TBT: Wayback Machine

~ stashy

I’ve been wanting to start some Throwback Thursday (TBT) posts for a while now, and I figured I’d start with a fun one: Internet Archive Wayback Machine
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If you’re not familiar, Internet Archive Wayback Machine started in 1996 to archive the World Wide Web, page by page. You just type in a url into the Wayback Machine and it will display a timeline with every instance that a snapshot has been made of the site:
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What’s great about the Wayback Machine is that it retains a fully functioning website with links and images (where available) as if time stood still.  I’m fond of nostalgia, so I could honestly spend hours looking up old versions of websites.  For fun, I dug up some old makeup sites!

Revlon in 1997 featuring Halle Berry and Cindy Crawford:
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I love it: This site looks best when viewed with Netscape 2.0.  But oh, how I long for those eye shadows!  Their old formulas were the best.  Check out either the sheer look or the shocking look. And also check out the Streetwear splash page from 1998 (no product listings though).

CoverGirl in 1996 featuring Niki Taylor:
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A lot of the links are broken but do read the “FAQ“, which include such gems as “Q. Lipstick always look different on my lips than in the tube.” 😆

Avon in 1996 in support of Olympic Games in Atlanta:
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Enough question / exclamation marks?!!?!

Clinique eye makeup in 2000:
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Check out the prices – and Touch Base for Eyes hasn’t changed in 15 years! (read the copy, almost the same too)

Sephora in 1997:
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Yikes, my eyes!  I noted that in early 1999, the site read “Hacked By RaPtoR 666” 😀

Shiseido in 2000 “Welcome to CyberIsland” (heh):
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I like the section on runway beauty trends.

The Body Shop in 2000:
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This is for real – apparently up until 2001, the domain “www.thebodyshop.com” was actually owned by an auto body shop, but not just any auto body shop: “The finest auto body repair shop in Charlotte”.  😀  I guess sometime in late 2000, some funds exchanged hands and bam, suddenly the site became this:
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Interestingly, The Body Shop also operated the url “www.the-body-shop.com” concurrently, starting in 1996 but then ceased to exist in 2006.

MAC – unfortunately for us, MAC’s site installed something to prevent crawlers from indexing their sites so none of their images have been retained.  But through screenshots.com, I found this image:
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Can you guess which collection the teaser image was alluding to?

Have you ever played around with the Wayback Machine?  I hope you enjoyed a trip down memory lane!

28 thoughts on “TBT: Wayback Machine”

  2. Haha, I definitely used the Wayback Machine to look up some old nail polish collections! 😀 Obsessed!

    I love the screens you brought up. CyberIsland! Hahahahahahaha! And Sephora being hacked like that, damn.

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    1. I was using Wayback Machine to look up LeSportsac styles haha. 😛
      It was very interesting how a lot of companies had to educate customers on how to use their websites, like “PRESS HERE” on Clinique’s site to direct visitors to their various pages. And most of the sites were simply informational and then when ecommerce came on-board… whoa nelly.

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  3. Holy crap!!!! This is so entertaining! It’s so funny that you mention this because for on of my classes we actually used this website to look at the White House website from a while back! I didn’t know you could use it for everything! The Sephora one is kinda funny! I don’t think they’ll ever be hacked anytime soon (or ever)!!!

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  5. This is pretty cool! I’d never heard of the way back machine. When I first saw the auto-body-shop one I thought you might have taken a screen shot of the wrong one, but that’s pretty neat to see where many of these sites were and how they are today. The 90s don’t seem that long ago but everything from the trends to the quality of the sites have changed so much! Really cool, loved this post 🙂

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    1. Yeah I thought you guys wouldn’t believe me about the Body Shop one, but nope, you can check it out for yourself how it changed over. I know, I can’t believe how dated some of those early 2000’s look and I feel like that wasn’t that long ago. Thanks – I thought this was a fun one to share! 🙂

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  6. This is hilarious! I’ve never heard of the Wayback Machine until now, but the concept is really awesome.
    I love how stereotypically 90’s most of these websites looked…ahh, the good old days 🙂
    The Sephora one is slightly creepy-looking though, haha.

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  7. The Body Shop haha! That’s a great find. Those guys could have waited ages before selling and earned millions for the URL!
    Nice to see that Clinique haven’t changes too much. They have always been consistent and don’t give in to trends so easily 🙂

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  8. This is awesome! I actually owned the Violet X-treme lipstick, which would actually look pretty good this time of year. I’m guessing that 2007 M.A.C. promo was the Barbie collection?

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  9. Omg Netscape! Haha! That’s awesome.
    How great would it be if makeup companies jumped on the throwback Thursday trend? I would totally buy a violet Revlon collection.
    And whatever happened to Niki Taylor? She was EVERYWHERE in the 90’s.
    This is brilliant, great post! I see my self losing some serious time to the internet of the 90’s 🙂

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    1. Netscape was the only game in town. I can still remember the logo spinning when it was loading the pages, lol.
      Hey that’s a fabulous idea about makeup companies doing TBT colours! Revlon did something like that with their vintage lipstick collection they released. Also, MAC did bring back some of their older shades (although the final releases were lame!)
      Yeah I actually looked up Niki Taylor when I saw her on the CG site, last I remember she was in a car accident and almost died. I found this on her wikipedia page:
      “On January 29, 2007, Taylor filed a federal lawsuit against E! Entertainment for slander and emotional distress, regarding their profile of her in the TV series Boulevard of Broken Dreams. She alleged that the producers promised to promote her successes but instead misrepresented her as a failure whose life has been filled with misfortune. The complaint stated that “The first episode…is a false portrayal of Ms. Taylor as being continually plagued by ill fortune and tragedy”. The lawsuit indicated that the documentary alarmed a cosmetics company whom she was negotiating to start a cosmetics line with, and the lawsuit was settled out of court.”
      So we are now deprived of a Niki Taylor cosmetics line… it could have been something awesome.

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      1. I completely forgot about the Revlon lipstick release but you’re right! I really loved that concept when it came out as well. I think in recent years, cosmetics have become more openly a hobby rather than just something to slap on your face everyday so I think more retro/throwback stuff would garner a fair amount of interest. That whole MAC re-release thing was strange. Although some of the shades are cool so in glad that they’re in the permanent line up.
        Holy cow, that Niki Taylor saga is really bizarre. I would have gone nuts over a Niki Taylor line of makeup. She was going to be the next Claudia, so sad!

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  11. I did not know this was a thing! But it can bring endless entertainment! I just recently found a bottle of old Revlon nail polish that I had around, it was from some time before 2004-2005, very similar to those bottles pictured in that ’97 collection!

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    1. Old Revlon was the best. I loved their eye shadows from back then – in fact, it was my first foray into eye makeup! I still have a bunch of the old ones, I’ll do a TBT post on them one day!

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  12. This I have to check out. Speaking of Revlon, I recently asked my mom if she could still see that Red Revlon nail polish that I gave my grandma. She said yes, so I asked her to bring it with her when goes back there in time with the all souls day since my grandma had died four years ago. Just my total throwback story. 😉 I love their nail polishes since then.
    Oh I watched that feature made for Niki Taylor.

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