My drugstore obsessions started when I was fairly young. I would venture to guess that it was in my Fifth Grade year that I started to become slightly obsessed with a certain drugstore product. This would escalate over the years, and to this day I have a hard time curbing my spending at places such as Rite Aid and CVS.
I say this obsession started in the Fifth grade because this is when I was first introduced to the infamous Bonnie Bell Lipsmacker. I remember them well. The fat, fruit scented lip glosses that the girls collected and wore from little ropes around their necks. It was my first year at Hewitt and those lipsmackers seemed as much a part of the uniform as the little blue and white seersucker jumpers we wore with our white blouses beneath them. The lipsmackers came in an array of colors and flavors such as watermelon, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, grape, cherry, strawberry, bubble gum and Crush to name a few. I am pretty sure there were hundreds of flavors and I am pretty sure that my girlfriends and I owned them all. After a while the lipsmackers came out in a smaller, more compact pocket-sized version. We collected these too. (As do my kids now!) but the big fat ones that we wore around our necks will always have a special place in my beauty product past. From the lipsmackers we grew up and moved on to lip glosses in small glass bottles that rolled on when applied. The flavors were not nearly as good and some were downright offensive. But we loved the shininess it gave our lips. So grown up looking!
These Rachel Perry Lip Lover lip glosses were quite the rage for a while too!
In the 6th grade we were officially middle-schoolers. We traded our seersucker jumpers for black watch plaid kilts. We were hot stuff. Our gigantic lipsmackers were now but a distant memory though the lip gloss still held strong. At this point "iridescent"nail polish was all the rage. All the girls wore it and even though it was only slightly colored we were not allowed to wear it at school. If we had it on our nails we were told to remove it that night at home.
I began shaving my legs in the 6th grade. I had to have the Flicker disposable razors. I have no idea why, but I had to. It was during this time that my foray into the drugstore scene would turn into a slight obsession. I discovered the wonderful products that would epitomize the skin care regime of my youth. I would relish the smell and the feel of Noxema on my skin. I loved how it cooled and tingled. Sea Breeze was next on the list. I used it a lot in the summertime. It has a clean, refreshing and yet antiseptic smell that is quite pleasant. This is yet another scent that brings me right back to those middle school years. I'm pretty sure I had tubes of Clearasil though I really didn't need it. As a teenager I was blessed with beautiful skin. In fact I have more of a problem with pimples now than I did then!
I also discovered the wide, wonderful world of shampoo! First there was Clairol's Herbal Essence, then Pert. I wanted my hair to be perky like the models in the magazines and on TV. I wanted my fine, straight hair to become perky. These shampoos left me disappointed. I tried Body on Tap, the then popular shampoo made from beer. It smelled wonderful and I really did like how it left my hair. But because I am an advertiser's dream I have to try every new gimmick and product that enters the market. The next on my shampoo hit list, "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!" But it didn't end there... there was Alberta V-05, and Faberge Organic shampoo so good that you'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and so on and so on and so on... and then, before we knew it we were in the throws of 80s television, Dallas and Dynasty ruled the nighttime airwaves. We tuned in to watch the beautiful Victoria Principal endorse Jhirmack shampoo. (Click on highlighted links for original commercials!)
Now that we had fabulous shampoos, we needed things in our hair. Painted barrettes and ribbon barrettes became a huge sensation. The painted barrettes had all sorts of patterns on them. I had a couple of pairs with my name painted on them as well. At the same time the ribbon barrettes were making their way into fashion history. They started out innocently enough before they started to dangle with braids, beads and even, gasp, feathers. I remember nothing so vividly as the wildly popular b&d barrette. They were German and plastic and round and came in all sorts of wonderful colors. They were not inexpensive and still you had to have them all. They also made a smaller version that was straight, narrow and had a tiny silver diamond stud at the end. I had to have them all. These barrettes were my hair candy and worn by every New York City schoolgirl!
These barrettes were not found just anywhere, though eventually knock-offs could be found at your local drugstore. But no one wanted these knock-offs. They were visibly different from the originals. Lucky me, I had the lovely Zitomer's Pharmacy in my neighborhood. It was more than just a pharmacy. It was a drugstore to beat all drugstore. It carried items your average drugstore couldn't. It was there that I purchased my d&b barrettes as well as my first Mason Pearson hairbrush.
Did you have braided barrettes like these? What about the ones below?
What are some of your favorite beauty items from your youth?
I say this obsession started in the Fifth grade because this is when I was first introduced to the infamous Bonnie Bell Lipsmacker. I remember them well. The fat, fruit scented lip glosses that the girls collected and wore from little ropes around their necks. It was my first year at Hewitt and those lipsmackers seemed as much a part of the uniform as the little blue and white seersucker jumpers we wore with our white blouses beneath them. The lipsmackers came in an array of colors and flavors such as watermelon, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, grape, cherry, strawberry, bubble gum and Crush to name a few. I am pretty sure there were hundreds of flavors and I am pretty sure that my girlfriends and I owned them all. After a while the lipsmackers came out in a smaller, more compact pocket-sized version. We collected these too. (As do my kids now!) but the big fat ones that we wore around our necks will always have a special place in my beauty product past. From the lipsmackers we grew up and moved on to lip glosses in small glass bottles that rolled on when applied. The flavors were not nearly as good and some were downright offensive. But we loved the shininess it gave our lips. So grown up looking!
In the 6th grade we were officially middle-schoolers. We traded our seersucker jumpers for black watch plaid kilts. We were hot stuff. Our gigantic lipsmackers were now but a distant memory though the lip gloss still held strong. At this point "iridescent"nail polish was all the rage. All the girls wore it and even though it was only slightly colored we were not allowed to wear it at school. If we had it on our nails we were told to remove it that night at home.
I began shaving my legs in the 6th grade. I had to have the Flicker disposable razors. I have no idea why, but I had to. It was during this time that my foray into the drugstore scene would turn into a slight obsession. I discovered the wonderful products that would epitomize the skin care regime of my youth. I would relish the smell and the feel of Noxema on my skin. I loved how it cooled and tingled. Sea Breeze was next on the list. I used it a lot in the summertime. It has a clean, refreshing and yet antiseptic smell that is quite pleasant. This is yet another scent that brings me right back to those middle school years. I'm pretty sure I had tubes of Clearasil though I really didn't need it. As a teenager I was blessed with beautiful skin. In fact I have more of a problem with pimples now than I did then!
We all had girl crushes on Kim Alexis and wanted to look just like her!
I also discovered the wide, wonderful world of shampoo! First there was Clairol's Herbal Essence, then Pert. I wanted my hair to be perky like the models in the magazines and on TV. I wanted my fine, straight hair to become perky. These shampoos left me disappointed. I tried Body on Tap, the then popular shampoo made from beer. It smelled wonderful and I really did like how it left my hair. But because I am an advertiser's dream I have to try every new gimmick and product that enters the market. The next on my shampoo hit list, "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!" But it didn't end there... there was Alberta V-05, and Faberge Organic shampoo so good that you'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and so on and so on and so on... and then, before we knew it we were in the throws of 80s television, Dallas and Dynasty ruled the nighttime airwaves. We tuned in to watch the beautiful Victoria Principal endorse Jhirmack shampoo. (Click on highlighted links for original commercials!)
Now that we had fabulous shampoos, we needed things in our hair. Painted barrettes and ribbon barrettes became a huge sensation. The painted barrettes had all sorts of patterns on them. I had a couple of pairs with my name painted on them as well. At the same time the ribbon barrettes were making their way into fashion history. They started out innocently enough before they started to dangle with braids, beads and even, gasp, feathers. I remember nothing so vividly as the wildly popular b&d barrette. They were German and plastic and round and came in all sorts of wonderful colors. They were not inexpensive and still you had to have them all. They also made a smaller version that was straight, narrow and had a tiny silver diamond stud at the end. I had to have them all. These barrettes were my hair candy and worn by every New York City schoolgirl!
These barrettes were not found just anywhere, though eventually knock-offs could be found at your local drugstore. But no one wanted these knock-offs. They were visibly different from the originals. Lucky me, I had the lovely Zitomer's Pharmacy in my neighborhood. It was more than just a pharmacy. It was a drugstore to beat all drugstore. It carried items your average drugstore couldn't. It was there that I purchased my d&b barrettes as well as my first Mason Pearson hairbrush.
Image courtesy Style Hive
Did you have braided barrettes like these? What about the ones below?
Courtesy image on Flickr
The 1980s would also introduce me to Sun-In. My hair could go blonde without the sun, but from the heat of the blow dryer alone! Only my hair managed not to turn the golden blonde I had hoped. Instead I would inevitable look like a cross between an Irish Setter and a Golden Retriever. It took many, many years before I would learn my lesson and stop using the stuff!
I was never able to look like the pretty girl pictured above, sigh...
I did find that certain scents did not disappoint. As we ventured our way deeper into middle school our classroom would smell like a mixture of Jean Nate, Love's Baby Soft and Cacharel's Anais Anais perfumes. I had to have them all and I am sure I wore them all at once! Most likely I would have stepped out of the shower having shaved with my Daisy razor, hair clean with Jhirmack shampoo and conditioner and then a not so gentle slather of Jean Nate after bath splash followed, I am sure, by a spritz of Love's Baby Soft and then some Anais Anais for good measure!
and then I started to realize that beauty was not only skin deep. I learned that what you ate and drank really affected how you looked as well. I was a young teenager when Diet Coke came on to the scene. There was such hoopla and media frenzy over this new cola in a white can with red writing. It was sweeter than the Tab I was occasionally allowed to have. This new drink that helped to re-spark the Cola Wars, with it's catchy new jingle, "you're going to drink it just for the taste of it" changed my world forever!
I still have a soft spot for this pink can... but as soon as Diet Coke burst on to the market I left it for a new, younger, newer model!
and since we are talking Cola and Cola wars... we can't not mention these few favorite ads... Oh how what fun I am having with these!
The Choice of a New Generation... and what movie inspired this Pepsi commercial?
and while I was watching my girlish figure while reading Seventeen and Tiger Beat I would sometimes take a break from diet Coke and have one of these...
gosh that stuff was good!
As I got older, 8th grade -- perhaps 9th, my tastes matured and got more expensive. I learned about the world of Clinique which I would use throughout my teenage years. My drugstore, Zitomer's, which was really so much more carried all the pricier items that could not be found at the Duane Reades and the like in Manhattan. I wanted that popular yellow Dramatically Different Moisturizing Cream (I don't think that stuff really works by the way!) and my Toning Lotion.
I also discovered Neutrogena products in my teens. To this day I still love to go into CVS and find all sorts of good stuff from shampoos to lotions to lip glosses and shower gels... I pick stuff up for Rebecca as well. She has a bottle of Love's Baby Soft (next to a bottle of Juicy!) sitting on her dresser. And still, to this day I'll pick up a soft drink. Though Tab is not readily available and Pepsi Light no longer exists and diet Coke is no longer new and has been replaced as my favorite by Coke Zero! My favorite "drugstore" brand is still Neutrogena. I love the Sesame Oil, and the Norwegian Formula lotion. I often get their anti residue shampoo. Though I guarantee you should a bottle of Body on Tap or Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific reappear back onto the shelves I would swoop it up in no time!