Old Favorites Revisited and Revived--NYC Sparkle Eye Dusts, Wet N Wild Bronzers and a pinch of glitter...

The other day, I got bored and decided to play with some of my really OLD products that I haven't used in years. When I got out my "old stuff" box and pulled these guys out, I was hit with a wave of general nostalgia coupled with a "holy crap I forgot how awesome this stuff is" feeling. It was THEN that I realized (cue dramatic music)--I MUST post about these:

(click to enlarge)

First stop on my walk down memory lane: NYC Sparkle Eye Dust in Pink Champagne.

top of container

the elements of the container

Oh NYC Sparkle Eye Dust, how I loved you so. I used this stuff every day for the longest time. I would sweep it over my lids and apply mascara. It was part of my "can't leave the house without doing this" routine. And believe it or not, back then, I actually used the annoying little brush thingy that comes in the container. Then I had kids and basically forgot about makeup for about 6 years. 

Late last year, I rediscovered the wonderful, fun, sparkling world of beauty and actually started buying makeup again. I was delighted to see that NYC STILL makes this gorgeous eye dust and they had since come out with new shades. I grabbed the other shades I saw on the shelf and skipped merrily home (ok so I walked out of the store like normal but on the inside, I was skipping)...

NYC Sparkle Eye Dust in Baby Blue, Opal, and Smokey Topaz

Yep they even come in the same silly container.

from top to bottom: Pink Champagne, Smokey Topaz, Baby Blue, Opal

Here they are swatched on bare skin using the included brush (although when I actually apply it to my face, I take the brush thingy out, then close the lid, turn the container upside down and give it a few shakes so some of the product falls into the cap & then I use my trusty ELF shadow brush to apply it). They are so pretty and also so ridiculously hard to photograph. These dusts have such a luster about them. They are very finely milled and they almost melt into the skin. Pink Champagne is still my favorite. It's one of those multi-tasker products you can apply anywhere you want the light to catch. And despite the fact that I've had it for years and used to use it all the time, there is still plenty of product left because a little bit goes such a long way. 

Baby blue is more a pastel turquoise than a blue and I love to layer it over matte blue shadows to give them a little sparkle. It's also fun to layer over a white shadow base, too. It's not as finely milled as the other shades but it's still super easy to work with and has that same gorgeous luster. 

Opal is a real stunner. It looks like a shimmery white powder in the pic but in real life it has this crazy brilliant purple/blue flash. If you layer it over black, it turns it into a rich sapphire shade that's just jaw-dropping. SO amazing--especially when you consider it's only, like 4 bucks!

Next stop on our walk: Wet n Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow.

About a month or so ago, I read on my beloved Nouveau Cheap they were reincarnating and re-releasing this long discontinued shade of bronzer. When I read the post, I had a sudden flashback & was all "omg I TOTALLY still have my Acapulco Glow" and promptly dug it out and I've been using it every day since. I bought it long ago and I would always layer it over blush and sometimes used it on my eyelids too. Of course, when I heard they were repackaging and releasing Acapulco Glow as a Coloricon bronzer called "Reserve Your Cabana" I just had to grab one and I couldn't resist comparing the old against the new version. Check it:

Here we have Acapulco Glow on the top and Reserve Your Cabana on the bottom. To my eye, Acapulco Glow has a smidge more sheen to it than Reserve Your Cabana but maybe that's just nostalgia talking. Either way, I'm thrilled Wet N Wild brought it back because I've been loving it since I rediscovered it and now I have a back-up for when it runs out!

Our final stop on this tour of my beloved beauty items of yesteryear is my favorite one yet, but that's because of all the memories I have associated with it:

This is Wet N Wild "Loose Confetti" in Silver Dust and it is one of the oldest makeup products in my collection (it's beaten by only one other product--a L'Oreal lipstick I've had since I was 13 years old). Note the old-school label. I got this when I was in high school. Now back then, I was way into rockin this sort of Cyber Punk with a Goth twist look--army fatigues, neon shirts, bright pink hair, dog collar, Doc Martens, black lipstick and metallic makeup. Oh yea, I was quite the mish-mash--a walking Identity Crisis. 

Now back then, finding anything remotely fun or edgy in a drugstore was nearly impossible and I'd have to save up my allowance to get Manic Panic makeup & hair dye at Zipper Head on South Street (Philly shout out!)...and that stuff took quite the bite out of my adolescent finances. So when I found this glitter  in CVS one day,  I flipped and I bought like 5 pots of it. I mixed it in liquid foundation, patted it over lip gloss, mixed it into my lotion and hair gel, sprinkled it onto wet nail polish. You name it, I added this stuff to it. It's such a fine, weightless glitter--so finely cut it's almost a powder and, provided you use primer and pat it on, you can get it to opacity and it truly does look like solid metal when you do. 

When I went to photograph this, though, I didn't have much luck. My camera kept freaking out at the sparkle and either blurring it out or whiting the entire shot out. This shot is the best I could get. This is the glitter swiped over bare skin with my finger tip.

womp womp womp...

I know I hype it up so much then show such a crappy pic of it. I guess it doesn't matter because this stuff has been long discontinued and I don't think there's a revival in sight, so a decent pic would just toy with your emotions in the end...

Oh the cosmetic relics of my past. It's funny how there are certain things we hold onto for years and years...what items have you had forever? What prompted you to hold onto them?