#TBT: 9 Popular Beauty Trends of The 1990s

Oh, the ’90s — it’s the decade we refuse to forget

Photo: Unsplash/@joshrh19

Photo: Unsplash/@joshrh19

Oh, the ’90s — it’s the decade we refuse to forget. Many of the major trends for the past few seasons are remixes from this decade, and there are no signs of this influence slowing down. We know you like a little bit of nostalgia as much as we do, so HipLatina is launching a new series called #TBT, where we take a look back at the people, trends, issues, and more that defined a point in time. First up, those interesting, often regrettable, beauty trends from the 1990s.

Scrunchies, Barrettes, and Butterfly Clips

Scrunchies, barrettes, and butterfly clips kept our ponytails and buns big, bold, and colorful. Believe it or not, scrunchies are actually back in style. This is a trend that will have you either saying “no way,” or “totally, dude!”

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Dark Lipliner, Light Lipstick

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgWsRZgBxFz/?tagged=darklipliner

One of the major beauty moments in the ’90s that have many now scratching their heads thinking: “how?” and “why?” is the notion of wearing dark brown lip liner with super light lipstick. It seemed at one point that the more extreme the contrast, the better. We’re talking almost black liner with frosty white lip, folks.

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Half Ponytails

Half ponytails are also back in style. Jennifer Lopez is a huge fan of this style. In the 90s it was known that if your half ponytail wasn’t super high, super tight, and flowed like a waterfall from the top of your head, you were doing it wrong. Now you can basically rock it anyway that you can.

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Box Braids

It’s safe to say that the ’90s are back and in a serious way. One of these involves throngs of girls going for the hip box braids Janet Jackson sported in the film Poetic Justice. We’ve seen a ton of celebs sport them, like Beyonce and Rihanna.

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Burgundy Brown Makeup

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL6SdQCAoId/?taken-by=vinylblush

Whether you were a goth kid, a chola, or just a girl up on trends during the ’90s, you were wearing makeup in various shades of burgundy and brown. Most of the time, everything was matte, and there was no limit to how dark you could go. We’re so glad this trend is back.

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Super Skinny Brows

We think it’s safe to say that extremes played a part in 1990s beauty trends. Eyebrows were virtually non-existent then, and many plucked or shaved their eyebrows and drew them back in again in dramatic arches and swoops (including yours truly). We’re praying this one never makes it’s way back.

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Scrunched, Crunchy Hair

There were several hair trends in the ’90s, but many Latinas can attest to having extra scrunched, stiff, gelled/moused and hairsprayed waves and curls. Once you were done doing that hair, it wasn’t going anywhere. Thank god for better hair products that leave textured hair soft and full of body.

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Frosted Makeup and Glitter

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbP8ydfj8fa/?tagged=frostedmakeup

On the other end of the ’90s makeup spectrum, away from the super dark browns and burgundies, was cosmetics in frosty whites, pastels, and metallics. Eyeshadow was metallic, lipstick was frosted/metallic, and on top of that, body glitter was worn everywhere.

wp_*postsTendrils of Hair

When we weren’t scrunching, braiding, crimping it, straightening, streaking, and/or slicking our hair into all kinds of geometric parts, we were releasing two tendrils on either side of our face. Sometimes straight, other times wavy/curly. Always ’90s. But it’s back now.

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