Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Lipstick and Nail Polish and Spray...Oh My!

It's hot, I feel stinky, I am molting like a parrot, applying mascara to my eyelashes this morning was like applying butter to hot toast, and children are out of school and on their razor scooters right in my path everywhere I go while their parents ignore them and sip iced coffee with their similarly-fertile friends.

I'm not-so-fresh out of ideas. It's a perfect time, once again, to talk about that crowd-pleaser of crowd pleasers...old makeup and stuff!

Maybelline Shine Free lipstick and nail polish: These were very, very small, marketed to teenagers, and came in cutesy little pink tubes and cutesy little pink-topped bottles, respectively. They just screamed "Collect me!" Collect them I did, and I wound up with far too many shades that were hideous on me, though the tubes and bottles were too adorable not to use.

Caboodles Beauty Organizers: Big, plastic beauty cases that came in bright and pastel colors and had rounded edges and little pop-out mirrors. I actually had two of them; I felt so lucky. One was lavender and one was turquoise. They were decently expensive--maybe around $20? When filled with makeup, they were surprisingly heavy. Once I discovered, though, that they were essentially bubble-gummed-up fishing tackle boxes with mirrors, the magic evaporated. I actually bought a mustard-yellow fishing tackle box for about $7, and stacked it up with the Caboodles.

Cover Girl Lip Advance: One of a jillion lipsticks during my teenage years that promised to be "long lasting," but didn't really deliver, this was a small square compact containing a strip of powdered color ("cremepowder") and a strip of clear gloss. There was a little applicator that had an eye-shadow-type swab on one end and a brush on the other. The gimmick was that you applied the "cremepowder" with the swab, and then put on the topcoat with the brush. One always, always, always ran out of gloss before powder.

Cover Girl Professional nail polish: I thought this was actually pretty great. It was a thick nail polish in a weird bottle that you could tilt towards you, like the "professionals," I suppose (although I don't think I'm alone in never having seen a professional manicurist use a tilted bottle). You only needed one coat to get rich color. If this were still around, I'd buy it.

And, last, but certainly not least....

Sun-In!: Though it probably needs no explanation, this was a peroxide-based spray that one spritzed in one's hair and combed through before going out in the sun. I bet it's still around, although perhaps less popular as young women are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of the sun. Having very dark hair, I was left out of the whole Sun-In phenomenon. I had heard the stories from my fellow brunettes of how they tried it and wound up orange, and I heard chatter from the popular blondes about how their hair was "natural" because they only used a little Sun-In. I contented myself by applying a trace amount of lemon juice to my hair, going outside for fifteen minutes, seeing no difference, coming inside and shampooing, and then calling it a day. Thank goodness for Halsa!

9 Comments:

Blogger Mrs. Harridan said...

"She's shine-free! Tch, tch, tch!"

Sun-In is a product of the devil. Used it once, and thank god I didn't go all orange. Many of my high school classmates did, and paid the price.

I was mostly trying to put lemon juice on my face to eradicate freckles.

11:20 AM  
Blogger Liberty Belle said...

I'll be the first to admit...I still have 2 Caboodles (one pink, one purple), and both are still in use (though not for makeup). I also have a 'fake' designer (i.e., black with wavy lines) Caboodles that's also in use. They make excellent sewing boxes and crafty-item holders.

I used Sun-In one summer, and every summer thereafter my hair decided to change colors on its own. What's in that stuff?!

11:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Caboodles! I LOVED Caboodles. Dang, girl...you've got me trippin' down memory lane now. *sigh*

1:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember that nail polish. I don't understand the lipstick though, was it completely matte? I prefer a shine to my lipstick!

4:51 PM  
Blogger Katherine said...

Oh fun! I totally remember that CG Lip Advance - had a jillion, just didn't remember the name. How the hell did you?? and come on, you had to have bonnie bell lip smackers!

4:58 PM  
Blogger Mrs. Harridan said...

I *still* wear Bonne Bell Lipsmackers. They are the bomb.

5:28 PM  
Blogger DebbieDoesLife said...

I used Sun In until I had nasty dried out straw for hair.

Have you tried Kiss mascara? I went to Sephora a week or two ago and got it. Its really different. I can't tell if I like it or not. I like that it doesn't smudge but it comes off like little spider legs. I want to know your opinion. You always know all about this stuff.

8:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The hubs gave me a Caboodle one year and I still use it, still love it. The pop up mirror is th bomb.

9:00 AM  
Blogger Tits McGee said...

Halsa hair! Discover your highlights! Halsa hair! Discover your glow! Halsa hair!

10:08 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home