In the comments yesterday, Nina and I (hey, Nina!) were chatting about department store brands from back in the day. I got to thinking about all the beauty brands at the counters in the mall that make me feel nostalgic. I have so many good memories of walking into the New Park Mall in Newark and seeing all the gorgeous, glittering products displayed at Macy’s.
My favorites back then were Clinique, MAC and Prescriptives… Remember Prescriptives? I wore their foundation and powder for a couple years. I was all about their perfume Calyx, too.
I also liked popping by Origins for their body products and Estee Lauder for their perfumes.
When I think of Clinique, I remember the Clinique counter that was in the bookstore at my college in Davis. Yup, you could pop in for an organic chemistry book and pay for it at the Clinique counter just as long as you bought some makeup or skin care. I’d stock up on my favorites: a taupe pencil liner (I wish I could remember the name, ugh!), Black Honey lipstick (the OG), loose powder and a taupe eyeshadow called Fawn Satin.
If I wanted to grab lipstick or lip liner from MAC, I’d have to drive to Sacramento to the Arden Fair mall. I still remember the tiny little counter tucked in the corner and buying a tube of Paramount lipstick and Mahogany liner.
Oh, and the perfumes! Goodness gracious. Estee Lauder Pleasures, Clinique Happy and MAC Turqoatic were my jams back in the day.
What makeup brands make you feel nostalgic? Please share in the comments.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Hope your week is going great so far. We’ve reached the hump. Friday is just around the corner, woo hoo!
Clinique and MAC! The San Francisco MAC (which I think is the one in your photo) was the first stand alone MAC store I ever went to!
Hi Rachel!
Yes, that’s the SF MAC store. Sadly, I think they closed it a while back.
The perfume, “Emeraude” really takes me back. My mother it and she’s been gone for 36 years now.
It’s amazing how scent can trigger our memories. Hope you’re having a nice week so far, Linda.
Oh, my goodness, Linda! I wore Emeraude back in the late fifties and adored it. I wonder what I’d think about it if I could smell it today. Although Coty does have a “classics” version, my understanding is that the original cannot be recreated because of restrictions on certain ingredients. I’ve occasionally been tempted to track down a small decant, but sometimes it is better to just embrace memories. Emeraude—beautiful.
I’m aching to smell this scent! I’m so curious!
It’s a tiny bit like Shalimar. You’d like it I bet. It’s a warm and cozy scent
Hey Eileen. Yep, they can’t or couldn’t recreate some due to some new standards. This happened to the perfume Royal Secret. Another beautiful but long gone gem!
I remember luxe department store brands such as Charles of the Ritz and Faberge, which I loved back in the 60s. Yep, I’m THAT old!!
Those brands sound so fancy! Love it.
I remember having my powder custom blended at the Charles of the Ritz counter. I felt so sophisticated 😃
Estee Lauder, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, Princess Marcella Borghese, Charles of the Ritz, Shiseido. I could go on and on. I was a teenager of the 80’s. LOL!!
The ’80s were an epic time for makeup!
I loved the Clinique counter at the department store when I was newly out of college and working. I felt so grown up shopping in a nice store and their prices were something I could handle with my budget.
I remember that feeling all too well!
Definitely Clinique! That yellow moisturizer was the business. (They reformulated it a few year ago and, unfortunately, it’s not nearly as good.) And my then-BFF and I went through a big Merle Norman eyeshadow phase. I haven’t used them in years, but they had good shadow and liner back in the day.
They did the same thing with their BHA toner. Back in the day it was REALLY GREAT.
Estée Lauder Beautiful perfume was my jam back in the day! And Clinique’s three piece skin care set, I thought I was soooooo fancy!
Oh, for sure. I don’t know why having that bar of soap in the green container felt so fancy, but it did!
Prescriptives Camouflage concealer and Calyx perfume were staples in high school and college for me! I wasn’t a makeup person at all, but I loved a bold red lip. In college, I mostly wore Stila lipsticks and I remember getting my very first tube of Nars at Barney’s. I also remember getting lipsticks from a company called Cargo. I remember Clinique and Estée Lauder for the gwp that my mom or older sisters would pass down to me. I had no idea what to do with eye shadows lol
Yes, I remember Cargo! The were really fun and had a lot of wearable products. At one point in time, they were at Sephora. I wonder what happened to them!
Hi Karen!
Soon after high school, I got a job at Prescriptives. I worked for them for several years and I think that is where my love for cosmetics grew. Oh, I miss their products from the 90s. The best lipsticks and skincare ever. And I still think that their aesthetic was on point. Although, I went through so much Calyx, I don’t know if I can wear it again lol
I wonder the same thing about Calyx, ha ha! There were days when I wore a questionable amount of it. HA HA HA!
Oh my god, your East Bay childhood is mine, only a few miles closer to the actual Bay. Not New Park, but Stoneridge in Pleasanton for me. Also, yes, Prescriptives was the shit. Their Traceless Tint was the forerunner of today’s “skin tint” trend. I love how younger millennials and Gen Z think this is new, but Prescriptives did this 30 years ago. Also, I went to Berkeley rather than Davis, but yes ma’am on the Clinique counter at the bookstore. And we used to go out to Walnut Creek to the Nordstrom for the MAC counter. I remember one of my sorority sisters took me to buy some MAC concealer because I was a sad case that didn’t know how to use all that stuff. I was considered good raw material that needed shaping by a bossy elder. I miss that girl, she’s probably like an NFL player’s wife now.
Did we lead parallel lives? LOL! I vaguely recall going to Stoneridge a couple times. Didn’t they have an Ultima II counter there? Now there’s a brand that takes me back!
Karen,
I was a big Prescriptives fan in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s after years of wearing Clinique. (I just learned that the owner of Chantecaille created that brand). They were one of the first brands to color code makeup. It was because Saks didn’t sell Prescriptives that I found myself at the new Bobbi Brown counter and became obsessed. y first BB exposure was the stick foundation. I also worked at Elizabeth Arden one Christmas season in between jobs.
Those are the brands I remember in my makeup beginnings.
Karen *** you brought up even more! Great reminiscing with you 🤍
Do you remember origins Spring Fever body soufflé?? I loved that stuff! Glorious smell!
And calyx was awesome!
I loved Ritz by Charles of the Ritz in the silver can. It was very confusing because they had Charles of the Ritz in the burgundy can, but it was a completely different smell. I loved Ritz. It’s a shame it was discontinued. I loved walking through the department stores after work and checking out the gwps every few weeks. The cosmetic counters have changed so much since the 80’s and 90’s. So many department stores have closed and the idea of buying Clinique at Target just doesn’t do it for me.
Borghese. Every so many years, I’ll google to see if Borghese (the new owner) or the descendants of Borghese have brought back their makeup line. And that’s how I came upon this site in 2024!