One of our favourite pastimes is to wake in the middle of the night in a fevered sweat remembering ~that~ glitter blue eyeshadow, candyfloss flavoured lip gloss combo sported with a butterfly clip-laden crimped hair 'do we wore to the school dance.
And that's because our beauty regrets haunt us to this very day - even after we've deleted every piece of evidence of them from the internet.
Listen to You Beauty, the Mamamia podcast for your face, where Kelly and Leigh explore whether your makeup has actually expired. Post continues below.
So to join together in embarrassing harmony, we thought we'd recap the worst of the worst when it comes to beauty trends that we attempted (read: failed) during our teenage years.
Read them and (probably) weep.
Chunky coloured highlights.
The official ambassador of this trend is, of course, Christina Aguilera. Circa 'Diiiiiirty era, obviously. This tragic trend was the absolute tits for about three and a half weeks - giving thousands of people just enough time to completely destroy their hair.
Tadpole brows.
If there’s anything we’ve learned from our past beauty mistakes it’s this: PUT THE TWEEZERS DOWN. RIGHT NOW.
We were all slightly over-plucked in our youth, but there was a certain ‘breed’ of brow that we particularly regret and that’s the infamous Tadpole.
Skinny on the ends with a chunky centre, this style sits right at the top of our long list of beauty regrets.
Butterfly clips.
Me: "This is going to look so cute and yet so sophisticated and unique."
Narrator: This was very far from the truth.
Twisty tops.
Not the official name, but whatever this nonsense was where you twisted just the top part of your hair to give it some half-arsed-dreadlock volume. Pair this with some chunky under-highlights a la Christina and you have a *chefs kiss* look.
"S**t strands".
These two words haunt a heck of a lot of Facebook photos. Those two strands seem innocent enough but they have the unique power to frame a face in the worst way possible.
Surprising perhaps every woman scarred by this beauty regret, the aforementioned strands have made somewhat of a comeback - with the likes of Dua Lipa and Bella Hadid actively wearing them out and about.
We’re confused too.
Those hair scrunchies with fake hair coming out of them
Sorry, but what the actual f**k were these?!
Those gold 'flash tattoos'.
Yet another festival trend that was not… it.
Emo haircuts.
Say hello to larger-than-life side fringes that perfectly conceal all the feelings you are desperately trying not to show anywhere other than your Tumblr page.
Blue eyeshadow and pink lip gloss.
It was ~the~ combo of the early 2000s and we all gave it a red hot go.
Even Megan Fox attempted it and proved that no one on this cruel, cruel earth can make this beauty trend work.
Crimped hair.
What we’re learning here is that Christina is the queen of beauty trends we’d rather forget. And for that, we thank her.
Another stellar trend that the Genie In A Bottle singer championed was crimped hair. This was the style that we have all tried at least once, have been so excited to look in the mirror and then saw this staring back at us instead.
Dammit.
Feature Image: Mamamia.
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