C64 Basic, 57 bytes

Try in emulator

Vyxal 3, 11 bytes

ƛ')×Ꮬ:-p⊖“,

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ƛ')×Ꮬ:-p⊖“,­⁡​‎‎⁡⁠⁡‏‏​⁡⁠⁡‌⁢​‎‎⁡⁠⁢‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁣‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁤‏‏​⁡⁠⁡‌⁣​‎‎⁡⁠⁢⁡‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁢⁢‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁢⁣‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁢⁤‏‏​⁡⁠⁡‌⁤​‎‎⁡⁠⁣⁡‏‏​⁡⁠⁡‌⁢⁡​‎‎⁡⁠⁣⁢‏⁠‎⁡⁠⁣⁣‏‏​⁡⁠⁡‌­
ƛ            # ‎⁡map over implicit range 1..input
 ')×         # ‎⁢")" times that number (it's too many times but it'll get trimmed later)
    Ꮬ:-p     # ‎⁣prepend ":-"
        ⊖    # ‎⁤take the first n chars
         “,  # ‎⁢⁡display one per line
💎

Created with the help of Luminespire.

<script type="vyxal3">
ƛ')×Ꮬ:-p⊖“,
</script>
<script>
    args=[["1"],["2"],["5"]]
</script>
<script src="https://themoonisacheese.github.io/snippeterpreter/snippet.js" type="module"/>

Perl 5, 36 bytes

say":","-"x!!$_--,')'x$_ for 0..<>-1

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Vyxal j, 7 bytes

‛):‹eǓ¦

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using the latest and greatest vyxal 2 we can shave off another two bytes thus beating all other answers

AWK, 63 bytes

{for(;i++<$1;print"")for(j=0;j++<i;)printf 1~j?":":2~j?"-":")"}

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TI-Basic, 40 35 27 bytes

Input N
Disp ":
":-
For(I,2,N
Disp Ans
Ans+")
End

-5 bytes thanks to MarcMush

-8 bytes thanks to MarcMush

Zsh, 53 39 37 bytes

a=:-;for n ({1..$1})a+=\)&&<<<$a[1,n]

Try it online!  _{39 bytes  53 bytes}

Realised I was wasting bytes by doing 2 loops when one would suffice.

Java (JDK), ⁸² 80 bytes

String a(int n){return(n>1?a(n-1):"")+(":-"+")".repeat(n)).substring(0,n)+"\n";}

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Recursively append longer smileys. A different approach might be shorter...

-2 thanks to ceilingcat!

APL(Dyalog Unicode), 20 bytes ^SBCS

{,\⍵⍴':-',')'⍴⍨|⍵-2}

Try it on APLgolf!

Monadic function

{...} monadic function, takes n on right

⍵-2 n minus 2

| abs (No. of braces, call it x)

⍨ swap x with

')' brace for

⍴ dyadic reshape to get x braces

, concat with

':-' smiley head

⍵⍴ take first n (monadic reshape)

,\ prefixes (ravel scan)

SNOBOL4 (CSNOBOL4), 109 95 bytes

 n =input
b s =gt(n,1) char(10) ':-' dupl(')',n - 2) s :f(c)
 n =n - 1 :(b)
c output =':' s
end

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Python 2, 56 bytes

i=input()
o=':-'+')'*i
for x in range(1,i+1):print o[:x]

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Without the leading newline

Python 2, 54 bytes

i=input()
o=':-'+')'*i
for x in range(i+1):print o[:x]

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Never going to be a winner. Just an alternative approach.

55 bytes

lambda x:'\n'.join((':-'+')'*x)[:x]for x in range(x+1))

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Another alternative using a lambda, surprisingly longer than using input(). It's that join() that's expensive.

Excel, 37 49 bytes

+12 bytes to accommodate clarification that the output should be one string

=CONCAT(LEFT(":-"&REPT(")",A1),SEQUENCE(A1))&"
")

This returns one string as opposed to the earlier version which returned multiple cells each containing a string. Due to the Excel string limit, this only works for n <= 254.

Link to Spreadsheet

=LEFT(":-"&REPT(")",A1),SEQUENCE(A1))

Previous version that works for n <= 32767.

Jelly, 10 bytes

“:-)”ṁ«\)Y

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        )     Map over (the range from 1 to) the input:
“:-)”ṁ        Mold ":-)" to the shape of the argument, cycling its contents.
      «\      Scan by minimum: replace anything to the right of ) with ).
         Y    Join on newlines.

Thanks to Jonathan Allan for salvaging my first attempt, ”)xⱮa⁾:-Y, for another 10-byter:

Jelly, 10 bytes

”)xa⁾:-ṁ)Y

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        )     Map over (the range from 1 to) the input:
”)x           Repeat ")" by the argument.
   a⁾:-       Zipwith-vectorize logical AND with ":-":
              overwrite the first two characters with ":-".
       ṁ      Mold to the shape of the argument, trimming the extra "-" for 1.
         Y    Join on newlines.

Perl 5, 40 bytes

sub f{map{substr':-'.')'x99,0,$_}1..pop}

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PowerShell Core, 43 33 28 bytes

':-'+')'*"$args"|% *ve @args

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Saved 10 bytes thanks to mazzy!
Saved 5 bytes by:

• removing gratuitous parenthesis
• using Remove instead of Substring
• using splatting

Vyxal j, 9 bytes

⇩\)*‛:-p¦

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Wasif said I should post my 9-byter as my own answer, but I thought it was too similar to his, so I got rid of the map lambda and the slice, just because why not. :P

Explanation:

⇩          # x = input - 2
 \)*       # Push a 'x' long string of ')'
    ‛:-p   # Prepend the string ':-'
        ¦  # Prefixes
           # 'j' flag - Join top of stack on newlines and print

Python 3, 52 bytes

lambda n:[print((':-'+')'*i)[:-1])for i in range(n)]

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-1 byte thanks to Mohammad

Ruby, 40 38 bytes

->n{n.times{|i|puts":-#{?)*n}"[0..i]}}

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PHP -F, 86 bytes

Without any predefined funcation!

for($n=0;$n<$argn;$n++){echo':';for($i=1;$i<=$n;$i++){echo$i>1?')':'-';}echo PHP_EOL;}

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Thanks.

K (oK), 37 bytes

{({(":-",(x-2)#")")[!x]}'!x+1)[1+!x]}

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My first non trivial K answer, a lot of room for inprovement.

Haskell, 32 bytes

(`take`(":":iterate(++")")":-"))

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brainfuck, 57 bytes

This assumes the initial memory location contains n in binary (0x05 == 5). The TIO link allows a single ASCII character as input and converts it to binary.

->>++++++++[-<+++++++>]<++.<[->-------------.----<[->.<]]

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Haskell, 37 35 bytes

f x=($":-"++cycle")").take<$>[1..x]

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• Thanks to @Unrelated String for saving 2!

C (gcc), 63 bytes

f(x){x&&f(x-1)+g(x);}g(x){x&&g(x-1);putchar("\n:-)"[x<3?x:3]);}

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• double recursion

Wolfram Mathematica, 67 bytes

Column@With[{n=#},":-"<>")"~StringRepeat~n~StringTake~#&/@Range@n]&

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For some reasons unbeknownst to me, TIO doesn't display the list in column form. But if you run it in Mathematica, it will generate the desired result.

Explanation:

s=":-"<>StringRepeat[")",n]   (* generates the main string *)
StringTake[s,#]& /@ Range[n]  (* a list of substrings up to length n *)

Husk, 11 10 9 8 bytes

Edit: -1 byte simultaneously spotted by Razetime

↑ḣ¡→":-)

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    ":-)    # the string ":-)"
  ¡         # construct infinite list by repeatedly appending
   →        # last element of list so far;
 ḣ          # now make list of all prefixes,  
↑           # and take number of elements equal to input

J, ¹⁷ 15 bytes

-1 thanks to Jonah!

[:]\$!.'('&':-'

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Reshape :- with fill ( to length n. [:[\ return each prefix.

C (gcc), 68 bytes

i;f(n){char*s=calloc(n,4);for(s[i=0]=58;n--;s[i]=i++?41:45)puts(s);}

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Retina 0.8.2, 25 bytes

.+
$*)
^.
:
:.
:-
.
$`$&¶

Try it online! Explanation:

.+
$*)

Start with n chins.

^.
:

Change the first chin into eyes.

:.
:-

Change the second chin, if any, into a nose.

.
$`$&¶

Output all of the nontrivial prefixes.

Charcoal, 12 bytes

ＮθＧ↓→θ⁺:-×)θ

Try it online! Link is to verbose version of code. Explanation:

Ｎθ

Input n.

Ｇ↓→θ

Draw a triangle of size n.

⁺:-×)θ

Paint the triangle using a smiley with n chins.

Stax, 8 bytes

╞■¼╤╝<Ñ┬

Run and debug it

outputs with newlines.

M4, 88 bytes

Just a port of the syntax in OP.

define(g,`ifelse($1,2,,`)g(decr($1))')')define(f,`ifelse($1,1,:,`f(decr($1))
:-g($1)')')

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Usage

f(number here)

Vyxal jr, 10 bytes

ƛ?\)*‛:-+Ẏ

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Thanks to @emanresuA for -2 bytes

Vyxal j, 12 bytes

‛:-?⇩\)*+¦?Ẏ

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JavaScript, 37 bytes

f=n=>--n?f(n)+(s=n>1?s+')':`
:-`):':'

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05AB1E, 11 bytes

…:-).ÞI£Jη»

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Or, for the same length:

')ׄ:-쨨η»

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…:-)         # string literal ":-)"
    .Þ       # cycle last character to create infinite list
      I£     # take the first input characters
        J    # join into a string
         η   # take all prefixes
          »  # join by newlines

')×          # repeat ")" input times
   „:-ì      # prepend ":-"
       ¨¨    # remove the last two characters
         η»  # join the prefixes by newlines

Japt, 11 10 bytes

Outputs an array of lines.

õî":-"ú')U

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õî":-"ú')U     :Implicit input of integer U
õ              :Range [1,U]
 î             :For each slice the following to that length
  ":-"         :  Literal string
      ú')U     :  Right padded with ")" to length U

PHP -F, 59 bytes

for(;$i<$argn;)echo$i++?":-".str_repeat(")",$i-2)."
":":
";

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Straightforward stuff.. Probably golfable a bit more, I'll try other things later

Python 2, 41 bytes

s=':-'
exec"print s[:-1];s+=')';"*input()

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42 bytes

s,c=':-'
exec"print s;s+=c;c=')';"*input()

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43 bytes

s=':'
exec"print s;s+='-)'[s>':'];"*input()

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