It’s 2006, and you’re about to leave the house. You’ve just finished applying your shimmery eyeshadow and – with sweeping sidebangs hanging over one eye – you move on to the final touch: your lips. In one hand is a NARS lipgloss in the shade Turkish Delight, and the other holds MAC’s St Germain lipstick. You opt for the latter. Your slide-up Samsung phone rings, so you (and your frosty pink lips) disappear into the night.

In what could be interpreted as a yearning for simpler times (or a cry for help), Y2K-style soft pink lipstick seems to be on the brink of a revival. On Sunday, September 15, Sandy Liang sent models down the runway with pink lipstick and a slide-up Android in their hands (in the new Sandy Liang case, of course). The result was a resurrection of the chalky essence of MAC’s now-discontinued St Germain shade, created by mixing two Estée Lauder Pure Colour Whipped Matte Lip Colours (Air Kiss and Social Whirl) with a touch of white pigment. The grey shade from Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Envy Luxe Eyeshadow Quad was then applied on top for an iridescent finish.

Liang’s signature hyper-feminine pieces inspired the runway beauty look, says make-up artist Romy Soleimani. “The make-up look perfectly mirrors the soft pink hues of her fabrics and the metallic sheen from one of her signature bags,” she said in a press release about the show. “The metallic pink on the lips introduces a subtle, futuristic edge, while the skin radiates a healthy glow with glass-like sheen on the cheeks.”

While we’re not sure pale pink lips are as "futuristic" as they are nostalgic, it’s clear something is in the air at the moment when it comes to frosty pink lips. Just last month, Kim Kardashian retweeted a post about NARS Turkish Delight lip gloss being the shade “all the 2000s baddies wore”, so it’s only a matter of time before either Liang’s bow army or Kardashian fans start mixing their own soft pink concoctions. Since MAC is also in the habit of bringing back popular discontinued shades, we may even get the St Germain lipstick back for a second lease of life – do with that what you will.

!!!!!! https://t.co/4aJm40uEv6

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) August 30, 2024