ZOMG, brows! And no concealer!
My high school years were a mix of a handful Clinique (my gateway makeup drug, LOL!) along with lots of drugstore stuff. I mostly wore eye and lip makeup, and some powder. I hadn’t discovered the powers of brow products yet, or mascara. In no particular order:
- Revlon Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow
- Wet & Wild Eyeshadow Palettes (I had this bronze, gold and khaki one I wore all the time)
- Wet & Wild 666 Lip Liner
- Covergirl Lipslicks
- Cornsilk Pressed Powder
- Coty Airspun Loose Power
- Clinique Blush (My only blush! I think the color was Clover), Eyeshadow and Lipstick
What makeup reminds you of high school?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
merrybelly says
Brown lipliner and frosty lipstick :/
Merrybellyland777.blogspot.com
ger says
thinking Clinique was a staple in any young Filipino girl’s make-up drawer 😉 surprised there’s no J&J pressed powder in your list LOL
Karen says
Yeah! All my pinay girlfriends rocked Clinique!
Katherine says
My first eyeliner ever was the Revlon Colorstay eyeliner and I still use it today! 🙂 Other than that, I bought a lot of Wet ‘n Wild in high school because it was all I could afford!
Nina says
Cherry Chapstick, Coty Airspun Loose Powder, Wet n Wild Eyeliner and a ton of Clinique Gift W/ Purchase stuff that my sisters would pass on to me. 😀
Arianne says
HAHAHA! Love your strong brows Karen!
The only one that comes to mind is that colour adjusting Almay tinted moisturizer, and a horrible experience with liquid eyeliner. Why was it all blobby and difficult?
Karen says
They’re kind of a hot mess, LOL! I discovered tweezers late in life. Better late than never, though!
Nicole M. says
OMG…WNW 666 liner was such a high school standard for me. That & a coat of cherry chap stick to go with That combo was my signature lip. However, i did venture out here & there & during the grunge phase filled in my entire lip with WNW 711 liner. Flannels, Doc Martens & vamp lips were the thing.
Gina says
When I was in high school, girls would wear either white or baby blue shadow all over their lids with super thick black liner. It was NOT attractive. I had a bit of a goth phase in high school, and I was all about dark purples and black eyeshadow. I had a terrible purple Covergirl trio that I adored. The shadows were patchy and sheer, but I made them work. I think I went through like 3 of them! And a frosty, dark purple lipstick by NYC. I used to wear the two together and *loved* it.
nancy says
In high school i had a thing for frosted lipstick, blue and green eyeshadow.My dream was to look like Bonnie Tyler (total eclipse of the heart )
im not proud!!!! lol
Sarah S. says
What a fun topic! I’d have to say Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick, MAC Lipglass (in Nico, specifically), Covergirl Clean Makeup, and Maybelline Greatlash Mascara. Also Hard Candy before it was at Wal-mart 😛
Casey says
This is hilarious to think about. I thought I had it all together, but when I look at pics – what a hot mess! I think we all went through a similar phase. Here’s a short list of what I used in high school:
*CoverGirl Lipslicks – Bronze Goddess
*Clinique pressed powder – I only used powder, so a lot of my HS pics make me look like I have chalky complection
*Eyeshadow – I used to pick up any bronze/brown/taupe shade that was on sale at Long’s Drugs. My parents were strict, so no crazy colors!
*Blush – I think this was also from Clinique, but I remember rotating a Wet’N’Wild blush into the mix.
*Lip Medix and Carmex – I used these all the time. So much so, that in the decade plus since HS, I haven’t touched the stuff!
AnnieA says
Blue eyeshadow was also rampant at my school…
Quinctia says
Mostly just Covergirl compacts, and Naturalistics lip glosses. From about age 13 on, the only makeup I felt absolutely necessary was face product to even everything out. I mean, I had a few pieces here and there (had one of those 90s browns, ordered it from Avon), but I didn’t wear much.
Got turned on to cream shadows in college, and wore those for years until I learned about eyeshadow primers, and the rest is history, haha.
anita22 says
Revlon Street Wear (does anyone remember this??), Skinlights and Colorstay foundation
Covergirl Lipslicks and pressed powder
Annabella Freeman says
Covergirl, Maybelline, and Revlon and then when I was a senior in high school my dad bought be stuff from Clinique and felt so grown up!
It’s funny over the years I’ve gone through different brands but the one brand that always finds it’s way back into my makeup box is Clinique.
Anneli says
Awww, you look so sweet in those high school pictures. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
High school makes me think of IsaDora black eye pencil, which I wore every day on the waterline. I also had a blue one, but I didn’t wear it as much. I never wore foundation nor concealer, my most expensive make-up items were my Make Up Store lipstick (a hot pink color which I wore a lot in the summer) and Make Up Store eyeshadows (one purple and one hot pink). I had a IsaDora eyeshadow quad with yellow, powder blue, lime green and bright pink shimmer shadows which I LOVED and wore a lot, I wore all the colors and applied them with the sponge tip applicator that came with. The horror. :p
I also went through a kind of goth phase where I wore a really dark plum lipstick until I finally found a reasonably priced black one from Viva La Diva. To this day I remember the look of complete and utter shock on my boyfriend’s face when he saw me wearing black lipstck, nail polish and a choker with spikes. :p
Karen says
Thanks, Anneli. 🙂
Melissa says
This might have been more of middle school for me, but those lipbalms that were sort of like the Rouge Automatiques with the slider. My favorite was a yellow one with a silver cap that would move when you slid the little lever. In high school I was all about clear brow gel, brown mascara, and purple eyeliner. It didn’t look *that* bad, but I definitely wouldn’t rock that look again.
Zoe says
I know exactly what you’re talking about — the bonnebell flip shade lipstick! I still have an old one from middle school.
Dominique says
None ! We were not supposed to wear any make-up in High School ! I just wore lipbalm at that time !
Kali says
Covergirl perfect point plus eyeliner in black onyx and a horrid American Eagle (yes, American Eagle) quad with a sparkly white shadow, and a light pink, hot pink and red eyeshadow. I only wore the white one. But all over the lid…horrendous! Lol
lmc1971 says
Hi Karen:
MAC was brand new on the scene in Toronto and had a handful of products I used…in particular Plum lipstick and Spice lipliner. Those are the 2 that really stick out in my mind. I also used some Lancome products, a lip gloss stick called Sucre (slim black case, I”m pretty sure they don’t make these anymore!) and the Artliner felt tip liquid liner.
I don’t remeber much else….twas a long time ago friends! LOL
Best, Lisa
Rads says
Frosty pink lipstick 😐 😐 :shudder:
Toni says
Oh high school! Well in middle school I started dipping into my mom’s make up even though she was an entire shade lighter than me, but then she took me to Merle Norman. So I have to say I completely lucked out. They color matched me for all my make up and I followed everything they said. And then, of course as I got into my teenage years I started getting into the Wet n Wild stuff and of course rocked the vampy and brown lips for quite a while…sigh… 🙂
Kari says
Um, every one of those items!!! Plus Revlon (I think) eyeshadow in Star Taupe…what a trip!
ra says
Have you ever thought you would become a make up addict, having only one blush 🙂
Black eye liner pencil always reminds me of my early days of make up…
Karen says
Hi Ra,
LOL, I liked makeup back then, but I wasn’t as nutty about it as now…funny how things change, huh? These days I can’t live without my blush! 🙂
Rachel says
I loved Clinique Different Lipstick in Mauve Crystal…my mom would pass down her half used ones and Cover Girl Lipslicks…I can still clearly recall the scent of both of them, even though I haven’t worn them for ages. I had major rules in high school about what makeup I was allowed to wear (clear and pale pinks only)…now, of course, I wear whatever I want, but still gravitate towards pinks and nudes for lips!
Marisa Payne says
I was a makeup addict even back then and I splurged on Hard Candy (when it was sold at Nordstroms and quads were $35 bucks a piece!). That with some Clinique pieces and tons of black liner. I was tight lining before there was even a name for it!
Rachael says
A lot of the “popular” girls were super tanned (tanorexics to be more exact), had ashy faces due to pressed powder on top of mounds of liquid. Bronze blush that looked more like dirt, and lot of black smudged eyeliner around their entire eyes. Thank goodness I was not like them, I’d have to get rid of every picture from high school
Chris25 says
I lived for Jane Cosmetics (the old version) and Bonne Bell LipSmackers. I think I owned up to 40 LipSmackers at one point! Wet n Wild 666, of course, I had to have, and CoverGirl French Vanilla e/s and liquid makeup.
I remember a company called Naturistics that sold lip gloss. I also used L.A Looks gel and blue hair dye.
Caitlin says
Aww, I actually miss some of the Jane products. They had pretty good blushes and eyeshadows. Do they still make it??
dani@callitbeauty says
I think the product that reminds me of HS the most is foundation. Namely, CoverGirl’s TRUblend foundation and L’oréal’s Infallible foundation.
jennifer says
jane cosmetics were a definite must, as well as bonne bell lip smackers and lip gloss. there was a cover girl lipstick and nailpolish i bought in the late 90s simply because of the ad- it was a golden color lipstick and polish, which looked horrible on super-pale cool-toned me, but i thought i looked just like the cover girls in the ad! oh dear.
Jaymie says
Ahhh! High school makeup!!! Well, I was pretty much a lip balm/ lipstick and mascara girl. I always had The Body Shop lip balm ( the ones in the pot), MAC Chelsea lipstick, and drugstore mascara. That was pretty much it. I think toward my senior year I discovered face powder. So I added MAC blot powder to my list.
Kelsey says
I didn’t wear much makeup in high school (it wasn’t until college that I really got into it), so I remember exactly the few things that I did own.
I had a Clinique 2 piece eyeshadow palette that my grandmother gave me (she got it as a GWP). It had a dark brown matte, and a pale pink frost. I also wore Corn Silk liquid foundation. On my lips I wore Bonne Bell Lip Smackers in Peach or Strawberry.
Kelsey says
P.S. During my Goth/Skater phase (which only lasted for one year in high school) I had a Wet & Wild 4 shade eyeshadow palette (matte navy blue, frosty pale blue, matte pale grey and matte white) and a Wet & Wild frosty pale blue lipstick. I thought that I looked so cool!
Marian says
Maybelline Eyebrow and eye liner. They were red pencils and came 2 in a package. Maybelline Ultra Big Ultra Lash. Yardley lipstick
Caitlin says
I used to use that Maybelline double pack too! All around the eyes, not my best look!
Mimi says
I’m pretty sure I had Clinique Clover! I probably got it from a gift with purchase my mom got for buying full size makeup. Along with hoards of terrible lipglosses, I would line my eyes all the way around with white eyeliner (don’t remember which) and then press a dark blue, purple, or green into it… they were from Bath and Body Works back when they had a makeup line. I loved how it made my eyes stand out! I’m sure I looked scary though, I didn’t wear mascara back then so the look could be improved upon if I tried it again!
Katherine G says
You looked beautiful in your high school pics! I remember the “popular” girls always were tan and had perfect makeup (or perfectly piled on, anyhow), while the punk/goth kids had artfully applied pale foundation and smokey eyes (even some of the guys). I used a lot of Revlon, Cover Girl, or Maybelline if I bought my own makeup, but a lot of my makeup came from gift sets or kits. I remember I got a free bag of makeup when I subscribed to 17 magazine. I’m glad I’ve discovered Sephora and Ulta today, and that drugstore makeup is loads better!
Karen says
Hi Katherine G,
Thank you. 🙂 Ahh, youth. I miss the days when I could skip concealer, le sigh.
AMEN to drugstore makeup getting better and better. What I’m really happy about is the wider shade selection. It wasn’t easy back in the day.
Did you ever go to the drugstore after school and look at makeup? That was my favorite thing to do.
Katherine G says
Yes! I used to love doing that. I still do! I was at Target today and walked out with more stuff than just my prescription. I did buy the Sonia Kashuk brush cleaner, tried to keep it to practical things today though I was sorely tempted by eyeshadow palettes from Maybelline haha.
Jenny says
Let’s see, Revlon’s Toast of NY was a staple for me, and jordana/WnW liners (black), and maybelline mascara. And unfortunately, also this really crummy Maybelline quad called Seashore Frost (I think).
Karen says
Hi Jenny,
I wore Revlon Toast of NY too! I went through so many tubes… I can’t believe I forgot that one!
Diana says
OMG! I LOVED Toast of New York back in 92-93. I would never wear that color now. It is not attractive in photos! Lol!
Taffy says
When I was in high school in the…ahem..middle 1980’s (in Montreal) for some reason most of the girls were really into dark brown lipliner. Thye were so into it, the vast majority wore ONLY dark brown lipliner. No lipstick, gloss or balm. It was really hideous with those thick brown lines and bare, dried out, chapped lips in the middle. Nobody even bothered to fill in their lips with the pencil…ever. Personally, I laid the eyeliner a little too thick. I opted for more of a Siousxie Sioux look with batwings so long they went up into my scalp. I can’t recall the brand I used…I got it from some “alternative” boutique but I always wore a Wet ‘n’ Wild nail polish that was a navy blue shimmer. I bet they still make it…
steph b says
Revlon Frosted Brownie lipstick, electric blue eyeliner, and horribly applied concealer and foundation
I wore only the electric blue eyeliner but the others were staples for most girls.
Louise @ A Little Beauty Luxury says
Love this! I too mainly used Clinique in high school- in fact I remember my first ever foundation I owned was a compact that my mom bought me from Clinique in 8th grade.
When I think of high school though, I think of Urban Decay’s Half Baked Eyeshadow. I was so proud to own that & wore it almost every day of my senior year from what I remember 🙂
xx Louise
christine says
Dubonnet lipstick by MAC!
Jane says
Oh dear. I will give away my age, but blue eye shadow, like another poster. I didn’t wear the light blue. I had a navy eye shadow that was gorgeous. Oh, and pale frosted lipstick, like twiggy.
musical says
Lovely pictures, Karen! I will confess, I started wearing makeup rather late in life (mid 20s-and that too just some lip color, on occasion. And yes, we shall not discuss my numerous trysts with Mom’s makeup, when I was a kid :-D. ) The only makeup I ever wore in high school days, growing up in India was kajal, which is typically worn on the waterline.
jen. says
Hmmm…. I didn’t care about makeup too very much in HS. I did like Jane makeup, and I remember having a lot of their eyeliners in almost every color, though I usually alternated between goldish- brown and purple. I definitely didn’t wear lipstick/ lipgloss then, but I always had my trusty Dr Pepper lipsmackers (or carmex).
It’s fun reading through the comments on this post!
Rebecca says
Clinique Sugar Bean lipstick! It was the perfect Alyssa Milano 90’s brown, and it was a big deal to wear high-dollar makeup! Cover Girl Cheekers in Soft Sable, brown Cover Girl eyeshadow, and Almay mascara. Lots of Cover Girl concealer to cover up my “horrible” skin – an occasional pimple, which I would trade in a second for the congested, cystic mess on my face now that I’m 35. My clever mother, instead of forbidding makeup, steered me toward neutral colors so I wouldn’t look too much of a fright. I remember a lot of the girls in my high school wearing terrible fuschia blusher in a bright stripe on their cheeks, and clumpy spider-leg mascara. Eeek!! Thanks Mom!
MelodyJ says
Pretty high school pictures. I wish mine looked as good. I like your brows back then and now. I didn’t where makeup to school. I did wear medium pink lipstick to church. Whatever brand I could get.
DalaLuz says
Blue mascara. And at least 5 colors from an eyeshadow palette with 25 different colors from a brand called Theater that no longer exists. 😀 A Max Factor face powder that was 3 tints too tanned. Oh yes, I looked Awesome 😉 And scented lip polish in cute little tins that I kept with my pencils, although they were more for sniffing then using.
April says
I wore Maybelline Kissin’ Coolers and Naturistics Kiwi lipgloss. I miss the kiwi!
Jamie says
I wore Clinique and Merle Norman because of my mom. I also used to rock some Prescriptives and other random drugstore lipsticks….
CynthiaCCC says
Kissin coolers and Covergirl lipslicks, some kind of powder that came in a purple compact, blue mascara, Shimmering Shell lipstick (frosty mess!). My mom always had Estee Lauder everything, so occasionally she would pass something from a GWP on to me, but I didn’t discover Clinique until college.
Melody says
I only graduated hs four years ago, but….tons of black BLACK eyeliner for my perpetual cat eye, MAC blue brown pigment, Urban Decay Shotgun eyeshadow, Prescriptives custom foundation (because I’m white as a sheet), and it’s not a makeup item but Victoria’s Secret Body Splash in Vanilla Lace. I’ve worn Vanilla Lace since I was 14 :)….ah to be 14 and clueless. I just realized I don’t have a blush that reminds me of hs because I didn’t wear any! I didn’t see the point. Lol I can hardly imagine not having blush now.
Lynn says
wet n wild #557 lipstick (a pink/purple fusion) , maybelline black eyeliner in that short red pencil, (had to burn it with a lighter to get it on), and kissin coolers…
Daya says
Cover Girl Foundation and powder, Maybelline mascara. I can’t remember whose eyeshadow I used..it was probably Cover Girl though!