30 People On The Most Embarrassing 00’s Beauty Trends They Rocked
Let’s face it. The 2000s was not a great time to be a teenager, beauty-wise. Our icons were Britney and Christina with their pin-straight hair and low-rise jeans, eyes slathered with icy metallic eyeshadow. There was entirely too much shiny lipgloss on everyone’s lips. We wore way too much sticky-sweet body spray and had no idea how to properly wear eyeliner. We plucked our eyebrows into little sperm shapes and thought we looked fine as hell.
Everyone thinks the beauty trends of their teen years were hideous in hindsight, but the ‘00s really take the cake. I asked my peers what their worst ‘00s beauty moments were, and which ones they’d never dream of repeating even when the trends cycle back around.
Did you fall victim to silver eyeshadow or too much tanning bed time? Were you slathered in sparkly vanilla lotion? Were your curls crunchy as hell? Share your worst ‘00s beauty moments in the comments!
1.
“When I was in high school, it was the era of super-straight hair. I had curls. My poor, fried hair. I still remember that giant flat iron and yanking my hair through it. I also had that horrid ‘flippy’ bob inspired by Reese Witherspoon. I thought it looked super cute with this nasty heavy Clinique lipgloss. I can still taste it.” — Kara
2.
“I really wonder how I kissed boys while wearing MAC Lip Glass all the time. That shit was like GLUE.” — Sally
3.
“Chunky highlights. This is me at prom.” — Ally
4.
“Oh god … any of the frosty light blue or pink makeup I thought was a good idea, and all those sparkly butterfly clips in my hair.” — Krystal
5.
“[All the lip gloss] that turned your lips into a sticky melted Jolly Rancher. In a bad way.” — Claire
6.
“Rollerball sparkly eyeshadows were my life, and I lived for my crimper.” — Aubrey
7.
“I used to wear gems above my eyebrows a la Gwen Stefani. Black-lined lips and baby blue eyeshadow, and those awkward ‘cornrows’ with butterfly clips.” — Lindsay
8.
“I always wanted the gel ‘scrunched’ wet crispy curls look, but my hair was so straight it never worked.” — Ali
9.
“My worst look was definitely crunchy mousse curls with gelled bangs pinned to the side and clear, thick as honey lip gloss.” — Erica
10.
“Bright pink MAC eyeshadow with no mascara.” — Norah
11.
“Frosted tips.” — Jack
12.
“This haircut, best known as the ‘shotgun blast’ or ‘duck butt’ of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s hardcore kids. I had this haircut for far too long, in both over-processed blonde and black. Always THICK black liner, only on the bottom.” — Martine
13.
“Sooooo much gel. My curls were hard and scary.” — Jamie
14.
“I really loved those stick-on crystals. I’d wear them all the time, and I’d take a tweezer and line my upper lash line with them. I was all about that extreme sparkle and shine life.” — Tamara
15.
“Pink eyeshadow, black liner in just the waterlines, and sperm brows. OMG! I thought I was hot shit.” — Britny
16.
“Being tanorexic. Excessive bronzer. The three-barrel wave. Thick as balls black eyeliner, and super light pink or frosted lip gloss worn every day. I could go on.” — Emily
17.
“White foundation from Hot Topic.” — Natasha
18.
“White/pastel eyeshadow.” — Literally Everyone
18.
“Foundation all over my face and lips, and Chapstick on top for that invisible look.” — Danielle
20.
“White eyeliner and those tiny weird eyebrows.” — Brittany
21.
“Chunky bleach blonde zebra highlights. Just streaks of blonde. So bad.” — Rachel
22.
“Straightening my wavy hair like crazy instead of embracing my natural waves and getting a cut that helped with it. I wish I’d owned a damn diffuser.” — Samantha
23.
“I used a white slick stick on my eyes with a ton of glitter in middle school and smelled like a cucumber melon stink bomb. Black liner on waterline and glitter lipgloss. I also had black, red and platinum highlights at one point and wore water bras every day. In high school I graduated to a very intense smoky eye that I learned from the MAC counter. I would wake up early just to do my smoky eye and straighten my already very straight hair.” — Brittani
24.
“Black liner on my lower waterline, and no other eye makeup. SHUDDER. I bought MAC Lip Glass in Prrr because I read in ‘CosmoGIRL’ it was what Paris Hilton wore. My super sticky lip glosses would get so dusty and dirty rolling around in my L.A.M.B purses from TJ Maxx.” — Ashlie
25.
“There was a sad phase of THICK white eyeliner + loads of glitter. I favored a glitter on a stick with really big chunks. The big glitter flakes hurt my eyelids, but beauty is pain, right?” — Teresa
26.
“Bronzer. No foundation. I went through an entire compact of bronzer in a month.” — Leah
27.
“Glitter eyeshadow during the day was my fave.” — Tara
28.
“Silver eyeshadow with electric blue mascara. I overplucked my brows once and so I overcompensated by filling in my bare eyebrow area skin with glittery brown shadow.” — Sarah
29.
“Here are some things I wouldn’t do again: super tan skin – from a tanning bed – with jet black dyed hair. Very Xtina. Crest WhiteStrips every. single. day. Casual brushed out three-barrel iron hair.” — Maritza
30.
“Glitter rollerballs rolled on my cheekbones. Very early ‘00s middle school.” — Allie 
