Beauty companies are notorious for killing products because of lagging sales or to make room for new trends and technology, but you’re not totally out of luck. There’s a chance that your hard-to-find favorite is just a phone call or a click away.
ShopSmart, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, has the steps to follow next time your favorite beauty product is whisked off the market.
The first place to go to track down a much-missed favorite is the manufacturer:
1. Call the makeup brand’s customer-service department to ask about leftover inventory, upgraded formulas/names or comparable substitutes.
2. If the manufacturer is unable to track down an old fave, here are some other sites worth checking out:
-Discount.makeup.com: This subsidiary of Makeup.com sells discontinued beauty products from many brands, including Shiseido and Bare Escentuals.
-Beautyencounter.com: This site sells hard-to-find products from Max Factor, Neutrogena, Goldwell, Sebastian, KMS, and more.
-Vermontcountrystore.com : Its niche is hard-to-find items, and customer service will track down products for which they get a lot of requests, even if the site doesn’t carry them. When an item is no longer manufactured and demand is sufficient, the site buys an original formula and reproduces.
-Threecustom.com : The go-to place for celebrity makeup artists, Three Custom Color specialists can replicate the exact shade and texture of just about any color cosmetic product, including blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, concealer, and foundation. The company has an archive of 9,000 makeup shades dating back to the 1930s, and it will duplicate a hue if you send a dime-size sample.
3. Still no luck? Here are other places to do makeup research:
-Ebay.com, Amazon.com and Overstock.com: These sites can list discontinued products. Since the goods offered can come from third parties, there’s the risk that a product is old or wasn’t stored or shipped properly, so read the fine print carefully regarding any return policy before ordering.
-Makeupalley.com: You can find in-depth information on tons of products, including discontinued ones, at this social community of beauty-product consumers. You can post a product request on the Swap Board; if another member owns the item, you can negotiate a trade.
-The Fragrance Foundation: For detailed information on just about any fragrance that’s ever existed, go to fragrancefoundation.org and click on Fragrance Directory.
Safety Alert: Your instinct might be to hoard when you find an old beauty favorite but remember that many cosmetics go bad fast once opened. Unopened beauty products and fragrances can last for several years if they are stored properly (in a dark, cool place). The exception is products with an expiration date, such as some acne products and sunscreens, as these have ingredients that might be compromised over time.
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This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 3:05 am and is filed under Beauty Tidbits, Discontinued, ShopSmart, Three Custom Color.
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I gotta check this out.. I wonder if i can find this eyebrow pencil i used to use..I’ve missed it for so long!!
give it a shot! the body scrub i’ve been missing for so long went away 5 years ago, so i’m not sure if any of them would still be viable at this point :-/
worth a shot though, right?
Great article! The beauty care products..I found a product that gives you..