I went out a lot in the 90s – And anyone who went out in NYC in the mid to late 90s understands the distinction between club kid and raver. I never wore a pacifier or candy necklace – and I wouldn’t have been caught dead in a ridiculous pair of wide leg ufo pants. I was a club kid.

This is me in 1999 on my way to Limelight:

The funny thing, is that here I am at my senior prom just a few hours before the previous picture was taken:

Aw – Don’t we look so innocent? And prom – like.

I love that these photos reflect a time in my life when I felt invincible – They truly are a testament to what it’s like to grow up in New York. The paradox of being a High School student by day and a club kid at night – Is really exclusive to a New York upbringing. But, what I love more than all of that…Is my make-up.

It was the first time I had ever had my make-up done at MAC – During a point in time when MAC was the ‘it’ make-up to have. I remember walking to the Spring St. store after getting my hair done at John Dellaria on West Broadway – With an extremely specific vision for how I wanted my make-up done. I wanted to look glowy and dewey like the ads for the Max Factor Mid Summer’s Night Dream collection (Yeah – That should have been a red flag right there that I wanted to be a make-up artist)…

By far, the best part of the whole experience was the custom lip gloss! This was before Mac had lip laquor, or lip gelee…This was even before they had dozens of different kinds of lipglass. And yeah, I totally felt all special and shit because I got to leave the store with a little tub of custom color lipglass that had been mixed just for me.

Nine years later, custom lipglass is still one of my favorite things. Ever. You take a little bit of pigment, and a tube of clear lip glass and the possibilities are seriously endless.

Here are some of my favorite custom color blends for you to try:

-2 parts Coco Beach + 1 part Fuchsia

-1 part Coco Beach + 1 part Vanilla

-2 parts Fairylite + 1 part Fuchsia

-2 parts Vanilla + 1 part Rose

-1 part Kitschmas + 1 part naked