I Can Hear "Before They Were Stars" Knocking Now...

Yesterday morning, a friend of mine posted a whole bunch of our high school pictures on Facebook. It was a hoot commenting on all the photos, catching up with old school chums, and giggling at how young we all looked, but I also spent most of the morning cringing.

 

Dear God. I was a dork. I...I had no idea.

 

I even commented as much (on one photo where I was the ONLY person doing an actual pose), and realized, from the replies, that I wasn't the only one who felt that way. We were all dorks. Girls were fussing about their makeup and clothes. Guys were embarrassed over the goofy faces they'd made. Luckily, we all seem to have grown out of the awkwardness, and we all have good senses of humor so we can look back and laugh.

 

Now, at the time these pictures were taken, we thought we looked good. None of us ever thought we'd be pointing and laughing at ourselves thirteen years later, but there we were. It makes sense, though. We were all very trend-conscious at the time, but styles change. The tucked in t-shirt look went out with the crimson lipstick and tawny eyeshadows. Chunky highlights are now just as passe as Y2K. I know that seventeen years from now, my little brother is going to look back on his pictures and wonder why in the heck no one told him that [insert trend here] looked stupid. I certainly wish someone had intervened on my baseball cap phase.

 

Today's highschoolers are tomorrow's chagrined adults. There's, unfortunately, nothing to be done about that. One of life's cruel jests, I'd say. However, I do have few tips that might soften the blow a bit.

 

1. Take care of your skin. This goes for boys and girls alike. Someday down the road, you might be laughing at the stupid Santa hat you wore to the class party, but at least your skin will look good--both the picture and in the present. My suggestion is Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser. It's what I used all through high school, and worked like a charm. It wards off acne, leaves a cooling sensation, and doesn't dry skin. I used to leave it on for a couple of minutes, like a mask, and never worried about breakouts. $7.99, Drugstore.com.

 

2. Get a haircut! Seriously. Find a stylist that you trust, and get a good, classic cut that requires minimal effort to maintain. You're not going to want to blow-out or curl your hair every morning, are you? Then, keep your locks in top notch shape with a good shampoo and conditioner. This set from Sephora boasts a hydrating shampoo, leave in conditioner, dry shampoo (for when you oversleep, or for after P.E.), hairspray, and the argan oil that my hair stylist swears by. $30, Sephora. 

 

3. Fix your face (but keep it classy). Nothing dates a picture like makeup. Watch an episode of season one Buffy, the original 90210, or the first movie in the Scream series, and check out all the brown makeup. Eyeshadow, blush, lipstick...everything was muddy. The 60s had doe eyes. The 70s were all about nudes. The 80s were...well, a technicolor disaster. I don't know what's going to date today's makeup, but I can assure you that a fresh-faced, clean look is always in style. This set from Bare Escentuals comes with a brightening face primer for luminous skin, eyeshadow in a flattering peachy tone that wakes up the eye area, a youthful pink blush, volumizing mascara, a golden-toned pink-grapefruit lipgloss, and blending brush, plus instructions from the pros on how to apply everything. $39, Sephora. Girls on the go might want to try Sephora's own makeup palette to go. It's about the size of an iPhone, and holds eight versatile, coordinating eyeshadows, four glosses, and a peachy blush (comparable to NARS Orgasm). It's only $15, and $1 of each pretty pink palette sold goes to Breast Cancer research.

Good luck, kids. Just remember to be yourselves, and hone that sense of humor.