As a “tweenager,” the glossy pictures of Seventeen magazine, movies like “She’s All That” and clothing catalogues like Alloy and Delias were my guides to what as cool in 1999. Well, that and whatever my older sister said was cool. If you’re around my age, you might remember these trends fondly, like me, or look back on them in horror, like me also. Here is a list to look back and cringe upon.
Lip Smackers
Bonne bell’s Lip Smackers were essential for any preteen. My favorites were the jumbo-sized versions with glitter specks. Glitter aside, the biggest selling point for these balms were the crazy flavors. We’re talking Kool Aid, Dr. Pepper, Starburst, Cotton Candy and even birthstone inspired flavors. For those of us who were too young to wear lipstick, Lip Smackers were our go-to beauty tool that stayed with us wherever we went.
Glow-in-the-Dark Nail Polish
I wish so badly that I could remember the exact brand I first used as a kid. The idea of playing Bloody Mary in a dark bathroom with luminescent hands seemed like just about the coolest thing in the world. Enchanting as this polish was, it had a horrible chalky texture that felt awful when it rubbed against anything.
Glitter gel for eyes
With the millennium approaching, all tween girls looked to the future and imagined what dazzling opportunities awaited us in the year 2000. In preparation, we wore celebratory glitter. Glitter is still popular, so long as it’s worn in extreme moderation, but the type I, and so many others, used to wear was anything but user-friendly. The gel would separate the glitter pieces so that you ended up with a lot of goop and no sparkles. The gel would take hours to dry and sadly you never looked like the pop stars you aspired to be.
Butterfly Hair Clips
If there was one hair accessory you owned in 1999 besides elastics, it was butterfly hair clips. They came in all different colors and were essentially mini decorative claw clips. They were mainly great at sectioning off tiny pieces of your hair, as awful as that sounds, but what’s worse is that most people wore them alongside mini buns. This particular look was cute and playful on a child, but lets not pretend we never saw full-grown women sporting this look too.
Plastic Tattoo Chokers
Wearing these drove me nuts. As soon as I would put one on, I was itching to get out of it. It didn’t matter that these looked nothing like tattoos, they were a HUGE trend. These might have been more popular than puka shells necklaces, multi-colored rubber bracelets and toe rings. Though these might have been the quintessential jewelry of choice for tweens of the late 90’s, my favorites were BFF bracelets and mood rings.
Post a Comment