Not Everything Deserves A Second Life
Every generation eventually raids its own past for inspiration, and beauty trends are no exception. The 90s get treated like a grab bag: some things from that decade genuinely hold up, and some things only worked because nobody had a camera phone pointed at them yet. TikTok has quietly resurrected half your mom's old makeup bag while thankfully leaving the other half buried where it belongs. The tricky part is figuring out which is which before you commit to it in actual daylight. Here are 10 beauty trends from the 90s worth coming back, and 10 that should be left in the past.
1. Brown Lip Liner With A Lighter Lipstick
Overlining your lips a shade darker than the lipstick itself sounds like a mistake until you actually try it. The contrast gives your mouth more shape without looking overdone, which is probably why brands keep reissuing the same brown liner shades under new names. It photographs better than a single flat color ever did.
2. Glossy, Dewy Lips
Matte lipstick had a solid decade-long run, but it always looked a little dry and unforgiving by the end of a long day. Gloss brings back some actual shine and movement to your mouth, and it doesn't settle into fine lines the way matte formulas tend to. The only real downside is remembering not to wipe your face with your hair.
3. Butterfly Hair Clips
These little plastic clips were everywhere in the late 90s, snapped in messy rows along a middle part. They're back on shelves for the same reason they worked the first time: they're cheap and colorful, and they turn five minutes of effort into something that looks intentional. A few clipped along your part line does more for a plain outfit than you'd expect.
4. Claw Clips
A big claw clip snapping a bun into place has always been the fastest way to look pulled together on a bad hair day. They grip better than most hair ties, they don't leave a dent, and they work on hair that's freshly washed or three days past it. This one really never should have left.
Svitlanka Dlinnaya on Unsplash
5. Chunky, Face-Framing Highlights
Instead of subtle balayage blended into oblivion, chunky highlights bring back visible, distinct pieces of lighter hair around your face. It's a bolder look, closer to what colorists were doing before "natural" became the only acceptable goal. Done well, it brightens your whole face without touching the rest of your color.
6. Glazed, Dewy Skin
The "glass skin" look borrows directly from the 90s obsession with shine over matte powder, just with better skincare backing it up now. Skin that reflects light instead of absorbing it tends to look younger and healthier, which is probably the whole appeal. It also means skipping a few steps, since heavy powder was never really doing you any favors.
7. Soft Shimmer On The Lid
A single wash of shimmer across the eyelid, blended just enough to not look like glitter, is quietly back in heavy rotation. It's a much softer version of what the 90s did with frosted shadow, minus the chalky texture and harsh line at the crease. One swipe and you're done, which is exactly the appeal.
8. Space Buns
Two buns instead of one sounds like a small change, but it reads as a lot more deliberate than a plain topknot. They work on second-day hair, they're easy to do without a mirror, and they somehow manage to look lazy and styled at the same time. That combination is hard to beat.
9. High, Warm Blush
Blush swept up toward the temples instead of low on the cheek gives you a flushed, just-been-outside look that heavy contouring never quite matched. It's less about sculpting your face and more about looking like you have a pulse, which is honestly a better goal. A little goes a long way here.
10. Crimped Texture
Crimping iron sales did not need to make a comeback, and yet here it is, mostly used now as a texturizing trick rather than an all-over statement. A few crimped sections mixed into loose waves add volume without looking like a costume. Used sparingly, it does more work than most texturizing sprays.
Here's 10 that should stay exactly where they've been the last two decades.
1. Pencil-Thin Eyebrows
Plucking your eyebrows down to a thin arched line was the default for most of the decade, and it aged badly almost immediately once fuller brows came back everywhere else. Thin brows make your whole face look smaller and older than it needs to, and they take years to grow back if you overdo it. This one should stay retired for good.
2. Frosted Blue Eyeshadow, Corner To Corner
A single sweep of icy blue shadow from lash line to brow bone, with zero blending, read as finished makeup back then and reads as a costume now. It flattens the eye instead of adding any shape to it. Even the softer shimmer trend making a comeback keeps its distance from this specific look.
3. Cakey, Matte Powder Foundation
Foundation that sat on top of your skin instead of blending into it left a visible line at the jaw that no amount of blush could fix. It photographed chalky under flash and settled into every fine line by lunchtime. Skin has come too far since then to go back.
4. Full-Body Glitter Lotion
Glitter lotion rubbed onto your arms and shoulders before a night out sounds fun until you realize it never actually comes off. It ends up on your pillow, your car seat, basically everything you own for weeks. Some things are better left as a memory.
5. Mismatched Overlined Lip Liner
There's a version of dark lip liner that works, and then there's the version where the liner is two full shades darker than the lipstick and drawn well outside your actual lip line. The second version doesn't look intentional so much as unfinished, like someone got interrupted mid-application. It's a fine line, and this side of it isn't the good one.
6. Clumpy Blue Mascara
Blue mascara on top and bottom lashes was supposed to make your eyes pop, but it mostly just drew attention to how clumpy it got by midday. It smudges differently than black mascara, which somehow makes it look more tired rather than less. Colored mascara can work in small doses; this wasn't that.
7. Crunchy, Wet-Look Gel
Enough gel to hold every strand in place gave you a helmet effect that didn't move and definitely didn't shine. It also meant your hair cracked audibly if you touched it, which is not a compliment anyone wants. A little texture is one thing; this was closer to lacquer.
8. Frosted White-Pink "Iced" Lipstick
Pale, shimmery lipstick in shades that barely registered as color was meant to look effortless, but mostly made lips look dry and washed out. It didn't photograph well and it didn't do your actual lip color any favors. Gloss solved the same problem without the chalky finish.
9. Harsh Bronzer Stripes
Contouring with a visible dark band under the cheekbone, with no blending at the edges, left a stripe that didn't move with your face when you smiled or talked. It read as makeup applied in a rush rather than actual shape or shadow. Subtlety was clearly optional back then, and it shouldn't be now.
10. Full Blue Eyeliner On The Lower Waterline
Tightlining the entire lower lash line in bright blue made your eyes look smaller and more tired by the end of the day, not brighter. It also tends to smudge into a soft gray mess a few hours in. This one's better left as a photo in someone's yearbook.
