My Childhood Beauty Inspirations

I was recently thinking about how impactful your childhood and early teen years can be when it comes to your beauty and pop culture tastes.  Those preferences can stick with you for life!  Sure, I don't paint glitter into my eyelids anymore (hello, 8th grade) but I still have quite the penchant for shimmer and giant hair.  

I can easily list all the pop culture figures that influenced my style and beauty choices (for better or worse) and, lucky you, I have! Take a sneaky peak at my biggest childhood beauty inspirations.  

Jem: not afraid of a little color

Jem is a beacon of light and beauty and she will forever be a beauty inspiration for me.  JUST LOOK AT HER.  You cannot deny it.  The hair, my god the hair.  Perfection.  The eye makeup?  Masterful. As a 5 year girl, Jem was exactly the type of woman I wanted to be when I grew up: a shape-changing secret rockstar who also ran a children's orphange with her bandmates while also fighting off a rival band.  Or something.  It explains my affinity for giant hair to this day.  Though if I'm being honest, I had more of a mental connection with Kimber #littlesisterprobz

And I'm just sayin', I may have typed "Jem earrings" into my Etsy search bar as a grown woman.  

Werk it gurl

Jessica Rabbit

Let's all agree that it's possible to be jealous of a cartoon.  It's also possible to be attracted to a cartoon but we won't get into that here (Call me, Gaston.  YES I LIKE THE VILLAIN.  What does that say about me?).  Jessica Rabbit is visual perfection, in my humble opinion.  She is a vision of womanhood.  And can we take a moment to appreciate the lid space on her eyes?  I'd kill for that lid space.  And that confidence.  That's what I admire most.  Ok, also the glamour, I admire the glamour.  

My dream hair

Fran Drescher as The Nanny

Guys, the Nanny was, in my opinion, the epitome of fabulous 90's fashion.  I feel the 90's went one of 2 ways: supermodel fabulous or grungey chic.  While I had my (attempted) moments at grungey chic (and by that I mean I tied a flannel around my waist and wrote "Nirvana" on my notebook cover), I was really a "90's supermodel fabulous" girl at heart.    And The Nanny was just so tacky and perfect.  She was accessible 90's fabulous.  And again, the hhaaaiiiirrr.  Dark brown, gigantic and curly.  Literally my dream hair.  I watched The Nanny during my peak awkward years (of which I've never fully emerged) and I just longed to look like her.  

A smoldering bitch with amazing eye makeup

Goldie Hawn in Overboard

Obviously I loved her when she was rich and a terrible snob.  But what a fashionable snob she was!  Hats and ball gowns and long red nails.  The woman wore various flowers and faux fruit in her hair for heaven's sake.  She was gorgeous.  So much of that movie was so over my head when I watched it as a kid but I knew I thought Goldie Hawn was a vision of style and class, albeit a giant bitch too.  

Lucille Ball

I've watched so much I Love Lucy in my life.  It was somehow always on daytime TV and I spent many lazy summer days watching marathons.  I would go as far as to say I've seen every single episode, probably at least twice.  Naturally, I thought Lucy was so stylish, wearing a full skirt while making breakfast or vacuuming.  She had what my grandma would call "Milkdud fingers."  Apparently, there was a Milkdud commercial on many years ago in black and white and the woman must have had painted nails but they showed mostly dark on the black and white film.  Whenever I wore dark nail polish growing up, my grandma would call them "Milkdud fingers."  Lucy occasionally had manicured "Milkdud fingers" too and I loved them.  Beyond that, she had perfect brows and lips and someone knew their way around a contour kit.  

I'd like to also throw in some honorable mentions for Monica and Rachel on Friends.  But then again, every girl who grew up in the 90's would feel the same way.  Also, to a lesser extent, Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All but I didn't quite idolize her like I did the others.  I mostly appreciated her strong sense of individuality and her combat boots.    

So who were your beauty inspirations?