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Wasn’t it great?

(167 Posts)
Urmstongran Sat 23-Feb-19 21:32:16

Did you enjoy it?
Getting ready to go out as a late teen?
Think back to the anticipation of the evening ahead! Remember the days when that getting ready was heady with anticipation?
Washing and styling our hair ... putting on the makeup ... music on loud in the bedroom ... what to wear to attract the boys?

Nail varnish.
Carmen rollers.
False eyelashes.
Tamla Motown.
The hot pants/Biba eyeshadow/Estee Lauder ‘Youth Dew’

All that and then 9 times out of 10 coming home, still boyfriendless, to take it all off and do it again next weekend!

Wasn’t it fab? That optimism & enthusiasm?
Now it’s a flick of mascara and the meal out is ‘the evening’.

Those heady days eh?

What are your fond memories of venturing out then?

Sheilasue Sun 24-Feb-19 12:35:32

Yep loved it. Couldn’t wait for the weekend to come.
Shopping for something new on a Saturday afternoon with friends, so we could show of our new clothes when we went dancing.

Boolya Sun 24-Feb-19 12:36:44

California Poppy from Woolies, I had forgotten that. Found an Evening in Paris bottle at antique market years ago, empty but retains smell, lovely.

Peardrop50 Sun 24-Feb-19 12:50:08

I spent my teens in Liverpool, used to go clubbing in Wood Street. Blue Angel and The Cabin were favourites, was a bit of a hippy, jeans, tie dyed T'shirts, or long tie dyed granny nighties from Blacklers with coloured beads, long fuzzy hair au natural. Hung around with a crowd from Peter Collinge hairdressers and often modelled for hair comps when the panstick make-up and false eyelashes came on. They'd treat me to a cheap mini dress from C&A so I'd look the part. Loved jazz, folk and pop. Always got ready to Beatles - Anna, Chains, Misery in the privacy of my bedroom though. Played lots of Jethro Tull too, smoked behind my parents back but didn't drink alcohol until after I married at twenty. Yes, the anticipation was a buzz and the nights always lived up to it, at least in my memory. Great days.

Madmartha Sun 24-Feb-19 12:50:14

Mini-skirts and tights a revelation after roll-ons with suspenders attached for stockings. Once wore a white roll-on under a gauzy op-art dress to a disco and it showed up brilliant white under the ultraviolet lights, the shame. Short cropped hair, false eyelashes welded with spit & mascara, foundation on the lips. Once dyed a man’s string vest and my bra maroon and was told it was obscene, loved it. Once stood for 18miles to a disco on a near empty bus so as not to crease my new crepe minidress. Strangely, our shoes in the 60s were hugely sensible, not deliberately of course, but like granny lace-ups. Never once thought about weight or size, you were what you were and there were very few oversized people then - fast food, overprocessed and sugary diets were still in the future.

Sparklefairydust Sun 24-Feb-19 12:50:42

Remember most of these, I had one of those petticoats, my older cousin wore them and I had one to match, she also taught me how to use block mascara. I also remember swapping tights (eueeww) with my best friend in the school toilets at lunchtime. I don't remember mine but hers were white and I wanted them!

EllanVannin Sun 24-Feb-19 12:51:50

KatyK if I'm not mistaken I think Kiku was a Faberge one.

KatyK Sun 24-Feb-19 12:56:38

Yes that rings a bell Ellan. When my daughter was small, she got hold of a bottle of Kiku of mine, managed to get the top off and tipped it all over our bed. The smell lingered for weeks!

b1zzle Sun 24-Feb-19 13:00:14

Helena Rubenstein 'Apple Blossom' perfume
Body Mist deodorant
Russ Conway
Bobby Vee
Gene Pitney
Lonnie Donnegan's 'Hang down your head Tom Dooley'

annodomini Sun 24-Feb-19 13:19:25

Elizabeth Arden navy blue eyeliner and silver pink lipstick. Psychedelic shift dresses, made by me. Hair rollered overnight to achieve that bouffant look - I could never grow it long and straight!

sue01 Sun 24-Feb-19 13:20:00

Oh I loved Topaz too - that lovely yellow pot it came in !

Absolutely relate to the Tamla Motown too.

That's still ongoing for me 50 years later - went to see The American Four Tops last week.

Boogied all the way back to the car park !!

Peardrop50 Sun 24-Feb-19 13:27:31

Perfume Blue Grass

dragonfly46 Sun 24-Feb-19 13:29:09

I had forgotten the eyeliner.
When I was 16 we used to go to Leeds Empire on a Saturday afternoon and sit in the gods for a shilling. We saw Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, Eddy Cochran, Marty Wilde, Everly Brothers. I even saw Ray Charles once.
When I went away to college I used to make my own clothes and tart myself up for the university dances. Very rarely met anyone so always a big letdown until I met my DH at a party.

Foxyferret Sun 24-Feb-19 13:29:23

My dad said I looked like a panda with the eye make up. He also called my mini skirt a pelmet. When I joined the wraf, the interviewing sergeant had written “this girl had the shortest mini skirt I have ever seen”. I was asked at the next interview how I would adapt to wearing a longer skirt. I said if I didn’t think I could adapt then I would not be here. I joined and loved it.

Foxyferret Sun 24-Feb-19 13:30:17

Peardrop, yes blue grass perfume which I now think smells a bit like fly spray.

dproff Sun 24-Feb-19 14:06:27

I also used to do the right painted on lasses nd stick sellotape on my hair to keep it straight. Does anyone remember going to the Top ten club at Bellevue Vue? I also went to the Top of the Town club where I met my hubby in 1967 ( still going strong). Also went to the Blue Note and the Sound in spring gardens. Remember going home on the last bus when someone would usually fall asleep on my shoulder. Hubby lived at the other side of Manchester but never worried about coming home on my own at 16/17 Yes of age. Fantastic days and nights

dproff Sun 24-Feb-19 14:08:56

Meant twiggy eyes of course

Camelotclub Sun 24-Feb-19 14:10:43

This is presuming you even have the energy to go out for a meal in the evening!

grannysue05 Sun 24-Feb-19 14:14:25

Urmstongran I really enjoyed that time of my life.
Remember going to Cadmans in Sale for dancing lessons with my best friend.
We wanted to make a good impression on the boys at the Plaza in Manchester.
I wore flared skirts and too many undergarments. Remember the bullet bras that collapsed inwards if someone bumped into you ? angry
We always wore girdles with suspenders even though slat thin.
Not much make-up as I had peachy skin (Oh for that now...think veins and lines!)
Perfumes were Je Reviens (not too keen on the smell but thought the name was sophisticated) and Blue Grass.
Listened to modern jazz in the Sale jazz clubs but none of us really drank, only the boys who went for beer.
Shoes were always T-strap with a medium heel.
Was never allowed to wear nail varnish as Mum thought it was tarty!
Remember running to the Picadilly bus station to catch the last bus to Stretford and only just making it.
Wonderful, carefree times.
Thanks for this lovely thread. smile

DanniRae Sun 24-Feb-19 14:35:01

I didn't wear much make up (still don't) but had my hair a bit like Cathy Mcgowan. Got ready listening to the Beatles mainly. I used to wear Blue Grass perfume and bought some not long ago but it didn't smell the same.

Used to go to the Cellar Club in Kingston and stay all night then round to the local cafe for breakfast. Believe it or not I would come home, go to bed and then stay there all the rest of Sunday and get up on Monday morning for work. My poor mum gave up cooking me a Sunday dinner!

Happy days indeed.

grandtanteJE65 Sun 24-Feb-19 14:58:08

At school we said, "It's snowing in Paris." or "SOS -slip on show" to any girl whose slip was hanging below her skirt hem.

My parents refused to let me wear mini-skirts, I was thirteen when they came in, and I felt dreadful going around in knee-length skirts and dresses. My mother was horrified too, when girls' slacks with zips at the front came in. She insisted on moving the zip to the side and called my nice new slacks "suggestive". So I couldn't even be "with it" by wearing trousers.

First thing I bought after leaving home was a pair of Levis 501 with buttons! Going out wasn't fun at all, until I had left home for college.

merlotgran Sun 24-Feb-19 15:00:56

Oh yes. Blue Grass. I'd forgotten that one.

My mother wore Je Reviens so I had to have something else on principle. grin

cupcake1 Sun 24-Feb-19 15:20:51

I'm all nostalgic now, lovely post! I remember ‘my look’ was that of dusty springfield heavy black eye liner and lashes with a Mary Quant hairstyle. Mini skirts and tight jumpers and shoes so uncomfortable my mum used to say ‘you’ll regret it in later life’ - wise words indeed! Playing The Who, Beatles, and Hollies as I was getting ready I still remember the excitement and anticipation- great times. Then at 19 I got married and that turned into a disaster very quickly. Happily married to 2nd husband for 38 years now but these posts have brought back such happy memories of those carefree teenage years and living with two wonderful parents.

lemongrove Sun 24-Feb-19 15:21:32

The getting ready bit was usually better than the actual night out.
I had long hair so didn’t bother with rollers, but liked pale pink lipstick and block mascara.
Short dresses with peter pan collars, or mandarin collars were very Twiggy and fashionable.American tan tights or lacy tights with either boots or slingback shoes.
If getting ready with a friend, singing along to records.
We didn’t drink any alchohol at all, either in the house or when we went out ( very different now) but had enough of our own high spirits not to need any!
Black and white ‘pop art’ dresses were very trendy too.

TanaMa Sun 24-Feb-19 15:28:35

I am obviously older than most of above - I remember after washing my hair sittj g with my head in the ove trying to dry it. Then a plafi bag wrapped over it while I got on my bike to cycle to the dance! Even if I had company on the way home Mum would make my Dad come to make sure I didn't get up to 'no good'.

Jalima1108 Sun 24-Feb-19 15:34:43

Jalima1108 I couldn't remember the name of the perfume until I saw your post. Je Revien!
but how sophisticated was Chanel No 5 - lucky you Butweam!

And, of course, I have been reminded of Helena Rubenstein's Apple Blossom, Californian Poppies and Blue Grass.

Mum used Evening in Paris and it was real perfume in a tiny blue bottle rather than an Eau de Toilette.