The first piece of make-up I ever purchased with my pocket money was a Constance Carroll lipstick from the Moor Market in Sheffield. I was probably about eleven and I felt super grown up spending my pocket money on what was a hideously unflattering brick shade of lippy.
If my memory serves me correctly my prized possession cost me around 50p leaving me enough money to buy a bottle of Satsuma Bubbles from The Body Shop (my weekly allowance didn’t stretch to a bottle of Dewberry perfume) and a chip butty from Orchard Square. If anyone grew up in Sheffield during the eighties and nineties, I’m sure you spent some time in the food hall in Orchard Square. Do you remember the crocodile?! Whose idea was it to put a faux reptile in a restaurant?!
I think I was about thirteen before I started wearing a full face of badly applied make-up. By this time I, along with every girl in the third year at secondary school had progressed on to Rimmels’s Heather Shimmer lipstick. A delightful mauve shade with an iridescent finish. My sister was two years above me and in the fifth year they favoured the very pale Earth Star with a contrasting outline of the pout with Rimmel Black Cherries Lip Liner. Oh my, those were the days.
I was delighted to discover Heather Shimmer is still available to buy and even though the Jenner girls may embrace the nineties it’s one shade I’m happy to leave back in the past along with my mini rucksack.
While I have a limited make-up collection, Yes I’ve Kondo’d my cosmetics too, I have an impressive stash of lipsticks. A new bullet is my poison and I embrace most shades and finishes, the bolder the better. Sadly I no longer partake in a bit of Constance Carroll cosmetic purchasing and my tastes have become slightly more expensive.
I was gutted when I mentioned this feature to the ladies in my office and they informed me Rimmel had done a whole Facebook campaign about their nineties lippies. There was me thinking I’d come up with a totally unique idea for a post. Anyway let’s get nostalgic – what was your first lipstick? When did you start painting your face and how has your make-up style evolved along the way?
LOVE this. I think my first lipstick was more of a tinted lip balm. That sickly sweet pink shimmery number from Natural Collection that everyone seemed to have in a dusky pink packaging. I can’t even remember what it was called but I loved it. And the Heather Shimmer took over. We must have all been matching. Oh, and how good were Satsuma bubbles?!! The best xxx
Oh Lottie, the Natural Collection Lip Balm was amazing. I’d love that now! Though slightly confusing when Body Shop brought out their perfume sticks – sometimes ended up with Ananya perfume on the lips accidentally instead of the tinted balm 😉 x
My goodness I really need to get on the makeup bandwagon…. I’m now 37 and still rarely wear makeup (terribly embarrassed emoji). Never did as a teen, don’t have time in the mornings with 3 kids to round up for school (although I do have time to RMS browse ?). I do wear makeup to ‘events’… Basically weddings, and I do recall spending a lot of my pocket money in the body shop in my youth – that dewberry scent still takes me back!
Ahh Dewberry Nicola, and do you remember white musk too? I used to spend hours and hours in Body Shop!
Ahh White musk!! I think that was ‘my’ scent, my older sister wore Dewberry, but I was always jealous as Dewberry smelled more grown up (grabbing coat and heading to Body Shop straight after school run for a smelling session)
Oh wow how nostalgic! Those perfume sticks ? how funny that we were all wearing the same shade of lippy! I also used to favour those dark reddy-brown ones you got free from Shout magazine-the collection 2000 ones?x
Ha Shout magazine! Classic! That was such an ace magazine. My sister used to read Mizz and my mum told me I was too young to read it 🙁 I had to stick to Shout, Bliss and Sugar instead.
What about Just 17?! Bliss and sugar were amazing. Torso of the week anyone?
What a blast from the past! My first lipstick was an orange shade of Constance Carroll from Hereford Butter Market. Looked dreadful against my Asian skin. And who could forget Charlie body’s pray. I’ve moved onto Mac make up since thank goodness!
Body spray *
Oh Charlie body spray! And all those flavours from Impulse!
Coffee shimmer all the way in our house! We did dabble with Earth Star and Heather Shimmer too. Other faves were orange Barry M foundation, pot of bronze and a spray of Exclamation!
Make a statement without saying a word ?
Ohh Exclamation Eau! We all had one in our school bag…and a bottle of natural collection detangler spray for the girls with spiral perms!
I used to have an Avon lipstick called buttered rum. I’ve just check and they still do it now! xx
The name makes me want to eat it Lornie! X
My first lippy was a Rimmel classic ‘Birthday Suit’ which I’ve literally just googled and they still make it! However it doesn’t look the same as I remember – it was paler and on the browner shade of the spectrum whereas it doesn’t look quite so tragic any more. Lauren you’ve made me all nostalgic for my school days and for glitter hair spray!!
Happy days Lolly x
bring back glitter spray and hair mascara! x
Hair mascara!!!!
YES!!! Loved glitter hairspray & hair mascara!
Is it wrong that I still love colouring my hair bright colours, only now I use hair chalks!?!! haha! x
Another heather shimmer fan here. What must we have looked like?! X
Like carbon copies of each other it seems! And we thought we were so flipping original 🙂
Oh this is hilarious.
Heather Shimmer!! As IF you can still get it?
I was a Boots 17 girl to the core. I started off with Clearly Candy (because I wanted to be Wendy James from Transvision Vamp), then Clearly Carnation (more sophisticated), before storming into the 90’s with Mulled Wine and a smokey eye palate.
My pal actually rediscovered one of their old ads the other week: https://youtu.be/-Yqi4_18JEk – So worth a watch, pure 90’s nostalgia, hot boys with no tops on and arguably the best advert ever made.
“It’s not make-up, it’s ammunition.”
You’ve made my day girls xx
LOVE that ad Karen. So good x
Don’t joke Karen, Heather Shimmer is very hard to get hold of – look at my pic in the header above – all I got hold of was a bashed up one!
The number 17 ad is hysterical. It probably wouldn’t be allowed these days. Do you remember the ‘buns of steel’ one that must have followed it?!
Love we’ve made your day. Big love x
You know I’m going to spend all night hunting down ‘buns of steel’ right? ?xxx
Lauren the Crocodile in Orchard Square was most definitely real!!! (Or so says my 7 year old self) ?! Xx
This pic Joelle – http://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;s24049&pos=2&action=zoom so disturbing!
Oh my!!! That is certainly not how I remember the croc! You are right very disturbing. X
Ahhh the Orchard Square crocodile – I loved that place, especially at Christmas! I was gutted when TK Maxx opened and all the gaudiness had gone!
I read Shout magazine and remember my mum getting really concerned that I was reading magazines meant for older girls – she even had a conversation with a newsagent once which I remember was SO embarrassing. I didn’t get much into make-up until I was older but I loved my blue and gold hair mascaras – think they were about 50p from Mark One on the Moor. I’d love to go back to the late 90s and laugh at all the kids & teenagers – nowadays I think they bypass the awful make-up stage and it’s frankly not fair!!
Ha ha Katie – Mark One! So much polyester in there. I LOVED it!
Ermmm I bought my first lipstick last week (aged 31)
Twas a mac lip pencil things…”just my type ” I adore it (as do my 2 daughters who now think Mummy IS a princess )
I feel I need to get to my nearest counter and swatch away.
And yes I do remember Heather shimmer from year 9 to 10…what were we thinking !!
Love your two littles think you’re a princess. So sweet x
I can’t believe you mentioned the crocodile – I was literally telling my hubby about it yesterday! Happy days 🙂
I think Heather Shimmer was my first lippy too. I started wearing make up at about 12 years old (foundation and mascara) – foundation to cover up my cheeks which were always rosy red and mascara ever since someone asked my why I didn’t have any eyelashes (naturally blonde, my eyelashes used to be very pale too). I don’t like the thought of 12 year old wearing make up now but I felt grown up at the time. I wear less make up now than when I was at school!
My niece is ten Lucy and it terrifies me when she wears make-up as she looks about 19. There was no telling us though when we were young.
Such a coincidence you were telling your husband about the croc! x
Mine was Rimmel’s Black Cherry – I was a bit of a teenage goth and I remember it being recommended by the band Kenickie!
I also got a free Heather Shimmer Lippy when I started sixth form in my Welcome Pack (in 2000!)
A welcome pack with Heather Shimmer?! This is amazing! Though perhaps a little late in 2000 😉 It was all about the lip gloss then wasn’t it? x
Crying (or rather dying) with laughter at the thought of that God damm horrendous earth star lipstick and contrasting lipliner. My English teacher named me the Loreal girl as he claimed he had never seen so much makeup on one person. Dear me. I also remember very well that our form room stank to high heaven of CK one and our tutor told us we smelt like ‘dogs on heat!!!’ Oh and let’s not forget Sun In. Orange highlights anyone??!! X
Sun In! I bloody loved it! Even though me and my first boyfriend had the same colour hair thanks to the stuff 😉
You suited Earth Star! x
I loved sun in! Used it every summer, sometimes attempting to accelerate it with the hairdryer! xx
Lest we forget Coffee Shimmer…!
I’m sure there was another one that came with the magazines – Frosted 61 sticks in my head…anyone remember that one?
My first mascara definitely came from Shout magazine….!
Frosted 61 sounds like a beaut of a colour Ellie! All these freebies that came with Shout magazine…
It was our Friday night treat to go and see the crocodile! Loved it, my grandad loved it that much he once took a video of it! The chips were great. I used to have lipstick envy of my friends who used to own a collection of miss selfridge matt lipsticks but I had the ever faithful heather shimmer!
The chips WERE great Samantha. Feeling very nostalgic! x
Loved all of those magazines! I had a natural collection one – fig or plum something, I felt uber sophisticated. My mum started wearing coffee shimmer in the eighties and still wears it now! I bought myself a stick with the whole nineties resurgence in fashion and it looks great!
Hi Claire, I bought the heather shimmer above to snap for the post but haven’t applied it yet. Perhaps I should give it a whirl this weekend x