Beauty Icons of Yesteryear

Going with something lighter and a little shallow today - the women who defined beauty for me in the late '90s and early 2000s!

There was once a life-size poster of this black-and-white Estee Lauder ad in our local mall.  I remember just standing there and being mesmerized by it.  My teenage self was convinced that Elizabeth Hurley was the epitome of beauty and class (pre-Austin Powers, of course). lol  She did approximately 500 other ads for Estee Lauder, many of which were more globally popular (based on how long it took me to find this particular photo), but this was the clear favorite for me, and still what would immediately come to mind if I put on any Estee Lauder makeup or perfume!

Total twinsies, right!? ;-)  I remember feeling so grown up and proud of this tapered-bob haircut in 8th grade, and I can almost promise I was thinking of Liz and this ad when I did my hair for this 1998 photo!

Next up is everyone's favorite older sister, DJ Tanner.  Candace Cameron had a natural beauty and radiant joy, a round face, golden-blonde hair, and a fluctuating body size that made her character more real and relatable for me.  That coupled with me growing up as she was growing up on TV, so her '90s fashion choices all felt perfectly on point!

Once again, I loved her shorter haircut in the final season of Full House and equated that with being a real grown up!

1995 Alicia Silverstone, more specifically Cher in Clueless.  Her vocabulary, confidence, wardrobe, hairstyles, lip liner, workout routine, pink fuzzy pen, leather jacket, cute heels, plaid suit, sheer overshirt, and wide-eyed innocent look were all things I very much tried to emulate! lol

Jennifer as Rachel Karen Green... not so much in the famous "Rachel haircut" look of season 1, but this exact hair from Season 3 of Friends was her best look, in my opinion!  As a die-hard Friends fan, I appreciate how often Rachel's hairstyle, hair color, and clothing style changed throughout that 10-year period.  It inspired me to remix it up and keep trying new things, and I'm glad for that!

My favorite actress through most of childhood was easily Julia Roberts - loved several of her movies, and I loved her red hair, brown eyes, big smile, and full laugh!  This red dress scene from Pretty Woman gets all the attention - and I get it, the red dress and red lipstick and ruby necklace are pretty fab...

But it's this quieter scene for me.  He totally misses her at first, then does a doubletake when he recognizes this transformed version of her.  She gets up with her fancy clutch purse in hand and says, "You're late."  And he's totally smitten...

The summer before my senior year at CHA, Elle Woods was there to help me see what college life might be like! lol  I love Reese to this day, and I loved Elle's joy, ambition, resilience, and nearly every makeup, clothing, shoes, and hair decision she made in that 2001 movie!!  Loud and sparkly and pink ...and scented - it gives it a little something extra, don't you think!?  ;-)

And finally, pre-addiction-struggles Lindsay Lohan was the fashion icon of my early 20s.  JMM and Sarah and I were obsessed with quoting Mean Girls at the time.  She inspired my first set of extensions (red, obvi), and I still have this page from 2004's 50 Most Beautiful People Magazine saved in a box somewhere.

So there you have it.  Elizabeth, Candace, Alicia, Jennifer, Julia, Reese, and Lindsay... the top 7 women who had a positive influence on my young adult makeup, hair, and clothing decisions! lol

Now that I'm officially in the "midlife" stage, I feel more grateful than ever for all the things that make my face and body and story unique.  I'm happy with who I am today and excited about who I'm becoming!

To give this post a little more substance, I'll end with one of my favorite quotes on beauty. ❤ 

“We desire to possess a beauty that is worth pursuing, worth fighting for, a beauty that is core to who we truly are.  We want beauty that can be seen; beauty that can be felt; beauty that affects others; a beauty all our own to unveil...  A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough.  She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that He find her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in Him, she is enough.  Her soul is alive, and we are drawn to her!"  ~John and Stasi Eldredge, Captivating