… and the word is, DISCONTINUED. I sometimes feel I should have it stamped on my forehead.
A brief catalogue of how this word has affected me, in the past year alone:
My foundation. Clinique’s Stay Ivory, the lightest oil-free foundation they make. It was discontinued in Ireland last year, yes in Ireland, home to some of the palest women on the planet. Unfortunately Irish women have this bizarre fondness for sickly orangey fake tan so I guess it wasn’t selling too well. Have to stock up whenever I’m back in the States. I’ve found all other brands too cakey for my skin.
My lipstick. Clinique’s Velvet Pout, never available in Ireland, now discontinued in the U.S. as well. Haven’t found an equivalent so far.
My jeans. Levis 512s. Also never available in Ireland, and increasingly difficult to find in the States til they were finally officially discontinued a few months ago. Again, no equivalent here.
My nail polish. I spotted an absolutely gorgeous copper shade at Sephora that they only had the tester for. Went to another Sephora, no luck. Went on Sephora website to try to find it, guess what, DISCONTINUED!! Fortunately I got the shop to sell me a tester bottle (discounted, of course) but when it runs out … I’m screwed.
Anybody else want to share their tales of woe/ loathing of this horrible word?
Well, I rarely wear make-up so I don’t have any brand name loyalty in that area. However, I do have hair that is more than 3 feet in length on which I spend much money.
Rusk use to make a conditioner that was perfect for my hair but I had a hard time finding the stuff, as it sold out very quickly. For reasons unclear, Rusk discontinued the product. Bastards! I’ve never found its equal, although Biolage comes close.
Once upon a time, there was a line of products called Salon Selectives Botanical Blends. I used the Aloe and (forgets which fruit) kind. I loved loved loved it, because it was the only thing I could find that kept my hair well conditioned. I used it for many years. Then they pulled it from the market for several months:( . And reformulated it before bring it back. It…it didn’t work any more! :eek: So I stopped all attempts at making my hair bend to my will (straighten to it, actually) and started using curl enhancing shampoos instead. It’s ok, I guess, but I finally had to admit to myself that my hair did actually decide it was no longer straight some time in my mid-to-late teens.
Well, I’m not a girlie (so why did I read this?), but for a while it was tough to find white Chuck Taylor high-tops. I had to order them on-line and wait three months.
And in college we used to drink a beer called Glacier Bay; the bottoms of the bottles had a circular indentation with teeth in its perimeter, so that you could use the bottle to open another bottle! It was great! But they changed the name to Arctic Bay for some reason, and stopped putting it in those coooool bottles, and without the cool bottles to distract us we noticed it idn’t taste very good.
My life is a litney of discontinued art materials.
Holbien semi-opaque Quinacridone Red (cool shade). I thought a studio tube large enough to last me a lifetime. Alas, ran out at a crucial moment and couldn’t manage to mix a proper replacment. Everybody said the painting looked fine, but I could always see the exact point where I ran out. Badly split a fingernail trying to wheedle out the last drop from the neck of the tube as well.
Pantone 50% Concentric Circle shading film. My friend, you were too funky to live, and too over-used in the 70’s to be contemporary ever again. You will be missed.
Archival[sup]TM[/sup] Iridescent White (titianium coated mica) oil paint. Oh sure, Winsor newton has a iridescent white oil paint, but it lacks your warm tone, buttery consistancy and overall charm. I still get nostalgic when I smell alkali processed safflower oil.
Doctor Martins Cobalt, Cerulean Blues, Cadmium Yellow/Red liquid inks. Really, some idiots ruin their livers and kidneys airbrushing with heavy-metal based pigments without a resperator and all the responsible artists have to suffer for it.
Argh - I loved the Levi 512s. A few months back I decided my current selection was getting too faded so I headed to the mall to resupply… only then did I discover it was too late I mourn you, Levi’s 512s.
Clinique has done me wrong also, the discontinued “Moon Violet” lipstick with no warning at all. I was finally able to get a consultant to recommend “Black Violet” in it’s place. I compared the new lipstick to the remnants of my old shade and they are almost exactly the same; I think Clinique just gets bored & changes the names around. You should take in your foundation & lipstick and ask them to recommend something comparable. (I know, it’s not the same, it never will be).
Back to Basics Wildberry hairgel which smelled oh so nice and worked better than any other product ever has.
Bath & Bodyworks Pink Hydrangea products and Flowering Herb (though I have heard I may be able to order it by phone).
I began to believe it was only things that I liked that would get discontinued; at least now I know I’m not alone.
RIP: Lancôme’s Rouge Magnétic lipstick color Swoon.
RIP: A true charcoal-colored mascara (not “soft” black). There was a company in the late 60’s/early 70’s (called Love, I think - can’t remember) that made a great mascara in a shade that didn’t make my eyes either disappear (as brown does) or scary (as black does).
I don’t usually wear make-up and am pretty flexible when it comes to most products I buy. But Body Shop absolutely had to discontinue the only perfume I ever really truly loved to wear.
Leap is amazing stuff. Not too flowery at all with a hint of musk (I think that’s the right word) to it. I love the stuff and have one bottle remaining. At one time I had a whole bath kit of Leap (perfume, soap, handlotion and bodywash) I never used all in coalition though just cuz that would be overwhelming. So now all I have left is a small bottle of perfume and the last bit of bodywash.
It wasn’t too expensive either, which was great on my budget, and not tested on animals.
Obsidian Flutterby, I don’t know if these fragrances are alike, but one of my favorites is Aliage by Estee Lauder. This fragrance smelled like new cut grass but was nice and light in the eau de toilette version. Maybe you could try that.
Crabtree & Evelyn used to have some really nice, non-sweet bubble bath gels (bain moussant sounds so much more sophisticated!) I really loved the Birch Sauna (AKA Birch wood) scent, and the goat milk bath. But then they started getting competition from Bath and Body Works, which only sells sugary sweet scents, and they started replacing their more woodsy/green scents with sweet scents.
The same thing happened to Albertson’s Herbal and Aloe Bath gel. Used to have a nice light green scent and now it has a nasty saccharine overtone. Practically makes me nauseous.
Clairol Revitalique Serene Brown haircolor. I spend a year trying to find the perfect match to my original haircolor. (hey, I’m usually not vain, but I’m single again and rapidly graying in a drab, unattractive way). My boss gives me a box of this stuff, and it is perfect. My hair feels perfect when I use it, the color fades to an even better color, even my mother agrees that it looks like my natural color. The gray is banished, and when I find the braids I had cut off at age 10, I have proof that it is the perfect match.
Then one day it is gone from the shelves. I race around to many, many stores…the entire line is gone. I find I can order it online, but for how long? I order online for a year, then one day I’m too broke to spend the $24 to $30 it costs (ya gotta buy in bulk online) so I decide to try the same shade (light ash brown) in another Clairol product on the theory that they are all the same stuff at the core. But they are not. My hair feels awful, the color is too dark, and when it starts to change, I’m not happy. Somehow, someway I will find a way to justify the expense in my budget this month and order more…but I’m afraid I’ll log on to the website and find it gone…
medstar Thanks I may check into it but it wouldn’t be the same. Besides Leap doesn’t smell like grass. It smells like… like flowers. Like when you’re wandering through the woods and a soft breeze comes by juuuust right to bring the scent of flowers to you…
I’ve found another scent I really like though. Nothing like Leap, it’s actually one marketed towards tweens/teens. It’s Bottled Emotions by Bonne Belle and called Crazy. Just like me
I used to use a concealer from the Body Shop - the one that came in a little squeezy tube. It was the perfect shade, perfect consistency for me. After I found out it was discontinued, I cut open my tube and scraped as much concealer out as I could. Alas it only lasted me another week or so.
Now I’m using a MAC concealer. It’s alright, but I’ll forever miss my Body Shop one.
I’ve noticed the Body Shop has discontinued a lot of nice stuff they had. I wandered through recently and all the make-up they had was on sale because they were bringing in a new line.
[hijack] Body Shop shoppers… do they still make t-shirts? Or have they completely stopped that too? Some of my favourite shirts came from there but all the ones I have now are totally ragged with holes everywhere and nearing the time when they must be retired from anything but sleepwear. Not even really decent to wear doing chores around the house![/hijack]
I’ve noticed the Body Shop has discontinued a lot of nice stuff they had. I wandered through recently and all the make-up they had was on sale because they were bringing in a new line.
[hijack] Body Shop shoppers… do they still make t-shirts? Or have they completely stopped that too? Some of my favourite shirts came from there but all the ones I have now are totally ragged with holes everywhere and nearing the time when they must be retired from anything but sleepwear. Not even really decent to wear doing chores around the house![/hijack]
Revlon blush in MY shade, Rio - gone.
Uncle Ben’s Rice Florentine - adios.
Agree Shampoo - the original one made for oily hair - history.
An absolutely fabulous huge jar of cuticle cream I had for YEARS whose label fell off and whose name I have never been able to remember and whose packaging I have never seen since - I weep occasionally about this one.
Pizzazz and Glints temporary hair color. Had the funkiest fun shades of pink and purple. Now I can only get dull burgundy and auburn, in mixes that are more hassle to apply.
(For Mr. S) General Foods International Coffees, Irish Mocha Mint.
I know there are more, but it’s too early for my brain to be fully functional. We are always lamenting that the best way to get a product discontinued is for us to use it and buy it regularly.
Oh yeah, Pepperidge Farm Mint Brussels cookies are getting harder to find. They better not disappear! :mad: What’s with all the Milano flavors, but no Brussels? I’ve tried the Milanos, and they’re dog biscuits compared to the delicate crispy heaven that is Mint Brussels.
My moisturiser, which I have been using for ten years or so (it’s the only moisturiser I’ve ever used) has been discontinued. Fortunately, the nice guy at the chemist told me it had been discontinued, so I madly bought up every tube of the stuff I could find, and I still have about a tube and a half left. My mum is exceedingly jealous, and steals some whenever she comes over. I try not to even think about what will happen when I run out…
I mourn you, Levi’s 512s.
