BuyMeBeauty Exclusives: 3 reasons why your favorite makeup gets discontinued

If we found a dollar bill on the ground for everytime cosmetic companies change their products and discontinue lines, we'd all be investing in our own cosmetic brands instead. It's frustrating to not be able to find the makeup you've been wearing for years but it might bring some closure to learn about the reasons why this atrocity happens.

Here at BuyMeBeauty –as you may already know– we specialize in scavenging the world for long-forgotten discontinued makeup. If you wish to learn more about your favorites, take a look below at three of the most common reasons why companies decide to take out popular lines from their inventory.

Have you ever notice a slight change to a shade you've been buying for years? It doesn't look quite the same anymore but the name and number is the same. You might even think yourself crazy! This is a very common reason for companies to discontinue products. Some colors become unfit for the current times or they've discovered a new variant that might be more popular so they discontinue the product and relaunch the line with a fresh new look, a fresh new product overall.

Take a look at the example below, L'Oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Color is a perfect example of this. Released in early 2011, this multi-tasking duo of Lip Color + Top Coat became popular very quickly. Its unique mirror-like design granted both, functionality and convenience. Soon after, another line was born with colors inspired by famous celebrities; this line was called Stars Collection and it featured artists like Beyonce.

With its popularity, L'Oreal saw an opportunity to grow the line by adding new shades and revising old ones. The old Infallible Never Fail was soon known as the Never Fail Classic Lip Color. A new line was released with the same name, more colors and a new package design. The Stars Collection was then discontinued.

Take a closer look at the color comparison between the Classic and the New colors as well as its new package design.

Another common reason to discontinue products is package re-design. The main goal of any brand is to demonstrate that their better than the competition's. More of often than not, they decide that a change in the looks might make them stand out on the shelves, they might also find a new technology to apply the product more efficiently, or it might even be the case that a certain package design wasn't well received; any of these reasons can result in a product being discontinued for good or re-designed for a brand new purpose.

With Revlon it's rather curious the amount of designs their mascara tubes have gone through. Each one unique in shape, color, and formula. Despite all the changes through-out the years, only recently they've decided to part ways from the disparity of their designs settling for a unique one for all of their formulas. These mascara tubes only differ on their brushes, each specially design for the specific formula. 

Take a look at a brief example of Revlon mascara by year.

While it's very important for companies to launch a product visually attractive to pique the interest of prospective buyers, it's equally important that said product delivers what it promises. That being said, the third reason why certain manufacturers decide to pull out their products is often to change the formula.There are new science discoveries everyday and that keeps companies busy constantly trying to provide the best anti-aging formula out there, the best moisturizer, or even the best lip balm.

As an example, take a look at Maybelline's Instant Age Rewind. Maybelline has launched a numerous amount of foundation makeup throughout the years, each with their own unique formula and purpose. Most of their changes in their Age Rewind line was based on package changes but the great majority was due to the break-through of new formulas.

Instant Age Rewind The Eraser (first bottle in the picture above) was a foundation treatment makeup for wrinkles and fine lines. To compliment this foundation, they launched The Eraser for Dark Circles a.k.a Concealer (second in the picture above) with a similar package and shades. They both had the exact same purpose; to fight signs of aging. While one was a full coverage foundation and the other a dark circle eraser, they both did a similar job altogether.

That same year (2012), Maybelline released Instant Age Rewind Radiant Firming Makeup (third one in the picture above), a completely new bottle designed after the previous Instant Age Rewind Cream Foundation Firming + Radiance. The later had a pump, while the new bottle did not. This new formula was meant to substitute The Eraser. It was a unique composite made out of Goji berry and caffeine and Octinoxate sunscreen (SPF 18). It worked both as a foundation and sunscreen but it was discontinued not too long after just like its predecessor. I speculate it was due to the pump-less bottle which has become a must-have on foundation bottles.

A year later, Instant Age Rewind The Lifter (fourth in the picture above) was born. This innovative formula was both a primer and a foundation and it came in a pump bottle with the cute"swirl" design. This formula was quite popular at first but Maybelline already had a separate Instant Age Rewind Primer and the redundancy cause them to discontinue one or the other.

In result, the only Instant Age Rewind currently available in their official website is the new Eraser Treatment Makeup which contains the exact formula they released in the pump-less bottle back in 2012 (third one in picture). It's clearly obvious that this formula is the most effective and the bottle the most efficient.

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Companies need to keep up with new trends and technologies, constantly. They do so by updating their colors based on trends, their packaging to stand out, and their formulas to keep providing the best and most effective product.