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The Beauty Products That Bring Us Back
We’re all familiar with reflecting nostalgically on the beauty products we once loved, the first lipstick bought with your own money, the compact blush you've repurchased time and time again, or that one perfume that instantly transports you back to another era.
It might be a lipstick shade you can no longer find, a fragrance that bottles a memory, or a product that quietly became part of your everyday routine.
We’re beauty obsessives for the products that become more than just makeup, they become part of our lives.
Beauty trends, much like fashion, have a way of coming full circle. And few brands understand the power of nostalgia quite like Stila.
Founded by celebrity makeup artist Jeanie Lobell in 1994, Stila emerged from the iconic ’90s beauty scene with an approach that was both artistry-led and accessible. Lobell’s experience as a makeup artist helped shape the brand’s professional yet playful identity, creating products that were innovative, easy to use and designed to empower creativity.
One of Stila’s most enduring icons is Convertible Color™ Dual Lip & Cheek Cream. Now more than two decades old , and older than some of our marketing team, the multi-use cream colour was revolutionary when it launched. Designed to be used on both cheeks and lips, it challenged the traditional approach to makeup and became a product people loved, remembered and continued to return to.
Its longevity is a reminder that the best beauty products can transcend trends. Convertible Colour arrived around the turn of the millennium, at a time when makeup was embracing more convenient, multi-purpose products while the understated, polished beauty aesthetic of the late ’90s and early 2000s was still going strong.
Of course, the ’90s had another defining beauty signature: the eye. From bright, sparkling lids to softly defined eyes, shimmer was everywhere , and Stila was quick to embrace the trend.
Today, products such as Glisten & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow continue that legacy, bringing high-impact sparkle to modern eye looks while staying true to Stila's artistry roots.
Stila's Stay all Day® Smudge & Set™ Waterproof Gel Eye Liners tap into another iconic ’90s beauty moment: the effortlessly defined, lived-in eye.
Designed to be smudged for a softer, smoky finish or set for long-lasting definition, they offer the versatility that made ’90s eye makeup so distinctive. From softly blurred liner to a more graphic, defined look, Smudge & Set brings that nostalgic makeup attitude into a modern, easy-to-wear format, proving that some beauty classics never really go out of style.
The return of the ’90s lip
When it comes to the quintessential ’90s look, we can’t forget the mocha lip.
From supermodel-inspired beige and brown tones to softly lined, glossy finishes, the nude lip looks has never truly disappeared , and today it’s enjoying another major revival.
Sweed Beauty has embraced this aesthetic through a distinctly modern lens. Founded by Gabriella Elio in 2015, Sweed was created with the philosophy of enhancing rather than masking natural beauty, a perfect fit for the current appetite for effortless, polished makeup.
Sweed’s ’90s influence isn’t about recreating a full retro makeup look. Instead, it takes the most flattering elements of the era , mocha tones, muted cherry shades, defined eyes and polished skin, and translates them into the brand’s modern, minimalist aesthetic.
The scent of nostalgia
And it isn’t just makeup making a comeback. Fragrance is one of the most powerful ways to evoke a memory, and few scents have the nostalgic pull of vanilla.
Vanilla was a defining note throughout the ’90s, appearing everywhere from perfumes and body sprays to fragrance oils and candles. Its sweet, comforting character became closely associated with the era’s love of gourmand scents , and today, that same nostalgia is experiencing a major resurgence.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Lemon Pie taps into this revival of ’90s-inspired fragrance, combining zesty lemon with creamy vanilla, meringue and gourmand notes. The result is playful, sweet and instantly comforting, reminiscent of childhood treats and the nostalgic world of retro beauty.
Perhaps that’s why these products resonate so strongly today. We’re not simply bringing back the beauty trends of the past; we’re bringing back how they made us feel.
Because sometimes, the most powerful beauty trend isn’t something new at all. It’s something you remember.