

As a girl whose undertone is very cool-toned–and thus someone who experiences most makeup products available today (that are not straight-out grey or purple, of course) turning orange on my skin–I have been an avid follower and supporter of the group of makeup influencers (@erinparsonsmakeup and @not_another_hanna on TikTok being my personal favorites) that have been, for some time now, advocating for brands to bring back cool-toned shades in makeup, like the ones that were so prevalent in the '90s (think taupe eyeshadow and greige lips). Mac, fortunately, listened to the call and answered with the launch of a new collection, "Nudes," permanently reintroducing some of its iconic lipsticks from the '90s: "Fleshpot," "Peachstock," "Folio," (reportedly Angelina Jolie's go-to shade back in the day) and "Stone." The collection also includes a new lipliner shade "Cool Spice," that is supposed to replicate the cool-toned color of the '90s "Spice," which defined the supermodel look of the decade (over the years, the color of "Spice" shifted and the shade of today leans much warmer and more orange than the original).

Since 2023, Uranus and Neptune have been in a sextile (60º), a transit that will last up to 2029. Interestingly, this is the first alignment between Uranus and Neptune since the Uranus-Neptune conjunction (0º) of 1985-2001. This conjunction, as it spanned the entire decade, is one of the world transits that defined the '90s (if not the transit that delineated the archetypal undercurrent of the decade). As Richard Tarnas so brilliantly writes in his masterwork, Cosmos and Psyche:
"Looking back over this [1985 to 2001] extraordinary period of the late twentieth century and the turn of the millennium, we can recognize that virtually every one of the major categories evident in past Uranus-Neptune eras played a dominant role in the life of the world community during this most recent alignment: the widespread spiritual renewal of the age, the astonishing multiplicity of spiritual paths and traditions from many cultures and eras disseminating and merging throughout the world, the burgeoning of religious movements in Latin America, Africa, Russia, and East Asia, the Islamic revival in the Middle East and elsewhere, the rapid spread of Pentecostalism and other Christian missionary initiatives on many continents. We can discern the familiar signs of the Uranus-Neptune archetypal complex during this conjunction in the pervasiveness and intensity of meditation and mysticism, in the convergence of science and spirituality, and in the emergence of holistic and participatory paradigms in virtually every field (p. 419)."

While we are talking about the much more superficial (debatably, of course) topic of makeup and aesthetics, it is still really interesting that we are witnessing a revival of '90s-inspired cool-toned makeup, for the first time since the Uranus-Neptune conjunction of the turn of the century, right when we are also experiencing the first Uranus-Neptune alignment (sextile) since that conjunction. This indicates that there might be a diachronic pattern happening, which means that a theme that is relevant during one transit is somehow revisited (i.e. also relevant) during the next alignment(s) that occur between the same two (or more) planets. In this case, the theme that is being revisited and being put into focus is that of cool-toned makeup and, more specifically, cool-toned lipsticks and lip liners. I wonder if there is a correlation between the archetypal complex of the promethean (Uranus) and the numinous (Neptune) coming together in the beauty trend of cool-toned makeup? It might explain why we see both the conception of this trend during the '90s and the resurgence of it now in the 2020s. Whatever it may be, I am glad to see that the industry is bringing back cool-toned shades after so many years of everything in makeup being so warm. Whether you grew up in the '90s or are part of the generations that are nostalgic for an era they never got to be a part of, we can all look forward to enjoying these new (or reintroduced) cool-toned shades by MAC.