Ever wonder what you’d look like a decade or so later wearing the exact same makeup you used to wear in your teens? I’ve seen a few videos and blog posts on this and I wanted to give it a try. I dug into some old folders on my harddrive and found a few decent examples. With the old photos as reference points, it all started coming back to me and I decided to recreate my old makeup looks on my thirty-one year old self.

As I didn’t wear foundation, blush, bronzer or even fill in my eyebrows back in the day, I wanted to keep this as “true to the past” as I possibly could so I’m not wearing any of the usual suspects. Onwards with the flashback!

I was 18 years old in the shot on left and it was 2001. My grandmother took this shot before I was headed out to a bar or club, probably to see some live music at Barrymore’s in Ottawa. My mom still keeps this photo on her bedroom dresser, so I had her scan it for me so I could post it.

There is really nothing to this look but I remember liking it because I thought it looked pretty badass to be wearing black liner. I also had no idea what the heck blending was back in the day, so I assure that this was completely unblended. I also didn’t wear any primer or eyeshadow so by the end of the day, that black liner had completely transferred to my upper lid. Classy! In the shot above I used MAC‘s Feline Kohl Power pencil and Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara, but in 2001 I know I used MAC‘s Ebony pencil liner and some kind of CoverGirl mascara.

This was an absolute favourite look of mine. I used to wear a lot of light blue tops, and I usually matched my eyeshadow to my clothes (which is something I still do now). I remember getting the idea to do this look from a friend of mine in high school who did something very similar with a silver eyeshadow.

This is one I’m surprised I still like. It’s completely unblended (I remember a friend pulling me aside, grabbing a cotton swab and vigorously blending out my liner because she was so incensed that I hadn’t done it) but I really like it. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for this look because I wore it so frequently. As you can see, there’s nothing on my lid. The only thing I used for the blue liner is MAC‘s Tilt eyeshadow and that’s exact same shade I used in my teens as well. I probably lined my lower waterline with Ebony pencil back then, but I used Feline for it today.

I remember this one so well. I went to a MAC counter and asked for help creating a smokey eye. Annnnnd this is what I got. Now, this isn’t how I’d do a smokey now (and heck, I don’t even know if this was considered a smoky eye back in the early 2000s) but I do like the overall effect. I’m also fairly certain I dumped half a container of MAC‘s Silver Dusk on my face in the shot on the left since there’s glitter particles everywhere… something I definitely didn’t recreate in the present! 😉

I had used MAC‘s liner in Phone Number and Krisp eyeshadow (no longer available) to blur out the harsh edges. I have since rebought Phone Number and have it still in my collection, but I used up Krisp a long time ago and it’s never become available at MAC again as far as I’m aware. I lined my upper and lower lashline with Phone Number, and then blurred out the edges slightly with an off-white, slightly grey eyeshadow from a Sephora palette I have (no shade name, sorry). I also lined my inner waterline with Phone Number as well and applied Too FacedBetter Than Sex mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

I look back on this one and smile! This was my “special event” makeup when I was in grades 9 or 10 (~1997). I considered it special event makeup because at the time it was darker and shinier than anything else I owned at the time. It’s fairly simple and I still have the same colours I did back then: MAC‘s Nylon on the lid with Shag (no longer available, although Haux is a very good dupe) on the outer third and through the crease.

I’m surprised at how much I actually still like these looks on me. They may be a bit dated, but they don’t look nearly as bad as I expected them to which is slightly relieving. Another thing I noticed is that I wore a lot of liner/shadow on my lower outer and inner lashline, something I don’t do nearly as often today as my lower lashline seems to get irritated very quickly.

So that’s all I have for now! I really enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane with this post. I’m curious to see if I can dig up more old photos in my parents photo albums for another post at a later date.