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We Followed Beauty Advice From 15 Years Ago — & Things Got Weird

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My initiation into makeup happened in a Limited Too. I was 11, and my best friend decided that the sixth-grade dance was the perfect opportunity to experiment with glittery eyeshadow. We bought two twist-up tubes of creamy, sparkly shadow — one in pink, one in blue — and stashed them in our backpacks for the next day.

It was a surreptitious purchase; makeup was strictly off-limits for me. Per my parents' rules, I’d never been allowed to curl my hair, wear lip gloss, or paint my nails. So on the day of the dance, I went to school barefaced. When the final bell rang, signalling the dance was about to start (middle school was tame, man), I smeared the sparkly stuff onto my eyelids and lined up outside the gym.

But my rebellion didn't last long. The instant I spotted a teacher on chaperone duty, I frantically rubbed off the shadow, sure I'd get in trouble for daring to wear makeup. I felt that guilty.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t touch makeup again until high school, and only for special occasions. Even after I started wearing it daily post-college, its purpose was mainly to cover up blemishes. Now, I wear a full face to work — tinted sunscreen, brow powder, mascara, blush, and an occasional swipe of eyeliner — but lately, I've felt like I need a little more cosmetic excitement. My eyeshadows all fall under the brown category, my lipsticks are safe pinks and soft reds, and while I've bought a few blue and purple eyeliners on a whim, I've never even removed their caps.

So, I challenged myself to go back in time and revisit the world in which body glitter and pastel shadows were all the rage. First things first: I needed to get the beauty advice I could never follow as a teen. Enter: The New York Public Library, which just so happens to have stacks and stacks of vintage YM magazines. I scanned some pages from the early 2000s, and got to copying all the looks I wish I had tried the first time around.

Could I pull off purple lips? Crimped hair and sticky gloss? I sure as hell tried. Ahead, see how I re-created seven hair-and-makeup looks made popular on the pages of the teen mag that died in 2004 (RIP, print).

Day 1: Crimped Hair, Don’t Care

“The sleeping-in-braids method works, but a waving iron is quicker...big, crimper-esque contraptions that look like three curling irons mushed together. Press one-inch sections of your hair between the plates, starting from the roots. Don’t worry if some pieces are straighter than others. Perfection may have a time and place, but this isn’t it.” — YM, December 2003

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Crimped Hair, Don’t Care

I typically do braid my hair at night to avoid curling it in the morning, so I can say from experience that YM was lying about one major thing: Using a waving iron is so not quicker than braiding.

Instead of pulling apart my braids in my morning haze, I heated up a curling iron ( YM recommends Bed Head's Wave Runner), slathered on some shine serum, sectioned my hair, and then spent 15 to 20 minutes curling each section. The whole process took an extra 30 minutes in the morning — time better spent sleeping, in my opinion.

The effect was, well, something. I didn't end up with the model's perfect crimps (my hair is thicker and cut differently), but I was surprisingly into the fluffy, fuzzy texture. I finished off the look with a squeeze of Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Framboise on my lips.

But as I stepped outside on the windy fall day (wearing a jean jacket, because I know how to commit to a theme), things quickly went haywire when my hair blew into my gloss — and stuck there. At work, an editor complimented the crimps, but noted how subtle they were. Which is good for 2016, I suppose.

TIGI Bed Head Wave Runner, shop it here; Nexxus Shine Serum, shop it here; Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Framboise, shop it here.

Day 2: Ballerina Beauty

“Pale blue can look washed out if you go too light. To make your eyes more noticeable, celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal suggests two coats of shadow. Keep the first one sheer and apply it with your fingertip. Use a brush for the second and the result will be brighter and more opaque.” — YM, September 2003

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Ballerina Beauty

I decided the next trend to tackle would be colour. As previously mentioned, I gravitate toward black eyeliner and brown eyeshadow. But the 2000s were all about pastels. Remember those Colour Delights quads?

However, finding just the right shade of blue proved difficult. Both of the shades recommended by the magazine have been discontinued, so I opted for a silvery hue from Burberry's palette in Slate Blue, No. 20. I applied lid primer, then a layer of white shadow (to make the colour coming next pop), and then the blue. I layered and layered, but the final result was almost too wearable. It was great for a subtle everyday hue, almost neutral, but definitely not the aughts drama I was going for.

So I brought in some reinforcement in the form of Givenchy’s Ombre Couture Cream in Bleu Celeste. One swipe of this highly pigmented shadow on my lids, and voilà! — a saturated cream colour not unlike the Limited Too stick from my middle school days. I toned it down with some of the original Burberry colour, and headed to work.

The reviews were positive. The brighter shadow seemed to draw attention up, instead of to the undereye bags below (score!). My boss told me it was “surprisingly modern.” Members of the beauty team said it was “actually cute.” By the end of the day, I was considering stealing the Givenchy eyeshadow from my friend (please, Hanna?) and incorporating the Burberry palette into my everyday routine.

Burberry Complete Eye Palette in Slate Blue, No. 20, shop it here; Givenchy Ombre Couture Cream in Bleu Celeste, shop it here; Chanel Rouge Allure in Séduisante, shop it here; Clinique All About Shadow Primer, shop it here.

Day 3: Frost Yourself

"Work in a gel like L.A. Looks Wet Look Styling Gel...that's formulated to make your hair appear drenched. Then coat your lips with the shiniest sheer pink gloss you can find. When you're finished, don't be surprised if you suddenly feel more glamorous than you ever have in your life." — YM, May 2004

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Frost Yourself

I'll admit, I was slightly intimidated by this hairstyle. Having never worked with gel before, I imagined my hair at the end of the day would look like a helmet, with strands that are both crusty and greasy.

Luckily, no such thing happened.

Instead of the L.A. Looks gel (which I couldn't find for the life of me), I picked up a bottle of CVS-brand wet-styling gel — a light-textured goop that felt light, but created flexible strands of wet-looking hair, as promised. I loaded up on mascara, dabbed on some cream highlighter (I like Benefit's Watt's Up!), and dabbed on yet another squeeze of Juicy Tubes, this time in Marshmallow Electro.

It was the easiest re-creation to pull off so far — very Kim K. at the VMAs. The one downside? As the day went on, the gel softened — and my hair ended up looking like it usually does, but with a lot more product. All in all, I did not feel quite as glamorous as YM promised I would.

CVS Extreme Wet Look Styling Gel, not available online; Benefit Watt's Up!, shop it here; Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Marshmallow Electro, shop it here.

Day 4: Clashing Colors

"Coat lips in an unexpected colour, such as Bourjois' Violette Pour Guillerettes...[for an] optical illusion — go green. Try L'Oréal Colour Fresco Cream Eye Shadow in Pistachio Ice." — YM, February 2001

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Clashing Colors

I've wanted to try bold lips ever since Maria Del Russo's 30-day challenge and reading about how dark lips transformed Laura Hibbard's life. So when I saw this purple look, I was pretty stoked.

As with the other products, the recommended lipstick was nowhere to be found, so I ended up combining MAC Brooke Candy lip pencil in Night Crawler with Maybelline's Colour Sensational lipstick in Sapphire Siren, an indigo that applied darker than it looks in the tube. I wasn't bummed about it — the resulting effect was more modern and badass than the 2000s version.

For the eyes, I drew a small cat-eye with Diorshow waterproof liner, and dusted on the green powder (which was icier in person than in photos) from CoverGirl's quad in Prom Queen. To my relief, the purple-green clash wasn't overwhelmingly bright.

My lips got all the attention in the Refinery29 office. I was complimented on the colour over and over again — to the point at which I began to expect it every time I walked into the kitchen or passed a coworker I hadn't seen already that day. "You have good lips," one editor told me. "I never noticed that until now." I made a mental note to start playing with lipstick more often.

Eating was a challenge, though. I hate reapplying lipstick, so I held off on lunch until I was starving, and even then, only ate in small bites. This look, I decided, would be relegated to drinks and dancing.

MAC Brooke Candy Lip Pencil in Night Crawler, shop it here; Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick in Sapphire Siren, shop it here; Diorshow Waterproof Eyeliner, shop it here; CoverGirl Eye Enhancer in Prom Queen, shop it here.

Day 5: 2-Toned Eyes

"Start with blue eyeshadow at the outer corner and yellow at the inner one, and blend them both toward the centre until they meet. Similar to zippers on Ziploc bags, a cool stripe of green will appear where the colors overlap." — YM, May 2002

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

2-Toned Eyes

Finally, something more than a monochromatic look. Having never experimented with multicoloured eyeshadow before, I was slightly nervous about whether I could pull this off. But, if I do say so myself, I think I did.

I used my fingers to dab on a bright, sparkling blue and a yellow from Make Up For Ever's Artist Shadows in Spring Flowers. I grabbed my blending brush, and furiously blended the two until I was satisfied with the diffusion of colour.

Unfortunately, a stripe of green didn’t appear, but after some clean-up with a Q-tip, I ended up with a colourful ombré that I didn't hate — the colourful look even garnered one compliment at work.

The overkill happened when I grabbed a multi-patterned silk scarf and wrapped it around my head, like I did back in middle school. Someone even asked me, "Is your headband for a story?"

Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows in Spring Flowers, shop it here; Flower HydraSilk Ultimate Lip Colour in Naked Petal, shop it here.

Day 6: Green & Gold

"Some mornings you wake up wanting to be loud and mischievous. You yearn to pull silly pranks on your friends and generally be the center of attention. For these days, we strongly suggest crazy, vivid green and gold glitter shadow... Draw around your lids with a black kohl pencil...then smudge shimmery grass-green cream shadow on your upper lid, to the crease. Dab loose metallic yellow flakes on top." — YM, February 2004

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Green & Gold

Remember when I said I was intimidated by the frosted look? Ha! That was nothing compared to my feelings toward this. I never wake up wanting to be loud and the centre of attention, and this sparkly, green-gold smoky eye was my worst beauty nightmare.

Still, I wasn't going to back down now. On a Saturday night, I lined my eyes with Rimmel's ScandalEyes in black, applied the super-pigmented Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Emerald Green, and then dusted on some gold glitter from Make Up For Ever (which promptly migrated to my cheeks, nose, jaw, and clothes due to my messy application. Pro tip: Use a wet, stiff brush — not a fluffy one).

Then, per YM, I tried a "super-perky hairstyle like [a] high side ponytail." It didn't really work with my shorter hair, but I succeeded with the help of many bobby pins and some hairspray.

I won't sugarcoat things: I hated this look. It was downright gaudy to me. Granted, I'm not the most skilled at applying eyeliner — but I thought this was supposed to be attainable beauty, YM! After making my boyfriend take the photo (he had to show me Instagram videos of puppies to even get me to smile), I promptly removed most of the makeup, took down my hair, and subdued the shadow as best as I could. I know, I cheated, but I'm not sorry.

Rimmel ScandalEyes, shop it here; Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Emerald Green, shop it here; Make Up For Ever Glitter in Metallic Yellow Gold, shop it here.

Day 7: Hat Hair

"No matter what length your hair is, try wearing it flipped up at the ends — it'll soften the manly effect of the hat." — YM, January 2004

Photo: Courtesy of YM Magazine.

Hat Hair

After the disaster of the previous night, this look was a blessing. Minimal makeup, a little hair flip, and an easy accessory. (What's up with calling the hat "manly," YM?)

I winged out my eyeliner a tad farther than usual, rubbed some earthy-pink shadow on my crease (Just Maybe from the MAC Trend Forecast set), and swiped on Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. To get my hair to flip out, I used some KMS California gel wax and blowdried with an oval brush.

It wasn't perfect — my hair is longer than the model's, which made it difficult — but it worked. Kind of. I wore the hat in the morning, felt silly when it stopped raining, and carried it around with me until I got home. In the afternoon, I rubbed off all my makeup and settled in to watch an episode of Luke Cage.

After a week of trying new eyeshadow colours, eyeliner techniques, and hair products, I was sick and tired of not feeling like myself. On Monday, I went back to my tinted-moisturiser-and-mascara routine. I rejoiced at being able to sleep in and not worry about trying a new eyeshadow. I braided my hair at night and didn't bother putting in any product.

But I confess: This Saturday, I might just try that blue eyeliner sitting at the bottom of my makeup bag.

MAC Trend Forecast Fall 16, shop it here; Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, shop it here.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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