From the Vintage Vault (Special "Firsts" Edition)

It's been a few weeks since I did a Vintage Vault post, so I'm going to make up for lost time and make this one a biggie.

For new readers, my Vintage Vault posts feature products that I recently discovered while cleaning my spare bedroom--I uncovered a very old box of cosmetics from the late 80s, 90s, and early 00s, so each week I try to show you a few of these old gems just as a stroll down memory lane. I try my hardest to remember exactly when I purchased each item, but sometimes I might be off by a few years (my memory gets kind of fuzzy since I've been buying makeup for well, pretty much 30 years now. Yikes!!).

So today I'm going to show you some significant "firsts" for me.

Let's start with my very first taupe eyeshadow (are you listening, Elvira and Joeybunny?):

I'll give you five bucks and a pat on the back (not really) if you recognize this packaging. Anyone know what brand this is?

Too Faced eyeshadow single in Glamour Puss (circa 2002-ish)

Ahh, memories! I remember when Too Faced was a tiny brand that had like one shelf at Sephora, and I went BONKERS for it. I adored the cute, retro packaging, and when I saw Glamour Puss, I remember it hit me like a freight train. It wasn't brown, it wasn't gray...it was taupe! I don't even think I quite knew what taupe eyeshadow even was back then, but I knew I had never seen a color like this anywhere. I wore the HECK out of this shade (it was so pigmented and shimmery--almost metallic) and I think this was actually my second purchase, because I definitely remember hitting pan on this baby.

Next up, my very first vampy nail color:

Zoya Morticia (circa 1993)

Apologies for this bottle--it has DEFINITELY seen better days. But I'm so happy that it survived a hot-pink-nail-polish-explosion and that I can still see the beautiful vampy red because I thought I had lost this many, many years ago and I've been pining for it ever since.

I remember this like it was yesterday. I was in college and my roommate and I had just discovered this new, mysterious brand of nail polish at our local beauty supply called "Zoya". We loved the bottles, the logo, the formula, the staying power and especially the color selection. I remember we had NEVER seen shades like Zoya's before, and we definitely had never seen a deep vampy red like this before.

What you have to remember is that nail polish colors back in the early nineties were NOT like they are today. You had to search and search for a non-traditional shade, and when you found one, it was like hitting the lottery. You held on to it and coveted it. I remember wearing the HECK out of Morticia and having people stare me at because my nails just seemed so "dark". Haha!

Anyway, I'd love to wear Morticia again, but this bottle is pretty thick and goopy so it's going to take a lot of TLC to get it back to where it needs to be. If I can salvage it, I'll definitely swatch it for you in the future.

Next up, my very first cream eyeliner:

Smashbox Cream Eyeliner in Smashing Midnight Brown (circa 1997ish)

Do any of you remember the original Smashbox logo? I had completely forgotten that the logo used to look like this! All I remember is that cream liners were totally new and foreign to me in the late 90s and I remember struggling a bit to apply this (I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I didn't have access to the right brush back then) and I remember giving up completely on cream and gel liners until several years later. It's funny how the right brush can make you fall in love with a product you once hated.

Next up, my very first holy grail MAC lip combo:

MAC Isis + MAC Cork (circa 2002ish)

There was a period when MAC went from black packaging to silver. I'm not sure if this had to do with specific products, or if these were part of special collections, but I just remember that for a few years, a lot of MAC products had silver packaging (maybe one of you MAC fanatics can explain?).

So anyway, in the late 90s and early 00s, paring light lip colors with dark liners was VERY trendy. I cringe when I think of this look now, but I hear it's making a comeback. (FYI, no matter how popular it gets, you'll never see me rocking light-lipstick-with-dark-liner again. Too many nightmares!).

So this was my HOLY GRAIL combo for around a two year period. I loved that Isis was a non-traditional nude shade. It's impossible to capture what this shade is like in person (so sad that it was discontinued years ago) but here are some pics:

It's a grayish/beige/taupe with a subtle green flash. I freaking LOVED this lip color and I loooooved pairing it with Cork (which is still very much available).

These swatches really don't do Isis justice, but just trust me that this color was the BOMB back in the day. :)

And finally, my very first Pure Ice nail polish:

Pure Ice Frosted Ice Birthday Suit (circa 1996ish?)

I think I remember buying this in college because, back in the mid-90s my hometown didn't have a Walmart. So when I went away to school, Walmart was this big, mysterious superstore and I remember being amazed by all the brands of makeup and nail color I had never seen before (wow...that WAS a long time ago!). So anyway, I remember thinking this color was so unusual. Shimmery light beige shades were super popular in the mid 90s, and this one had a unique twist--it was a warm shimmery nude beige but it had flashes of pink and violet (hard to capture in photos because the flashes are pretty subtle).

I opened this bottle before I wrote this post and was nearly knocked over by the fumes. Older non-big-three-free polishes can be STRONG and the smell is so distinctively different than big-three-free polishes. It really took me back to smell this one. Also, it's weird because the formula is SUPER watery now. I don't remember it being this watery when I bought it, but man, it feels like it's just water sloshing around in the bottle now.

That's it for this Vintage Vault post. I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my "firsts" in the world of beauty and, as always, I'd love to hear you! Do you remember any of these products? Did you own any of them?