As a “teenager,” the glowing images of Seventeen magazine, movies like “She’s All That,” and clothing catalogs like Alloy and Delias were my guides to what was cool in 1999. Well, that and anything my older sister said it was great. If you’re around my age, you may remember these trends fondly, as I do, or you may remember them with horror, as I do. Here’s a list to look back on and shrug about.

Lips

Bonne Bell Lip Smackers were essential for any tween. My favorites were the jumbo-sized versions with flecks of glitter. Shine aside, the biggest selling point for these balms was the crazy flavors. We’re talking Kool Aid, Dr. Pepper, Starburst, Cotton Candy, and even birthstone-inspired flavors. For those of us too young to wear lipstick, Lip Smackers were our favorite beauty tool that went with us wherever we went.

Glow in the dark nail polish

I wish I could remember the exact brand I first used as a kid. The idea of ​​playing Bloody Mary in a dark bathroom with luminescent hands seemed like the coolest thing in the world. As lovely as this polish was, it had a horrible chalky texture that felt awful when rubbed against anything.

glitter gel for eyes

With the millennium approaching, every tween looked to the future and imagined the dazzling opportunities that awaited us in the year 2000. In preparation, we used celebratory glitter. Glitter is still popular as long as it’s used in extreme moderation, but the type I, and many others, used to wear was anything but easy to wear. The gel would separate the glitter pieces so you would end up with a lot of goo and no sparkle. The gel took hours to dry, and sadly, you never looked like the pop star you aspired to be.

butterfly hair clips

If there was one hair accessory you owned in 1999 besides elastics, it was butterfly barrettes. They came in all different colors and were essentially decorative mini claw clips. They were mostly great for cutting small strands of hair, as horrible as that sounds, but worst of all, most people wore them in conjunction with mini bows. This particular look was cute and playful on a child, but let’s not pretend that we never saw grown women rocking this look as well.

Plastic tattoo chokers

Using these drove me crazy. As soon as he put one on me, he was eager to take it off. It didn’t matter that these were nothing like tattoos, they were a HUGE trend. These might have been more popular than puka shell necklaces, multicolored rubber bracelets, and toe rings. Although this might have been the quintessential jewelry of choice for late ’90s tweens, my favorites were BFF bracelets and mood rings.