I was chatting with my dear friends Hannah and Allison last week (HI HANNAH HI ALLISON) about the skin care regimes of our youth. How, I ask you, do we even have skin after the 80s? I don’t know what you were doing in 1988, but in addition to pinning my future on being a mayor of an undisclosed jurisdiction, I was also using a Buf Puf to apply St Ives Apricot Scrub to my face twice daily, and following that procedure with a bracing application of Sea Breeze. Hannah and I recalled also applying toothpaste and rubbing alcohol to our pimples, and all I can say is that I’m glad my skin has forgiven me my trespasses.
My skin care routine has evolved greatly since those days, but my love of makeup, and my basic makeup procedure remains the same. Since I started wearing makeup circa 1987, I have always maintained a dark eye and a dark lip, although I do not wear Revlon’s Love That Red anymore.
In my younger years I was made to feel a lot of shame about my love for makeup, vanity being a grave character flaw. But for me, makeup is actually self-care. I do not feel ready for my day without my makeup on, and I refuse to feel badly about that. I wear a full face of makeup every single day, no matter what I am doing, no matter who I am seeing or not seeing, and no matter where I am going or not going. It’s such an important part of my day. I cannot write unless I am showered, dressed, made up, and sitting at my desk. Basically I can’t function without that routine. And yes, I probably do think that song is about me, but it’s more than that, it makes me feel good about myself. I guess I work from the outside in.
Last month my friends Elisabeth and Sarah (HI ELISABETH HI SARAH) posted about their makeup routines; Elisabeth’s specifically is “3 Minute, Cheap, and Minimal.” I would say mine would be whatever the opposite of that is, although to be fair, it probably only takes about ten minutes. It’s not minimal, and it’s not particularly cheap, although I do use some drugstore products. The only time that I would say it is minimal and takes three minutes is post-exercise, pre-walking the dog, where I put on a mere four products: SPF moisturizer, pressed powder, mascara, and tinted lip balm.
My post-walk-and-shower face includes many more products:
First I put on undereye cream (currently Neutrogena Caffeine) and the Ordinary serum on my forehead.
Then comes Smashbox Primer and Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint with SPF 40, although between early morning walks and general winter cloudiness, my face hasn’t been really exposed to the sun since Morocco.
You can take the girl out of the 80s, but you can’t take the 80s out of the girl: this is too dewy for me to leave it on its own. Matte face is part of my deeply ingrained sense of self, and so I add L’Oreal pressed powder.
The eyes are what takes the most time, and I use an Annabelle liner in dark brown plus Maybelline’s The Falsies Surreal in black. Or meta black, or whatever ridiculous shade of black I happen to pick up.
Next up, L’Oreal blush and Maybelline Express Brow to smooth out the greying, patchy eyebrows.
And then to finish it off, I put on some lipstick, and I have many brands that I like, but Maybelline Ultimatte in Taupe is my favourite. Pictured is Clinique’s famous Black Honey.
You know those quizzes where you are asked what three things – products, books, food items – you would take with you if you were to be stranded on a desert island? I hate those quizzes, probably because I think way too hard about them. I get actually stressed, thinking what would I cut, the eyeliner or the lipstick? I can’t cut the SPF! I mean, the probability that I am going to be stranded on a desert island with my choice of three things is, as we say in statistical analysis, approaching zero, and even if I was, I would probably be desperately trying to survive rather than rereading three favourite books. If I’m going to be stranded on a desert island, I am going to be Mrs Howell, or I’m not doing it.
Weekly Reading
Speaking of my wayward youth, I decided this week would be Childhood Reread Week in the Boyhouse, and wow, was it fun. Here we go!
Eight Cousins and Rose In Bloom. From the author of my number-one childhood book, Little Women, these books were loved (as you can clearly see) by me. I decided this would be the week to revisit childhood favourites and I can see why I loved them so much: Rose is an heiress and an orphan who is brought up by her sea merchant uncle, and she has a whole passel of aunts and cousins as well. Her uncle has some pretty radical ideas about girls and women – namely, that they are not memerly ornaments but actual humans with brains and spirits and flaws, and should engage in outdoor exercise and shun corsets and other unhealthy things. Well, it was wildly radical back in the 1870s. Anyway, it was a fun reread, other than the very weird and unsettling plotline that all the aunts are proponents of Rose marrying one of her cousins to keep her fortune in the family. That part is not great. But the description of gowns and ballroom dances? Yes please.
Sweet Valley High Box Set Volumes 5-8. Wow, did I ever have a skewed idea of what high school would be like, when I read these in Grades 4 and 5. I mean, I basically NEVER went to the beach in my red Fiat Spider. Because I didn’t have one and also I lived in Calgary. There is a wild amount of death and near date rape in these books, and also a lot of bikinis. I recommend these as a hilarious reread, if only for the descriptions of the clothing and the references to Bo Derek. It’s well worth the 45 minutes it takes to read each book. First we have All Night Long, where Jessica narrowly escapes date rape after being at a party – that lasted ALL NIGHT LONG – with a college age boy, who sports a very sexy moustache. Worse luck, she misses her test to become a…tour guide of sorts? I don’t know. Elizabeth saves the day by doing the whole twin thing and pretending to be Jessica but a fight with Todd means she’s TOO UPSET to do well on the test. She makes up with Todd only to find out that…Dangerous Love: Todd has bought a motorcycle! And Elizabeth is NOT allowed on it, because her cousin (Rexy!!!) DIED in a motorcycle accident. But she’s scared to tell him. Finally she does and it’s okay, he’ll just give other girls rides. ON HIS MOTORBIKE, PEOPLE. But then he decides to sell it. Elizabeth goes for broke and decides she’s going to have one ride before the bike is gone, but, in a crazy twist of irony, they are hit by a drunk driver, and that drunk driver is the very person who was going to buy the motorcycle! And now Elizabeth’s in a coma. Is she going to make it? Dear Sister: Well, she wakes up but her personality is changed! Now she’s just like Jessica. She’s out-Jessica-ing Jessica and will have NOTHING to do with Todd. And she ends up almost being date-raped by Bruce Patman (1BRUCE1) but as he’s fetching them unlawful alcohol, she slips, falls, and hits her head – and she’s back to being Elizabeth! Escape from Bruce, Elizabeth! But as Elizabeth is being Jessica, Jessica is being Elizabeth, and winning over Bill, the surfer guy. Heart Breaker: But Jessica really doesn’t want anything to do with Bill, she’s just getting back at him for turning her down for a long-ago Sadie Hawkins dance. Jessica, like an elephant, never forgets. They are in the school play together and the worm turns when a Hollywood scout watches it and thinks that Bill is the next Robert Redford. Well! Jessica is now actually interested but too late, because Bill is going out with DeeDee the surfer girl. Unfortunately we will never know what happens next because I don’t have any more volumes. Will Lila really go out with Roger? Probably not; she’s rich and he works as a janitor so his family can pay the rent, and we do NOT cross socioeconomic lines in Sweet Valley.
Charlotte’s Web. I am finishing Childhood Reread Week with a classic – this isn’t my childhood copy, I don’t think I even had a copy, but I read it to my kids when they were little. And they don’t remember it at all except that the spider dies. But not before she saves the life of Wilbur the pig! No wonder I have an affinity for farm animals and spiders. Don’t squish them! They have a job to do, people!
I was informed that there is a podcast called Double Trouble which deep dives every single book and you can bet I will be listening to it along with Listen To Sassy, just to relive my youth. The good parts of my youth! Not the Sea Breeze and rubbing alcohol. Again, I am sending out gratitude to my face for still existing after all that agony. I hope you are all having a beautiful week, friends. xo
What a blast from the past. Gosh the Sweet Valley High books sound stressful! I am glad that young adults, teens and tweens have been books available to them. I feel like our options were quite limited compared to what is available today! And our books were so very white!!
I tried to read Charlotte’s Web to Paul a few years ago and he said he was bored. SOB. I want to try again. I loved that book so much!
You look great, Nicole! I have a very basic routine but my skin breaks out if I use foundation, even if it’s just a tinted moisturizer. So I get by with the bare minimum. And I don’t wear make up most weekends! But I am so very low maintenance! I never really learned how to put on make up and haven’t figured it out yet at almost 45. Yikes.
You are low maintenance and you also always look great, Lisa!
Oh YES the books were all white! It’s astonishing really. I’m glad we’ve come so far (yes, we have farther to go, but steps in the right direction!)
My high school boyfriend used Sea Breeze and for years whenever I’d smell it on a passerby I’d think of him.
I loved CW as a kid and read it to both of mine. Despite the fact that Charlotte announces her imminent death over and over, Noah was shocked when she died. When I read it to North she got impatient with me for crying at the end because “she’s alive for most of the book.”
Hahaha well I guess that is true, she is alive for most of the book. And then she has 514 babies so…
I’m also smiling at poor Noah. My kids don’t remember anything at all about it except that Charlotte died. They didn’t even remember the “Some Pig!”
Look at sixteen-year-old Nicole!!! What a beauty! And look at fifty-year-old Nicole!!! Also a beauty! I loved seeing the transformation from no makeup to fully made-up. And you’re beautiful with or without makeup. The makeup enhances your already gorgeous features. I used to love Mary Kay makeup. I went to lots of makeup parties in my twenties and learned various ways to use makeup, and it was so much fun. I even hosted a party! Wow, what an event for Ms Introvert here! I think part of my love for Mary Kay was the packaging – the gorgeous compacts full of makeup and brushes were so appealing! But then my skin got all sensitive and I sadly had to give up most of it. What I miss most is mascara. I have invisible eyelashes, so mascara helped a lot. But, my eyes burn and itch and I can’t tolerate it. And I think I’ve tried every brand. If anyone with sensitivities knows of a good one, I need to know!! I still insist on lipstick though. My favorite is L’Oreal Blushing Berry, which of course, is nearly impossible to find anymore. Sigh. It always seems like when I find something I like, it gets discontinued. Well, look at me going on at-length about makeup. I think makeup is a lovely way to care for yourself.
I liked Mary Kay back in the day too! They had some really great lip colours.
Argh, I totally get that – as soon as I get into a product it gets discontinued! Like I haven’t been able to find my favourite Maybelline lipstick lately. The Maybelline website says it’s still in existence, but why can’t I find it anywhere? I don’t know! I’m sorry you have trouble with eye sensitivity – that sucks, and I don’t really know any good brands for that. But lipstick always makes you look pulled together! There’s something about a good lip that really pops!
I fully agree with you Nicole, selfcare including makeup makes us feel good and presentable, right? I never wore much makeup but now I appreciate using tinted SPF, light foundation, eye brow, brush, and much needed lipstick to feel awake. Also, good diet and a lot sleep makes the best skincare regime.
You said it! So very true, Coco!
Present Day Nicole and 16 year old Nicole are both beautiful! I’m tempted to add that you would be beautiful even without makeup, but I know you don’t want to go there.
I’ve never worn makeup, but my daughter seems to feel that now would be the perfect time for me to start. I swear I look in the mirror at my OLD eyes and sometimes think “I could look better than this!” Meanwhile, my daughter has started wearing eye makeup and she looks SO PRETTY! I have to admit, it makes a difference, and she feels really good about herself.
Those Sweet Valley High books… I read some of them but I don’t remember these specific ones. Yes, for a light teen book there were some heavy subjects! I’ll bet they’re hilarious to reread.
Thank you so much Jenny! Have you really never worn makeup? Like ever? I think you look great as-is (although if you want to try it out it sounds like you have a built-in makeup artist at your disposal!)
My daughter and I read Charlotte’s Web this year too–definitely holds up. Now I’m definitely curious to reread Sweet Valley High because I definitely remember those too. I actually remember most reading the Sweet Valley Twins, which was the younger spin-off of the series. I think by the time I reached Sweet Valley High I’d lost interest in the series. I recently reread a book I remember loving as a tween/teen about vampires that was a pretty weird reread as an adult.
Some reads are very strange when you revisit them, and I’m not saying you SHOULD reread Sweet Valley High, but maybe you should? It’s a hoot for sure!
I was too old for Sweet Valley books, but now I’m wondering if I should reread some of my old Nancy Drew books and see if anything crazy was happening?
I’m with you on the makeup. I took makeup with me to the hospital when I gave birth! Now my routine is much simpler, with fewer products. I only do mascara and lipstick if I’m going out at night with my husband. I no longer do foundation, just apply a dot around my nose, which always looks red to me. Then it’s loose powder, bronzer as a blusher, and a neutral eyeshadow (changing to dark for date nights). If I’m not going anywhere, I don’t use eyeliner because I’ve had issues with my meibomian glands, so I try to keep the ducts as free as possible.
Bijoux! I too took makeup to the hospital when I was in labour!
I know I mentioned this before but can you believe I have NEVER worn eyeshadow???
16-year-old Nicole! I’d like to think you’d have been kind to me if I got transplanted into your high school and shown me all your St. Ives and Sea Breeze ways. lol That St. Ives was around when I got here in the 90s and I would always break out after using it and then be surprised every time and imagine next time would be different. Talk about an abusive relationship!
And OMG! I didn’t know anyone even read the Rose books… I wrote the entries on those two for the Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia when I was in grad school. I loved them when I was a kid and cousin marriage is still a thing in South India, so I didn’t blink an eye at Rose’s aunts!
Oh I WOULD. I would show you around and even play you my Depeche Mode cassette tapes!
So the funny thing is when I was a kid I never blinked an eye at the marriage plotpoint…and I had MANY male cousins, and none of them I ever once considered marriage material! So I don’t know what the disconnect was but it sure stood out now.
Also – OMG starstruck. You wrote the entries for the actual Encyclopedia??? What what what.
SO lovely, as always.
Thanks Sarah!
You are my #LifeGoals, Nicole. I definitely feel better when I’m wearing makeup and am dressed. A few days a week I skip mascara, but most days now I just PUT ON THE MAKEUP because it really does impact the function of my day.
Sweet Valley High was such an era! I haven’t read anything in that series since I was…12?? It would be a wild ride to revisit that series.
It’s a wild ride for sure!
I feel almost non-functional when I don’t wear makeup, which probably says something really negative about my personality, but HERE WE ARE!!
“It’s well worth the 45 minutes it takes to read each book!” NOTED!!! I wonder how long it took to write the books;-)
I had to stop wearing makeup in my late 30s due to eye sensitivity. I used to LOVE it so much, and only eye pain made me stop. I do enjoy my 2 minute morning routine, but life is a little less sparkly without makeup.
I am going to guess it took about a week to write each book! Maybe two? You need to read them, Birchie, they are just too funny.
There’s something about taking those extra few minutes in the morning that goes way beyond “looking good” and really sets the tone for the day. Even if you DON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE and only the dog is there to admire the effort!
You inspired me. My current routine is Nivea or sunscreen before a run, and that’s it unless I have an appointment. Which is such a shame!! I used to work for an airline and put real effort into lipstick, washed hair, the whole thing. Time to bring that energy back!
Oooh yes, Catrina! I mean, you could put on a smudge-proof mascara for your runs (okay, maybe that’s just me) (back when I used to run!)
I think my whole ethos of putting my face on (hopefully) indicates that I do it for me and not for anyone else – the dog doesn’t notice!
… so the Internet Archive’s library (if they own a copy of a book, one person can access the digital copy at a time) has some Sweet Valley High books, if you ever feel the need: https://archive.org/details/racinghearts0000will
I do not think it is necessary to feel the need to read any more of them, as I think you have a Good Sampling right there; also they probably do not have all 181 of the books (!!181!!).
I think you could probably get to 181 interesting short books following one kid through high school if you were recounting all their *actual* small-scale-but-everything-feels-big emotional twists and turns and “what is going on” things and friendship back-and-forth and the crush/flirtation/uncertainty wobbles and the choices and the dreams and the trying to figure out where to go to college and weird little expeditions/adventures with friends (bowling! making snowmen! being just teens hanging out on a playground in the off hours!) and all the stuff with progress in sports/classes/arts/whatever that feels important to the characters, but it’d have to a be whoooole lot more character-driven and less “we have a disaster or near-disaster every episode, tune in for the increasingly-statistically-unlikely survival of these twins!”
Anyway! The Makeup Progression photos are fascinating. I do sometimes wonder, with long lineups of products, what each one is actually *doing* and that set of photos shows, pretty clearly, what each step is accomplishing in the final result. Makeup is complicated for me and I have not messed with it for ages, but I enjoyed what I could do as a teen and then occasionally going all out for fancy occasions. But I have red hair and need custom mascara now that the copper mascara available when I was a teen is no longer extant (I eventually figured out a solution to match my hair color, but it involves mixing up a tiny batch each time), and I have skin pastier than nearly all available foundations *and* freckles I like and don’t want to cover up, and I tend to forget I’m wearing makeup and rub my eyes or whatever, so… ehhhh. Last time I wore makeup was while bridesmaiding over a decade ago, I think. But mascara, eyeshadow, bit of blush, lipstick, and then a swipe of mascara through the brows if they need a bit of help: it can be very fun! Just not part of my core identity, and also not very serviceable for me personally at this time.
But yes THE APRICOT SCRUB!!!! I can still smell that stuff…
KC!!! I actually might just click on that link. I have been listening to the Double Love podcast and I assure you that you need to do this as well. It is SO good. There are just so many dramatic events! So many crashes! So many parties! So many super-inappropriate relationships with teachers!
Apricot scrub, our poor faces!
Eight Cousins! Rose in Bloom! I had the exact same copy of Eight Cousins and I wish I could send you a picture of the cover of my copy of Rose in Bloom. I loved her relationship with bad boy Charlie – and what a sad end he met! That quote: “…she valued her liberty more than any love offered her, and she resented the authority he assumed …” Those two books, Little Women, and others by different authors, like Pippi Longstocking, Heidi, Nancy Drew, peopled my somewhat isolated childhood with brave, daring, exciting, independent and capable women. I think they were far ahead of their time. I love your eyelashes and thought they were all yours! Does it take a long time to learn how to put them on? I also don’t feel “dressed” without my face on; moisturizer, foundation, concealer under my eyes, eyeliner, pencilled eyebrows, light mascara and a Clinique lip stain, which is great because it doesn’t creep into the rapidly-developing crevasses above my upper lip! All through my middle age I assured myself that because I avoided smoking – mostly – I would be rewarded with a smooth upper lip in my old age. I’m here to tell you that is a lie. There are excellent reasons to avoid smoking, but that one is patently untrue.
Laurie, they WERE so far ahead of their time! Especially in Eight Cousins, where Uncle Alec encourages her to take off her tight belt and go for a run. And then Rose becomes a philanthropist! It was the first time I had ever heard of that term.
I am 100% with you – I do not feel dressed without my face on! Oooh do I need Clinique lip stain? I might need to look into it!
I love make up! Everything feels better when I’m wearing my make up. I admit I’m a Rouge level at Sephora, I blame it on hating two teenaged girls, and maybe I need to spend less money on my Sephora habit, but then again, why not! I can still remember the smell of Sea Breeze!!
ROUGE!!! OOH LA LA!!! I am only VIB but then, it’s all on me. And usually I buy mascara at Shoppers or Superstore! So mostly my Sephora purchases are Smashbox and Ilia, and also a TON of hair product!
I haven’t read a Sweet Valley High book since I was a tween. I wonder what I would even think?!?!
I basically only wear makeup if I’m going to see people who don’t know me. So if I’m going to the grocery store, I’ll put it on. But if I’m going to book club, hey, what do I care if those ladies see me without my foundation. I timed myself doing my makeup and it took me about three minutes to wash and moisture and six to put on makeup. So less than ten minutes? I mean, it’s not the people who slap on Chapstick and say it’s good to go, but it’s not incredibly onerous or anything!
I mean, the books are wild. There are so many more deaths via vehicle accidents and near-date rapes than I remembered. Also a LOT of body shaming! But there is also a “moustache glistening” from a dip in the water, so that was an excellent detail.
I don’t find my makeup routine to be particularly onerous, I would say it’s ten minutes or so – but that doesn’t include shower or anything.
“If I’m going to be stranded on a desert island, I am going to be Mrs Howell, or I’m not doing it.” Nicole! I laughed out loud for real! You and me both. If I get stranded, I’m going to need my entire closet, all my makeup, my hairdryer (and some kind of Gilligan’s Island electricity) and the majority of my books.
Oh I’m sure they could figure out electricity for our hair dryers, Gigi. I mean, they had a coconut radio! The professor could have figured something out for sure!
Nicole, you are so pretty! I hope I look like you when I grow up. I used to hate wearing makeup when I was 16, but now I’m 23 and once I made an effort to actually find products that worked for me, there’s no going back 😂🫢. I finally found a simple daily make up routine that I’m obsessed with, and they’re lightweight profucts so it looks like I have no make up at all!
If I get stranded on an island I would also be taking my moisturizer with SPF; they can pry it from cold dead hands. 😂
Oh what a sweet thing to say! Thank you so much Alondra!
Thank you for your rehash of the Sweet Valley plots—hilarious! I did not read them when I was younger. Some of my favourite reads were the Nancy Drew books, various Enid Blyton series and Cynthia Voight’s Tillerman series.
I am going to have to buy makeup when I am back in Melbourne. It’s been so long since I wore any, I had to throw out all of mine, and now I need to do something for E’s wedding.
Oooh, it’s kind of fun to buy new products! What do you think you’re going to buy? Mascara? Lipstick? Oooh!
I will need to buy everything, except maybe lipstick, because I have been wearing that occasionally. My daughter went out and bought herself some foundation and mascara as well. She said E will only get married once so she better make an effort.
Hahaha I like her attitude!
Love this! I so appreciate you just owning your makeup preference. I do feel like it’s maybe “trending” on the internet to push back against wearing makeup, or some people present a more bare face/super minimal routine as being the superior option right now. But I’m with you – I wear makeup every single day. I don’t feel I look overly “made up” and I think I choose quite natural looking makeup, but I would NOT feel good about myself if I wore zero makeup. Particularly eye makeup- I just feel like I look dead without something to perk up my eyes! And a little bronzer or blush makes a huge difference for me. I would wear my usual daily makeup even just to be home alone all day, honestly. That’s how I feel best/normal.
We are the same! I love eye makeup especially!
I was about 20 years too early for Sweet Valley books but now I know what I missed (and what my daughter was reading!). I laughed all the way through your summary – such drama! I love that you put makeup on to walk the dog. I use several of the same products but my routine isn’t as multi-faceted. But then I think of my skin care regimen as separates I always do toner, serum & moisturizer. Don’t put eyeliner, mascara & blush on to walk, run or play pickleball! And when I’m really getting fancy I wear eyeshadow (very subtle!).
Pat, there was so much drama in these books! And there’s something like 180 of them!
I love thinking of makeup as self care. I am not so vigilant as you are about wearing makeup always, but maybe I should be. I feel so much more confident when I have even a swipe of mascara on, you know? Why not gift myself that confidence more often? I know the checker at the grocery store doesn’t CARE if I wear mascara, but maybe I should?
Having very sensitive skin that gets all rashy if I even look at an exfoliant, I mainly escaped the horrors of eighties and nineties skincare. But! I did use good ol’ Noxzema, the thick white goop in the little blue jar, for years. It had such a medicinal smell! It kind of burned! I loved it so.
Oh Noxema! I forgot all about Noxema! Fun fact: Margaret Atwood used to keep hers in the freezer (or fridge?) and then apply to her face while studying. To get the brain tingling via face I guess?
Oh I remember the Buf Puf and apricot scrubs! Luckily, I had good skin as a teen and only got the occasional pimple, but I do remember dabbing on toothpaste! And sunscreen? Never heard of it until my later years. My beauty routines definitely include skin care now, although I vary between inexpensive and more expensive products (I really don’t find much difference), but I also admit to being lazy which is why I never wear mascara because it’s just such a damn pain to remove.
Oooh you are so lucky to have such good skin! I do agree mascara can be a pain to remove, even the washable kind!
I had that very same copy of Eight Cousins. Do you know I never read it? I read Little Women and Little Men, and I guess I decided that I had explored LMA’s ouevre thoroughly enough.
Thank goodness I had the sturdy, oily, rather olive skin of my Croatian forebears! I was constantly scrubbing, exfoliating, astringenting, and otherwise abusing it well into my twenties and thirties. Only in the last decade or so have I been assiduously moisturizing, much to my astonishment; I wrote about it here.
My makeup is moisturizer (!) and lots of mascara. I put mascara on every single day, even if I don’t leave the house. I do it for ME. And I’m always glad I do.
I love that you love mascara!
I am going to click on that link right this minute!
Little Men! Did you also read Jo’s Boys?
Yes, I did read Jo’s Boys, but it was much, much later in my life. When I was young, I thought LMA only wrote the books we had, and I was satisfied with those. Middle child, you know.
Middle child here too!!!
Nicole, isn’t it a wonder what we can do to our epidermis and still have it exist? I mean, this is a phenomenon! I used to use those Buff-Puffs in my early 20s, and my Mom would (gingerly, cause I hated all her advice) suggest I didn’t scrub until my face was bright red. What did she know? Well, she probably knew better, that’s what. Then the sea breeze. The apricot scrub. What was I trying to remove, exactly?
Lindsay currently has my childhood copy of Charlotte’s Web to read to our Grandson!
Ooooh that is SO sweet about Charlotte’s Web!
Exfoliate exfoliate exfoliate – don’t want to clog those pores! Poor pores. They’re just doing their job and we’re over here scrubbing at them!
I remember reading a few sweet valley high books when I was younger as well-they were always entertaining. I haven’t reread since then (middle school?).
I use a simple makeup routine most days and I’ll only skip it if I’m really not going anywhere or doing something like a long hike. Mine takes me about two minutes after the moisturizers but I’m very basic: foundation, powder, eyebrow color and mascara. If I’m being fancy for a concert or something I’ll use eyeliner, maybe shadow. Occasionally I use lipstick but I’ve never really gotten used to it so it looks weird to me.
Your routine sounds very efficient! Two minutes – wow!
I’ve often wondered how our faces never melted off the bone during the 80s-90s with the amount of chemicals everyone plastered on their faces. I never git into make-up in any big way (military brat and then, joining the military) mostly because of time constraints but mostly because my mother warned me not to be my older sister (who loved make-up a little to much).
I took to my mother’s routine and have only ever used Pear soap to clean and Nivea cream to replenish. A routine I’ve done for decades. It’s worked for me.
How did our faces survive the 80s-90s? It’s a mystery, honestly. Also how did my hair survive the perms/ teasing/ hairspray?
If I found a makeup routine that made me look like you – I mean, like me, but like you – I would be all over it. I don’t love the way I look without makeup, but I cannot, for the life of me, find anything that I can put all over my face that doesn’t look super-fake. It looks natural on other people! Why not me? And I agree completely about the matte face, particularly because I am oily (good for fewer wrinkles, hardly anything else).
I rarely leave the house without lip colour, but almost always leave without anything else.
I remember the toothpaste plus Sea Breeze! It left giant welts! Why was our routine basically sand-blasting our faces?
I’ve always thought your skin was great! And I love a lip colour – it just makes everything pop!
What a fun post! You look pretty! Makeup and vintage books, two of my favorite things! I, too, cannot go anywhere or do anything without showering and putting on makeup. Even during covid and when I had an office day at home. I don’t like myself without it. It’s a simple routine but I sometimes enjoy playing around with makeup if the mood strikes me. I love that you read your old books! I have many from my childhood that I cherish so much.
Thank you so much Judy! We sound so similar! I would love to see your vintage books – I have a copy of Busy Busy World that was a childhood favourite that I still love. I think it’s out of print now!
I’m enough older than you that you’ve probably never even heard of what my generation used……Noxema. Washed your face with it, and used when you got sunburned, because the cool cream felt good. You could even put it in the fridge to make it cooler on your skin. My skin care is soap and water. I wore make up for a short period of time and hated it. I didn’t like the way it felt. Made me feel like I needed to wash my face. Then for awhile I used lipstick. I don’t even do that anymore. I’m big on lipglass that’s about it. I think those books were around during the time my daughter was a teenager. They look familiar to me.
I do know Noxema! I remember using it on sunburns – also vinegar, strangely enough!
I remember that apricot scrub! And how it had ground up walnuts in it, which made it feel like you were scouring your skin off its bones.
I don’t wear make-up – it really kind of intimidates me and I’m afraid I’m going to end up looking like … not me, I guess? I have been known to put on lipstick on occasion for opening night parties, but I don’t anymore because I’m really just going for the food, so why bother with lipstick?
I remember reading Sweet Valley High books when I was in grade 6 or 7. There was one that I remember got passed around in Grade 6 that involved Jessica and a boy going to a beach and the boy untying her bikini top and the word “nipples” was used. Oh boy were the boys (and girls) excited to read that out loud to each other at recess.
NIPPLES OMG!!!!
There are a few scandalous references to “touching her breast” that I am sure felt wild when I read it back in 1985.
I love that picture of sixteen year old you- so much confidence and just beautiful. Love.
Seabreeze reminds me of my childhood best friend. I wonder if they still make it?? I’d only buy it to take a sniff. 💜
I bet it smells exactly the same!!!
OMG I need you to somehow get all of the Sweet Valley High books so you can do more reviews. This was hysterical! I read the first SVH book a few years ago and I was just astonished with the plot. It’s wiiiiild. And Jessica is such a brat, gah!
I really wish I could get away with not wearing makeup ever. And I mean, I CAN but I feel better when I’m wearing makeup. I just don’t have to same joy as you do. It’s a necessary evil, sigh.
Stephany, I am listening obsessively to this podcast that deep dives every single book and OMG. I need to get my hands on some of these. An orderly just kidnapped Elizabeth from the hospital where she is a candy striper!!! I can’t wait to go for my walk this morning so I can see what happens next!
I am definitely team “matte face” (my favorite translucent setting powder is from Wet’n’Wild) and I mean to pick up your favorite mascara to try.
Thanks for sharing what you use – I always love reading about it.
I love us Ladies of a Certain Age – matte face all the way!!
It’s interesting…for most of my teen-adult life I have worn makeup, every day no matter whether I was leaving the house or not. I just felt better and more put together.
Now, though, I’ve come to look at it a different way, because of my daughter. She used to have to do full makeup and hair to leave the house and it took forever and I felt like she felt ugly without it, and it was hard. When she started being willing to go to the grocery store or the dry cleaner without makeup, I was so impressed by the confidence it took. I decided I wanted to incorporate that into my life. So now I don’t wear makeup several days a week. Do I look as good without it? No, not at all. But I do feel more free. And it only took me until my mid 50s to get there.
That’s a neat journey, J! I would not say I feel ugly without makeup. I don’t generally feel ugly at all! But I do feel like I’m not “done” if that makes sense. I guess it’s just because I truly enjoy putting on makeup. Maybe I’d have a different perspective if I had a daughter though! I appreciate yours.
You are all SASS, Nicole!!! Me at 16… I just wanted to get away from my family, and being homeschooled and being very lonely. I also started wearing makeup then. I owned the three items for the longest time: lipstick and mascara by Pupa (an Italian brand) and pink nail polish. When I came to the US as a young adult, I used to spend a lot of money on make up since I had to build up my confidence. And it helped. I mean, I used to be PLATINUM blond for YEARS. Yeah…
Platinum blonde! I love it! I hope you have photos (and I hope you share them!)