture of mine because I forgot it at my parents’ house – but it was probably the second powder I ever bought and, although I think it’s too heavy, I’ll always keep it, if not for nostalgia then for the scent. I love it. People say it’s old lady scent – and it is, I always just though that vintage scents were better. Fresh, young people smell like dishwasher detergent to me.
Dior Amber Diamonds Highlighter
Everyone’s holy grail highlighter before highlighters were a thing. There was a time where almost no brand had a permanent pressed powder highlighter. Shock horror. You don’t remember? You either blocked that privation time from your mind, or you’re a lot younger than me and I hate you a tinsy bit.
This is great though, a beautiful, leaning subtle, golden highlight.
MAC Myth Lipstick
Ahh, the nude lip trend of the 2000’s. This was concealer in lipstick form. The worst thing was that because it was so light, at least on me, it didn’t really “erase” my lips as much as lighten them and made me look like an awkward zombie with very yellow teeth. I never really wore it out of the house – and damn, did I try to make this work – because I was ridiculous. I bought all the popular nude lipsticks at the time trying desperately to make at least one look good on me whilst attempting to convince myself that if so many people liked them it’s because they were awesome and I must be missing something.
I wasn’t.
YSL Rouge Volupté Lipstick in 07 – Lingerie Pink
Again, ghastly colour. Never been able to use it because is makes my teeth look orange. Yes, the texture is very emollient, but the look on the lips? Pink chalk on a chapstick. And this light, very cool toned colour actually looks weird on almost anyone. I bought it thinking “I have nothing else like this” – yeah, for good reason. Silly.
I could go on and on… remember MAC shadesticks? The taupe fase? KarlaSugar blog and its amazing swatches?? Ugh, the nostalgia.
I’m old.
