Bring them Back - Beauty Products that I Miss

11 years ago, I wrote a post about products that I missed and wish to be brought back. While it was more or less a whine, my wish was partially granted as Herbal Essence rereleased the old formula and packaging of some of their pre-2006 era shampoo. When the formula was first reintroduced (2013 ish), it was a watered down but the effort still counted. Now the new Herbal Essence is straight up unusable for human body. By the way, my toilet bowl now smells like white strawberries.

 With inflation, American drugstore beauty  has entered a new level of low... It's hopeless to count on big brands to bring back those refined shaded selections (especially when they got rid of them to guide/force us into paying luxury prices). There are some phased out products that I miss. They are from smaller brands that are consistent with their quality...Perhaps they can bring some of them back, if I ask nicely how about a picture of fluffy kitty?
Sneezing boy near Tokyo Uguisudani station.

1. Years before the barrier-protecting, no foaming cleanser became mainstream,  Burt's Bee's has its Radiance Cleanser (Review here). 
Aside from being a little too fragranced, the Radiance Cleanser had the perfect lightweight milky gel formula. It was so moisturizing and effective that I have yet to find a dupe. $10 (in 2010 money) was a wee pricey for drugstore cleansers but now I will gladly pay $15 now...Oh I will budge, how about $16?

If it gets any higher...There are always Japanese drugstore brands. To those conglomerates that think eliminating low-priced gem would guide/force people into paying for higher end brands by the same company...Nah, people will just go for affordable brands with similar quality (this isn't healthcare or internet service where we are stuck with monopoly).
2.Teen Spirit Deodorant - My pits had never smelled better. 

3. Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadow Single (Not this shade) 
I have gotten two Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows and I think the shades selection tells a beautiful story (that story just didn't resonate with me)...The one I really miss out was Periwinkle Cardinal, a sage green with a mysterious, sheer black base underneath. 

Reflecting my lukewarm experience with the formula, perhaps I am only missing the time of RBR's peak popularity: When indie brands put heart and soul into their lines (instead of treating them like cash grab) and when beauty bloggers were makeup lovers, not some glorified sales person telling people what garbage to buy.  

4. Benefit Boxed Blush in Thrrrob
The powder blushers by Benefit are known for their huge box (now shrunk), chalky texture yet somehow they still work. Thrrrob is a cute powdery blue pink that make me look a little tipsy (but not full on Asian glow). I swapped it away with a roommate (I like Dandelion but now Thrrrob is gone) and regretted it hard...

In the world where there are 5687 mlbb lipsticks, 698 lip tints, 624 Kim K nude lipsticks...How come no other brand did this, moderately pigmented cool pink face powder and blush?

4. Unii Palette 
Back in the days when every financially stable blogger (NOT me) had a few of these? Unii palette is the sturdy, prettier and slightly more expensive version of carboard Z Palette. I was so smitten with the honeysuckle shades but had never made the jump. Afterall, it was a little pricey at $29 and something I didn't reach for. For me, depotting was the sure fire way for me to never touch a product again.  RIP to all 12 Revlon Lip Butter that travelled with me from Texas to New Jersey (all depotted into Muji pill box, never touched since lol).

Anyway, now that I actually have some staple that I like to depot (Jill Stuart quad in those big ass compact, Shiseiso blush that kept being unglued) ...I am constantly reminded of Unii. Best of all, it was founded by Asian American woman Minna Ha (She is Korean American but we are practically name twin).  

I believe, well designed and cute product like this will be brought back somehow, perhaps with a much higher price tag (Tom Ford charges a forfune for their makeup while the packaging are cheaply made)...I hate capitalism. 
5. Stila Lip Glaze -Back when I was a broke student, Stila lip glaze was my guilty pleasure: Each tube was pricey at $24 and contained a mere 2.4ml (by current standard that's generous). A more justified splurge was Diorkiss gloss, when Dior made 18ml tube that went bad when I was half way through.

The popular shades rarely end up in discount sites (remember beauty crunch?). I remember I have used up two tubes of Graperuit (soft cool pink with tiny shimmer), Brown Sugar and Pon Pon Gerbera (this is a clear coral with ultra fine golden mist that I will hoard multiples of if I could). Coming from a lip gloss polygamist, that's saying a lot. Anyway, since Stila still has its convertible colors, they might be able to bring those glosses back (not the 2013 Holiday set lip glaze though, those were all gross and gooey).

Of course this isn't the only lip gloss I miss. It's just hopeless to expect other brands to bring back something when their quality were dropping continuously and intentionally. Let's just say Revlon had a change of heart and releases all their square tube Super Lustrous Gloss, imagine high end big brother would throw a fit- "How dare you sell it for $10 when we have it for $25!".

Did I mention I really hate capitalism?
6. Jelly textured everything - Again who the heck decided jelly was out of style?
Same with Jelly nail color - I am saying that because there are so many gorgeous jelly from brands like Addiction/Rmk...
7. Fun lip gloss - Remember back in the days makeup brands all made wacky but wearable lip glosses? Brands from Guerlain, Paul & Joe, Dior, Revlon, Mac and Wet n Wild all had their own beautiful lilac, refreshing green and shimmering aqua...Most of them stopped but Japanese brands are keeping the tradition alive.
Wet n Wild 2015 Venice Beach Collection - So refreshing! (Meanwhile the new ones started to look a little cheap again).

8. Majolica Majorca Eyeshadow Customize (cooler shades) - This range is still around kicking and fabulous.
(Picture by weibo user 蚊子雯子)Back in the days Majolica Majorca had so many cool toned, brights and metallic (here are more swatches by Arora). 

While the brand stopped making palettes, the singles they released for the last three years were big hits (at least in Japan and China). And my problem was...they were all warm toned. Even the purple from 2018 was a pink leaning one with satin finish...I would like a metallic blue purple and, aqua and green please.

Generally, I don't feel that much nostalgia/resentment from Japanese brands because brands are evolving with the market while prices stay flat (Chicca lipsticks actually got $10 cheaper after revamp). But there is one brand that could be brought back from the ashes...
9. The whole Lavshuca pre revamp- From packaging, spoke models, color stories...It nailed it all (then it decided to do a head to toe renovation that eventually killed the brand). Consider how much Kanebo drugstore brands have slacked, they could use some resurrection spell here.

10. Not a makeup but like the rest of the list, I searched high and low for this on the internet...
When I first saw this pattern reviewed by Kate Driveller (back in 2014) this vintage style tie front blouse was already out of print...Now it's only living in Google image search and Instagram hashtags. 

That's is for today. Is there any beauty products that you really miss? Am I being an old fart thinking that makeup products 10 years ago were much better? (Now excuse me while I Google search again).

Comments

  1. I miss the old Revlon super lustrous lipglosses, too. It's probably the last time I collected makeup like candies. I remember getting so excited whenever an LE shade popped up. Dior Fluid Stick is something that should have not discontinued although this is relatively easy to find still. I miss old John Frieda Brilliant Brunette range (the fragrance was out of this world and now it's just meh) and those old VS body wash and lotion. I also realize that these are the things I loved when I was most passionate about beauty stuff, so maybe I am just missing the old days...

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    1. At first I thought I missed them only for the nostalgic factor but I put on some super Lustrous gloss in coral reef (A newer tube I bought in 2015 right before the Square tube was totally gone)...The color really look fantastic by 2020 standard.

      Oh I remember that John Frieda shampoo as well (I repurchased several times) and Victoria's secret's makeup and undie were great quality...By 2017 it was already shit.

      I think the peak of drugstore makeup was also the peak of beauty bloggers (back then when opinion were real and it took good products to get a rep). Later on beauty giants realized they can just buy out bigger bloggers like they did with magazine and push "real" blogger far down the search result...

      I remember a freesia lotion from VS...it was so distinct and worthy of the mall price. Now beauty industry is all about increasing revenue, cutting cost (reformulating till it's complete junk and "luxury product" made by low wage workers)...I really don't think it's about age because Japanese brands don't pull those shit and I still keep my eyes peeled for their new releases.

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  2. Omg! I remember using that Burts Bees cleanser as a morning cleanser, then seeing your review back then I went to get a 2nd bottle. Recently I've been using the Krave Beauty matcha hydrating cleanser and eyeing the Elta MD foaming cleanser.
    I remember Z palettes used to be all the rage too, Unii is much prettier. I was too lazy to depot anything though :x
    The Stila lip glaze used to be so popular but I never bought it bc I thought the brush would be unsanitary and had less product, lol poor high school student me.

    I remember going to drugstores a lot back then and looking at their sales, catching all the BOGOs (which left me with a hoard of products I don't use). One of the discontinued products that survived my friend's helping me declutter is this Revlon highlighter from 2009 which I never use but still keep. Lol. Also Jane Cosmetics used to make these super affordable blushes!

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    1. Same...I visit drugstores so much (and all those craps Haha) but it made me so happy. And my bike rides was such great excercise...All money wasted was worth the happiness and the fire it gave me.

      I forgot about Jane! Their highlighter were as refined as Becca of today!

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  3. I second the MJ shadow customize and Lavshuca!

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    1. You already got a big collection! I missed out all those nice cool metallics...Last summer's collection (three shades of peachy bronze beige) was beautiful though.

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