My Make-Up: Then and Now.

The evolution of make-up and all things beauty fascinates me. I don't just mean formulas and how we are now able to completely change our faces, which really is one of the true beauties of make-up (pun definitely intended) but also the changes we make in our beauty regime. People that are now in their mid-20s went through stages of over fake tanning and buying pale MAC lipsticks, like Creme De Nude. My personal evolution has been slightly different...

I grew up when Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were at an all time high. Two of a Kind? Easily one of my favourite TV shows. Passport to Paris? One of my favourite movies - I even bought a beret. Anything Mary-Kate and Ashley did, I loved, and that includes their make-up. No, I don't mean Elizabeth and James, I mean full on their teen line, which happened to include a lot of pink, purple and glitter. I obviously owned it all.

Something else that I adored as a child/early teen was Bang On the Door/Groovy Chick. Yep, you're all currently nodding your head and gasping in agreement. I know I wasn't the only one who would sit at their front door every Tuesday, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the postman. As much as I loved the magazine, the free gifts were on a whole other level. I got a giant inflatable chair (much to my brother's dismay - he was the one always forced to blow it up), tonnes of make-up and the most amazing array of pens, pencils and paints you could imagine. I won't go in to too much detail (I'll save it for another post!) as today's is all about make-up, and I definitely received a lot of it with these magazines, and yes... I do still own it all.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't used it in years. I've gotten rid of quite a lot of it but there are some pieces that I just can't seem to throw away (#Hoarder). Hopefully, after sharing my collection with you, I'll be ready to let it go and say goodbye to my Mary-Kate & Ashley and Groovy Chic filled childhood. Who am I kidding? I'll end up putting it all on my face or keeping it for my daughter, both of which will probably end disastrously. Let's have a look at my collection, shall we? 

• LIPSTICK - What I Wore Then; Mini Bourjois Tinted Lip Balm. Bourjois? Really? Younger me clearly had taste. Well, my Grandma did as she is the one that bought me this. I used to love small pieces of like this. My favourites used to be the ones that you could attach to a very chunky mobile phone (Read: brick) or one of those fake phones full of make-up. // What I Wear Now; I don't actually own anything from Bourjois! A shock to all beauty fans, I'm sure. I own quite a few lipsticks, with one of my favourites being KIKO's Unlimited Stylo in the shade 003 Hibiscus Red. Still pink, though perhaps a bit brighter than 8 year old me would have liked.

• EYELINER - What I Wore Then; Mary-Kate & Ashley Line My Eyes Eye Liner. Letting an eight year old lose with an eyeliner probably wasn't the wisest idea. I probably spent most of my time using it as a crayon and not putting it on my eyes, which was actually probably a good thing. I do remember attempting to put it all over my eyelids though. Twelve years on and I still haven't quite managed it. // What I Wear Now; I don't actually wear eyeliner but, when I do, it's a very thin line across my upper lash line. How younger me dealt with that kind of pressure, I do not know.

• SHADOW STICK - What I Wore Then; Mary-Kate & Ashley Shimmer Plus All Over Colour. This was much more my thing than the eyeliner. Big enough to draw all over my lid (and the rest of my face) and my favourite colour? Eight year old me couldn't get enough. I'm guessing my parents could though, as I remember this being taken off of me. // What I Wear Now; KIKO Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow. This is easily one of my favourite eye products ever. It's so easy to blend out, lasts forever and looks great either on it's own or with other eyeshadows. 

• EYESHADOW - What I Wore Then; Mary-Kate & Ashley Eye Glam Shadow Duo. Before I hit my Tomboy stage, pink and purple were my favourite colours, so this was a dream come true for me, and quite a step up from the pale green I'd been attempting to rub all over my lids months previous. // What I Wear Now; I tend to wear a different mix of eyeshadows nearly everyday, but a favourite would have to be MAC's Honey Lust, a lovely gold colour. I tend to keep away from pinks and purples...

• BLUSHER - What I Wore Then; The blusher came in a palette - the same palette as the highlighter, in fact. It even came with it's very own brush! Unlike the highlighter, this does look like it's been used. It's quite pale, so let's hope I didn't look like too much of a clown. // What I Wear Now; Again, as mentioned above, I used Urban Decay's Naked Flushed palette, but I very rarely use the blusher. I go red enough as it is!

• HIGHLIGHTER - What I Wore Then; Bang On the Door Shimmer Stick. How I knew what this was, I do not know. I do have vague memories of just rubbing it all over my face though... I clearly started the whole 'vampires glittering in the sun way before Robert Pattinson did. // What I Wear Now; The highlighter from the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette. Slightly less glitter, more subtle and a whole lot prettier.

• BRONZER - What I Wore Then; I don't think I ever quite got round to using this amazing palette from New Look. It's something I'd probably be happy to receive even to this day. The gold highlighter has a bit more of bronzer look to it, but I don't remember ever using this nor does it look like it's been opened. Then again, that might just be because it's about twelve years old... // What I Wear Now; My day to day bronzer is from Urban Decay's Naked Flushed palette, which also includes a blusher and a highlighter, so is perfect for travelling.

• PERFUME - What I Wore Then; Impulse. Another OH MY GOD moment, I know. Do they even still sell them? I know there are a few of the Spice Girls limited editions knocking about on eBay, but they must be ancient. I'll never forget being constantly berated for just spraying them anywhere and everywhere.  // What I Wear Now; I am no longer hooked on body spray, though my family would probably prefer it if I was considering my favourite perfumes are all slightly (very) expensive; DKNY, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, YSL, Givenchy... What can I say? I'm my mother's daughter and I love brands.

• EXTRA - What I Wore Then; GLITTER. And lots of it. Yes, I grew up during the 90's, when body glitter was the thing on everyone's mind and, well, body. Bang on the Door Body Shimmer Dust and Mary-Kate and Ashley Sequin Dust All Over Shimmer (IT'S PINK!!!) were personal favourites. Think unsubtle and then multiply that by a million. // What I Wear Now; Eyebrows. By that, I don't mean that I've somehow magically sprouted eyebrows. Oh no, if anything, the completely opposite. If you think Cara Delevingne had slugs, then you should have seen me. My eyebrows grew to the sides, down my face, up my forehead... I wish I was exaggerating. Why someone didn't think to help, I do not know. In fact, it was only two years ago, when eyebrows really started to become The Thing that I even considered plucking them. They're still awful, though the unibrow has gone.

My other favourite eyeshadows were in a Bang on the Door palette which opened up into a sort of spiral staircase type shape, but I can't find a photo of one anywhere! I googled it and a Benefit eyeshadow came up - shocked and disappointed. Younger me obviously didn't wear foundation or concealer (but seemed to know what highlighter and bronzer were?).

I'm quite impressed that I seemed to have this much make-up at such a young age! It was probably down to my demanding and whiny personality, haha! 

Let me know if you have any stories about make-up from when you were younger! Now, if you'll excuse me - I'm off to find my inflatable chair and to ring my brother so that he can fly 3000 miles to blow said chair up.