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History of  Makeup The Evolution of Beauty Through TimeHistory of Makeup
The 1990s Era

1990s Makeup: The Artist at the Counter

Makeup artists put their names on the counter, a lipstick was sold for an AIDS fund with a drag queen as its face, a new company asked whether pink made you puke, and a French shop let its customers pick up the tester themselves.

The essayThe Artist at the Counter

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A 1990s collage: a drawn colour portrait of a young woman with warm brown skin, straight centre-parted hair, natural brows, a soft matte brown eye and a matte brown-based mouth, surrounded by a square black lipstick case with a brown bullet raised, a deep red lipstick, small bottles of nail enamel in blackberry and metallic green, a looped red ribbon, a card of tester swatches and a torn fashion sketch.
Commissioned illustration
1990 – 1999Artists & Outsiders
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The 1990s Era: The Chronology

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In short

The 1990s opened with a makeup artist’s ten brown-based lipsticks at Bergdorf Goodman, saw M·A·C sell a red lipstick for its AIDS fund with RuPaul as its face and Urban Decay ask whether pink made you puke, and closed with Sephora’s first American store, every tester within reach.

The 1990s Era at a Glance

  • The Artist’s LineMakeup artists sold their own ranges, and wrote the method down.
  • Against PinkBrown-based lipsticks, matte neutrals and colours named for the city.
  • Viva GlamA lipstick sold for an AIDS fund, with RuPaul as its face.
  • The Open ShelfSelf-service beauty reached New York at the end of the decade.

In the 1990s Era

Artists & Outsiders

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