The other day, I was thinking of the pretty tragic beauty mistakes that I made whilst growing up. I thought it might be a nice nostalgic post to think of those things, and say a little thank you that we learnt the error of our ways haha.
1. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse:
Did you really grow up in the 00s, if you didn’t use this foundation? It was the foundation that basically every girl in school wore. It was in a little pot and was the cakiest thing ever. None of us had learnt the art of choosing a foundation colour that matched your skin, so most of us walked round looking very cakey and orange. The advert would show a golf ball (what was that all about?) being covered in foundation and looking super smooth, however, sadly you never looked like the new and improved golf ball after using this foundation. It was a very sad day when I left my pot in the girls bathroom at school, and it was lost forever. Though, I also think it was a blessing in disguise, and someone was clearly looking out for me.
2. Glitter, Glitter and Glitter:
Don’t get me wrong, I do love a bit of glitter now and then, especially at Christmas time, however in the early 00s, it was all about applying as much glitter to yourself as humanely possible. I would use roll on glitter all over my body, then I’d use glitter hairspray and then usually add some to my face too, glitter was the ultimate accessory. In fact, if you didn’t go to the school disco without being covered in glitter, you would have been laughed out the door. It would take about two weeks for all the glitter to be washed away, but oh so worth it.
3. Hair Crimping :
Hair crimping was a pretty big thing back in the late 90s/early 00s, and I had those Babyliss yellow and white crimpers that took about 3 hours to warm up. Because I had super long thick hair, it would take my mum about 6 years to crimp my hair, and then I was horrified to see that I looked more like Dougal from The Magic Roundabout than Lisa Scott Lee from Steps. Needless to say, I realised pretty quickly that crimping was not for me.
4. Coloured Hair Extensions:
Whilst we’re talking about hair, let’s talk about another Babyliss hair tool that I was obsessed with. It was a colour hair extension kit, and the first day of any school holiday was spent with me gluing in coloured strands to my hair, cause it made me feel edgy AF. Gluing in plastic hair extensions was not a great thing for my hair, but thank god, no lasting damage was done. It was a terrible look and I am so glad that I have no pictures to evident this tragic time in my life.
5. Tooth Gems:
I’m not sure who thought that gluing a fake diamond to your teeth was a good idea, but 13 year old me went wild for the idea. Another half term tradition was going to a beauty salon, to get a very classy diamond glued to my second front tooth. I paid £5 and would literally feel the bees knees with one. I always went for a clear diamond cause I’ve always been a woman with class, and the day when it fell off, or I accidentally swallowed it, was a very sad day indeed.
6. Blue Eyeshadow:
I used to be obsessed with blue eyeshadow. I think I once read that blue eyeshadow complimented brown eyes, so I ran with that. I would save my money up from my Saturday job to buy blue MAC and Urban Decay eyeshadow (what a waste.) I’d then apply about an inch thick line of the blue under my lower lash line and thought I looked so cool. It was a terrible look, and looking back on photos has sworn me off blue eyeshadow for life.
7. Johnson’s Gradual Tan:
When fake tan was introduced, it was like this new invention that was so cool. Johnson’s released a gradual tan called Holiday Skin and it was supposed to give you a gradual tan, however, instead it just made you orange. It smelt really bad and would usually go streaky. I’m pretty sure I still have some left around my ankles haha. One time, I used too much and some chavs chased me round town shouting ‘ORANGE LEGS!’ It was a very traumatic incident as I am sure you can imagine, and my Mum banned me from using fake tan, which I think was a bit harsh considering I was the victim here. I’d like to say that I learnt my lesson, but I’m still pretty orange these days, so y’know.
8. Lots and Lots of Eyeliner:
During my Myspace days, it was all about eyeliner and the more the better. You wanted to line your whole eye, top and bottom and everyone would talk about Benefit Bad Gal eyeliner like it was the Holy Grail of eyeliners. However, I could never justify the price to buy a full size one. Though, I remember the excitement when Glamour had Benefit freebies and I went round every local newsagent so I could find the coveted Bad Gal eyeliner, which sadly wasn’t as good as I hoped and all that eyeliner just made me look really tired.
9. Nail Piercing:
Kim Kardashian tried to bring this back, a few weeks ago, but for me, nail piercing should never be brought back. Another school holiday treat, and one summer holidays, I thought I was as cool as cool could be when I bought a nail piercing kit from Argos. I wore nail piercings all summer, and thought it made up for the fact that I wasn’t old enough to get my bellybutton pierced yet (though that happened the next summer!) However, the thought of those dangly nail gems and the feeling of when it got caught on something, still makes me feel a little sick.
10. Being Too Full On With Blusher:
I’m not sure why but my later teen years were spent with me wearing a lot of blusher. And I mean a lot. I have no idea where this trend came from, but it was still around when I started blogging, and some of my earliest blogging event photos, show all us beauty bloggers with cheeks just full of blusher haha. Do you remember when everyone went mad for those Sleek blushers? I think I waited about 6 months for the shade Rose Gold to come into stock again. I think I’ve blushed myself out though, as these days, I won’t even touch blusher. Hey maybe in a few years, we’ll wonder why we wore so much highlighter.
11. Concealer Lips:
Why did we think using concealer as lipstick was a good idea? I used to use a Rimmel concealer called ‘Hide The Blemish’ and it was just horrific. I also used to use two Barry M shades ; 101 and 103, the 103 was a very pale pink that was just awful. A very honest friend of mine, told me I looked like I had frostbite on my lips. I should have listened to her. Why did we want to hide our lips so much? Its a trend that I am so glad has died a death.
So there we go, haha how funny are all those things though? I feel a bit sad for people growing up now who have access to really good make up advice and tutorials, they’re going straight into contouring and highlighting and missing out the dream matte stage. So sad.
What was your biggest beauty mistake growing up?
