Iggy Azalea’s Totally Plastic makeup line reaffirms nostalgia’s hold on beauty

“What I love about the y2k-aesthetic, in general, is that it almost had this ‘trashiness’ about it,” said the Australian superstar, who explained that the Totally Plastic collection was inspired by the year 2004, when she was around “12, 13, 14” years old. “It was ridiculous and fun. It didn’t have that elitism, and makeup shouldn’t have that feel, either.”

In the early 2000s, Azalea didn’t have access to the “cool things on television,” like “VW convertible Beatles” and “tiny purses.” 

“I couldn’t have afforded a rhinestone Baby Phat flip phone, but I probably could have afforded a pom-pom lip gloss for under $10,” said Azalea, referring to her new Oral Fixation High Shine Lip Gloss ($14), which comes in four shades. A gold-flecked peach gloss called “Is It 2004 Yet” is encased in a colorful tube complete with a pink pom-pom tassel.

Totally Plastic serves as “a tangible object that you can get your hands on from the fantasy,” said Azalea. 

Azalea’s favorite product in the line is the Devil Heart Mirror ($19), inspired by “a T-shirt [I had] when I was 13 that said ‘99% devil,’” she said. As for the actual makeup products, the Pink Sunglasses eyeshadow palette ($17) expresses her passion for her signature color. “I love pink,” she said. “I always go back to pink.”

BH Cosmetics allowed Azalea to create a line that was accessible to young people, both in terms of its price point and utility of the products. 

“It’s about working with a brand that has a price point that’s accessible to everyone, especially younger people [who are] breaking the bank to go into an Ulta and pick a few products,” said Azalea. “You want [the products] to be things that are multi-functional.”

The eyeshadow palette, which contains “bright, crazy colors,” in addition to more “subdued tones” like brown and taupe, demonstrates the multifunctionality that Azalea was able to achieve with BH Cosmetics. But, out of all the products and trends of the era, “my favorite thing about the 2000s makeup was the sparkliness of it all,” said Azalea. “I wanted to incorporate [that] throughout every product and throughout the packaging.”

While the line directly speaks to the Y2K aesthetic, Azalea asserts that the makeup styles from her adolescence, like sparkly eyeshadow, were “updated by adding [iridescnece] to purples, or things that I don’t think we saw” in the early 2000s. On the other hand, Azalea updated the “Baby blue [color] that was so popular [back then]” by mattifying the shade to modernize it.

BH Cosmetics is one of many beauty brands and retailers that has jumped on the consumer demand for nostalgia amid the pandemic. Lancôme and Ulta Beauty, for example, catered to 2000s and ’90s nostalgia, respectively, while other beauty brands have even tapped into ’80s nostalgia. 

BH Cosmetics has turned to influencers in the past, releasing collaborative eyeshadow palettes with beauty influencers including Carli Bybel (4.7 million followers on Instagram and 6.2 million on YouTube) in 2015 and 2017 and Daisy Marquez (1.8 million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million on YouTube) in 2019. The beauty brand’s decision to partner with a traditional celebrity rather than an influencer follows the lead of other brands, like E.l.f., which most recently released a makeup collection with pop-star Tove Lo. 

“I’ve always been obsessed with the early 2000s, and that shows in all my music videos and stylings,” said Azalea, who was inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 flick, “Kill Bill” for her “Black Widow” music video, while “Fancy” pays tribute “Clueless.”

“You want to go back to that magical moment in your life where you didn’t know what strings were pull[ed] up behind the curtain,” she said.