10 Items ALL 90's Teenage Girls Had in Their Handbag!

If, like me, you spent your formative teenage years in the 1990s, you are bound to remember these absolute handbag essentials!

1. Perfume - Exclamat!on or CK One

It will come as no surprise to you that I had both! There were so many awesome scents that we HAD to have in the nineties. Some of my other favourites were of course The Body Shop White Musk or Dewberry sprays. There were a lot of Charlie Red fans too, but that never did it for me. CK One was a cool new revolutionary scent as it was unisex, so suddenly you and him could have the same fragrance. We were suitably amazed and impressed! Quite frankly nowadays I don't let anyone touch my perfume so you wouldn't find me sharing it with Simon that's for sure!

2. Mood Ring

These. Were. Incredible. A cool piece of jewellery that didn't only look awesome, but also changed colour depending on your mood. Seriously? Well, no. I was more inclined to change my mood depending on the mood that the mood ring said I was meant to be in. But anyway, whatever, minor details, These were cool. End of.

3. Brown Lip Liner

Brown lip liner was most definitely my thing back in the day. And I'm not gonna lie, in the absence of actual brown lip liner, I would just use eyeliner! I would line my lips then fill in with a clear lip gloss. yes really.
The thing is, I really thought I looked like this...

When in actual fact, I am now fully aware that I just looked like this...

In my defence, we didn't have YouTube makeup tutorials back then!!

4. Butterfly Clips

I mean, there was nothing cooler than clipping your hair back in thin rows and securing with butterfly clips in a rainbow of colours. It was good enough for Billie Piper and Sarah Michelle Gellar, so I was all over it and never left the house without spares. It was also a bit of an unspoken competition as to who could fit the most of these glittery little critters in their hair on non uniform day...

5. Flavoured Lip Balm

So many flavours. So little time. Lip balm was the absolute holy grail for us 90s teen girls. For me, at a strict Catholic school, it was the nearest thing to lip gloss we could wear and who doesn't want their lips to taste and smell like Coca Cola?! Let's face it, we wanted the boys to find our fruity pouts irresistible too!

6. Nokia Mobile Phone (with an assortment of fascias!)

Yes it was a mobile phone. Did it have a touch screen? Nope. Did it have a camera? Nope. Did it have a colour screen? Nope. But it did have Snake. And that was simply the best mobile game ever invented. And I'll tell you what else was awesome about this phone - one full charge would last you 3 or 4 days! Yes, really!
There was no end to the amount of replacement fascias you could get for your Nokia - my fave was the pink Purple Ronnie one pictured above, complete with cheeky poem on the back cover!

7. Multi Colour Pen

You never know when you might need a pen. But more importantly, you never know when you need 10 different colours in one pen to write your bestie a letter with a million different doodles and coloured bubble writing. Obvs.
Why carry a pencil case when you can carry a single pen with ALL the colours. It's was genius.

8. Dummy Necklace

No-one can be quite sure why these necklaces were such a thing, but they really were a thing. Not the sweety candy kind, these were hard coloured plastic on an equally colourful cord necklace. I love, love, loved these and had them in so many different colours! I was obsessed with them ever since my major crush Mark Owen worn one, and they were cute, right? Have you still got yours?!

9. Tamagotchi

The virtual pet that lived in your pocket/handbag - it was one of the coolest things we had ever seen! It was an adorable little digital animal that you had to keep alive by giving it enough food, rest, love, attention and training. But if you didn't... it died. That sucked. I killed a lot of tamagotchi in the nineties but I still loved the little blighters!

10. Roll-on Body Glitter

Glitter was probably the most used beauty product in the 90s! And these little roll on glitters were amazing. One your eyes, cheeks, shouldrs, arms, EVERYWHERE! Who doesn't want to look like a giant Christmas decoration??

And there we have it - the things we loved might seem weird now but they were the best of the best back then!

Don't forget to show me your 90s handbag memories too!

Over and out
Em
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The 1990's... a trip down memory lane

Nostalgia. You can't beat it. Memories are something we can cherish no matter what life throws at us, and there's nothing better than remembering the 'good old days' when we were young carefree teenagers (we moaned at the time but it was great!)

There is, however, a down side to this... remembering some of the very questionable fashion choices that we made, and boy did I make some of those!

I was born in 1982, so my teenage years were the fully fledged, Spice Girl loving, whistle blowing, Saved by The Bell watching nineties!

First up, music. I have never claimed to have the coolest taste in music. I was a proper teeny bopper and ITV's recent Big Reunion had me jumping around my living room with unashamed excitement. But first and foremost, I was a die hard Take That fan. If you were a teenage girl in the 90s you fell into one of 3 camps... Take That, Boyzone or East 17. I had no time for your soppy Irish nonsense, and lets face it, East 17 weren't the prettiest of pop princes. No, for me it was all about Gary, Mark, Robbie, Jason and Howard (poor Howard he always comes last) My bedroom was a shrine to the fab five, and where did I get all my posters, stickers and cut outs? SMASH HITS!

Smash Hits was the coolest magazine. In the world. Ever. Cover to cover was crammed full of pop goodness in all shapes and forms, and there was even a lyrics section so you could learn the words to your favourite songs (genius)

I wasn't just a pop princess though, I also loved a bit of dance music. Having an older brother who was frequenting raves in the 90s was probably a lot to do with this. So I was quite fond of an acid house smiley face and a dummy necklace (remember these?!)

As for fashion, many may argue that the 1990s were one of the more, let's say questionable fashion eras. This nineties Vogue cover is certainly testament to that!

It was a real mix bag back then, from the sickly sweet girly vibe of Baby Spice...

To the OTT boyish grunge of the likes of TLC...

I didn't really do girly back in the 90s, although I did own one dress. It was a black t-shirt dress and I think I wore it out. It wasn't dissimilar to this one...

I was also a massive fan of these delightful canvas shoes. Often worn with American Tan tights. Oh yes, really...

But the absolute undisputed fashion champion from my teen era has got to be the almighty Global Hypercolour t-shirt. Kids, you may not be aware of this epic colour changing garment but boy was it cool... This t-shirt changed colour with heat. Seriously.

They must have been quite expensive because it seemed an eternity that I had been asking for one until eventually one Saturday afternoon, Mum took me to Debenhams and dropped the bombshell that I could actually have one. I was like a kid in a sweetshop choosing my colours. Sooooo cool.

There were, of course, other misdemeanours, including a pair of rather bright tartan check trousers, mustard yellow culottes and several Joe Bloggs t-shirts. I also rocked a pair of blue denim peep toe platform wedges. Go me!

When it came to hair in the 90s, I remember my friends and I having a bit of a fascination with crimpers for a while. Let's not forget that ceramic straighteners had not yet been invented so we were a frizzy generation! Little hair clips were a massive must, and there was a lot of this going on...

I had a pack of these purple butterfly clips that made a regular appearance. Eventually however, I went for a cropped do, paying homage to one of my favourite people of the moment - Claire from Steps, massive girl crush!

To summarise just how naff this era was, it was essentially my ambition to look like this. I would have been mesmerised by this girl!

I'd love to hear your 90s stories, or any fashion memories from your teenage years. Let me know in the comments below!

Don't forget, you can grab a few early 90s gems from www.myvintage.co.uk!

Em

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