The ’90s Are Back… Beauty Then and Now

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I was scrolling through the New Arrivals of beauty at Nordstrom and see… hey I know that bottle of perfume. I know it very well, I wore the heck out of it… several decades ago. Estee Lauder's ‘Pleasures' was an Alison mainstay in the '90s and early '00s. Created in 1995, ‘Pleasures' was a scent to represent flowers after a rain and I wore it until I replaced it with Burberry ‘London' in the late oughts.

‘Pleasures' is clearly not a new fragrance, but I have seen with the return of '90s fashion trends there has also been a return of some '90s beauty trends.

90s makeup that is back nostalgic

'90s Beauty is Back: Nostalgic Beauty Products to Use Now

What do you think of the return of '90s trends, and along with it, some of the beauty products we used back then? Do you plan revisiting? Are there any products you used in the '90s that you still use today?

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26 Comments

  1. I loooove benefit high beam and benetint. I’ve been using both for like 10 years and no matter how much makeup I get I keep coming back. High beam is the perfect pinky gold color for me, and no other highlighters ever look as natural or as pretty. I also really like their super red stain. It’s perfect for under masks and also thins out easily and wears well. Kinda mad that they made the benetint and high beam a doe-tipped applicator instead of the brush but…whatever.

  2. I had not heard about Clinique Black Honey until this post but added it to my recent Sephora order because it sounded like something I might like. I love it so much I placed another order and got two more. It’s hydrating and perfect for just wearing around the house, which is mostly my life right now. Thanks for the recommendation!

  3. Caboodles! I’m looking at mine right now. Blue, green, and fuchsia – and I still love it. I’ve always used it as a sewing kit. Almost certainly from the 80s. I see that the new ones have mirrors, and I’m pretty excited.

  4. Fun post! I’m a little older so I was into Jean Nate (sp?) – until I dropped it in the bathroom and it sprayed all over! A little too much of a good thing. Also thought Yardley of London products were cool and wanted to be like the women in their commercials. Sort of Jean Shrimpton.

  5. 1983 here. I remember the year I decided my birthday present was going to be a Caboodle and I picked out a purple one at Big Lots. Then I used my label maker and put my name in the groove under the handle.

    And you know what?

    I still have that sucker and pull it out EVERY DAY to do my makeup. I only grab a few items these days: brow pencil, eyeliner, mascara, blush. But I love storing all of my treasured makeup inside the compartments. I hate when it gets difficult to close and I have to make decisions!

    Oh. And my color was Rum Raisin. 🙂

  6. I could smell Pleasures as soon as I read this. I loved it and wore it for a long time. I was a brown lipstick wearer too. It started with a bronze shade in 1986. Great memories here!

  7. I have a collection of OLD Seventeen magazines from the 1940’s thru 1970’s. What strikes me when I look at them is how many things circle back around. Okay, NOT girdles and super pointy bras…but lots of things! Fun post.

  8. I love this post! I have been devoted to Black Honey since 1998, and I definitely tucked it away in a Caboodle once upon a time. I wore Pleasures to the prom, but never had the money for Benetint so I made do with the Sonia Kashuk version.

  9. So funny, I recently went looking for a cruelty free dupe for Black Honey as it was a FAV of mine for a long time. I found Fenty Slip Shine Sheer Shiny Lipstick (could the name be any longer??) in Goji Gang and it’s really good! Not sure if it’s an exact dupe but it’s really pretty and the formulation is great.

    I have had Caboodles for decades and still love them!

  10. Another member of team Black Honey. Have worn it for years, and still get compliments on my “great lipstick”!

  11. I remember having a Caboodle in the early 90s but it got purged somewhere along the way. And while I don’t remember wearing that Revlon lipstick, I do recall wearing a brown shade of lipstick in the later 90s. I didn’t discover Black Honey until about 10 years later and it was Ok. But I loved a Sephora lipstick that was very similar which of corse was discontinued shortly after I discovered it. Wish I had kept that Caboodle…

    1. Same! I am a very low maintenance makeup person and bought black honey as my signature a few years ago. I grew up using Clinique products (my mom always did) and I still love them. And Stridex! Having a 14 and 12 year old in the house, I think I need to get these. The tea tree pads don’t seem to do squat (for this perimenopausal mom who gets a big old chin zit like clockwork every month, either)!

      It’s funny- I actually am wearing more make up than ever in the pandemic. Eye stuff, curling eyelashes, using concealer. I don’t know why. More time maybe?

  12. Black honey! I wore it for years and don’t know why I stopped.

    Your first sentence struck me — we used to STROLL through Nordstrom, now we SCROLL through.

    LOL.

  13. I love nostalgia items. I’m probably dating myself here but I still wear and own Coty’s Wild Musk fragrance. Anyone hear of that?

    1. I’ve heard of that Marie! I remember seeing it in Seventeen magazine and even though I did not have Coty’s, I did have Jovan Musk. And as long as we’re dating ourselves, I’m a Calvin Klein Obsession girl myself, lol.

  14. The best graduation gift I received was a black and white Caboodle. That thing sat in my dorm vanity for years then went along for the ride when I got married. And I have used Black Honey since the first time I tried it, n and off for better than 25 years. While I no longer wear perfume regularly (migraines) when I do I still reach for Angel in the glass star shaped bottle.

    1. Perfume gives me migraines and nausea too. Is there any formula or scent that works for you? I can tolerate citrusy more than floral. But anything and God forbid, scented lotion, make me immediately sick.

  15. I still have a caboodle, a hand-me-down (up?) from my daughter. It serves well for a tool box for the limited amount of tools a single woman needs. It’s neon colors, but who cares, as it sits in a closet when not in use. Just goes to show that everything old is new again.

  16. This really makes me want to try Black Honey. I had a brown lip balm from Jane (remember them?) that acheived a similar look!

  17. Here is where I will freely admit that I never stopped wearing the Clinique Black Honey almost lipstick. I started wearing it in the 90s and am never without it. I wore the Revlon lipstick and stored it in a teal Cabbodle, next to my Stridex pads, but gave all those up long ago. The Cabbodle became a storage garage for my son’s Matchbox cars when he was little. I loved your description of your college outfits. It took me back to that same time. I was at Nordstrom’s shoe department the other day and a teenage girl was trying on her first Doc Marten’s. I smiled inside my mask remembering that time in my life. Thanks for this fun post.

  18. My younger sister had a caboodle (she had a ton of makeup and hair stuff). I am thinking about getting one now. I’m pretty sure I had that Revlon lipstick in grad school in the mid-90s and loved it.
    Going back a stretch further, to my jr high years in the 80s, I wonder if they still make Love’s Baby Soft. I wore the hell out of that to some 8th grade dances.

  19. OMG

    This takes me back. I had everything but the benefit highlighter.

    And I swapped out Pleasures for Burberry too.

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