Where to Buy Those Discontinued Beauty Prodcuts

Women too well know the pain of no longer being able to buy discontinued beauty products. It seems as soon as we find that certain eyeshadow/mascara/foundation we love, it's taken off the shelves — forever. Then the hunt to track down anywhere that will still sell that certain item commences.

A couple of years ago, my mom, sister and I got really into a particular Maybelline gel eyeliner. In fact, I’m pretty sure we advocated for it more than Adele. But that love affair lasted about 6 months, and then our favorite version of the stuff seemed to be discontinued. We could not find it anywhere. So, like mature adults, we spiraled straight into panic-mode and our own hunt began.

Trips to drugstores, department stores, and even high-end beauty stores remained in vain. If any of us happened to be traveling, we made a point to visit the local beauty stores to see if our beloved gel eyeliner was there. We asked our friends if they had seen it anywhere. It was like we were the only people on the planet that loved this liner and nobody else seemed to be affected by its disappearance. And we knew that could not be.

Not to turn this into a love story for gel eyeliner, though it does have long-lasting, easy smudge-correction and perfect winged-eye abilities, but we did not want to go back to the liquid or pencil liners of our past. We had used them before and FINALLY settled upon an eyeliner method we loved. Ladies, you know the significance of finding a beauty product that actually does what you want. And, to be honest, for me, it was a little more than just an eyeliner. It unified us. In fact, it was the only makeup style/product that unified us.

Months after our efforts (and now all sharing a single tube of gel and getting increasingly worried), I woke up late one morning and missed my usual coffee + puppy snuggling + Good Morning America morning routine, so I caught up on my news online. Links after links after links landed me on Discounted Beauty and Buy me Beauty. At first, I wasn't sure what I had discovered. After minutes of searching, I found the gel eyeliner we loved and an old lipstick my mom used to use before it, too, was harshly taken away.

These two sites not only provide an answer to beauty products that have long (or recently) been retired, but the products cost less than when they were easy to find. Furthermore, if a product has been gone too long, both sites offer an option for you to contact a color specialist for a close color of what you're looking for. I know it may not be the exact color (le sigh) but let's be thankful that this is even an option.

It turns out, Angelina Jolie needed this in her life as well. Co-Founder of Three Color Specialists Chad Hayduk told Good Morning America that Jolie is one of their most famous clients. She now uses Hayduk's business to custom color a lot of her makeup... which is probably why we can't find her signature lipstick anywhere.

This all may seem like an extra step simply to get an item of makeup, but I firmly believe it's worth it. I think we all know the struggles of finding that perfect nude lipstick, that mascara that separates and elongates our lashes without a clump, or that eyeshadow that doesn't overwhelm our fair skin. And when those products are suddenly gone, the pain resembles that of stepping on a lego. Plus, these are cheaper than any not-so-perfect alternative.

Image: Vivian Faranazzo/Flickr; Giphy; Getty Images