One of the worst feelings in the world is when you realize that your must have, all time favorite beauty product has been discontinued. The perfect shampoo or eye shadow that you knew would be around forever has been discontinued? That beautiful shade of lipstick is no more? How could it be that everyone did not love that product as much as I did? Lately I have been suffering from the discontinued product curse more then usual. First it was my favorite winter skin lotion and then it was the best face serum I have ever used.
Usually what happens is you are running low on your favorite beauty product and decide to go to your usual store to purchase some more. Then low and behold the shelves are bare! Where is it you wonder, searching the shelves high and low? If you are purchasing on line you do a product search 4 or 5 times for the same product as it if will magically appear in your virtual shopping bag. Once you get over the shock of not seeing the product what you do next can make a major difference in your happiness level.
Discontinued beauty product step 1, If you are in a store, don’t leave. At least not until you speak to a sales clerk or manager to see why the product is not on the shelves. Maybe it has been moved or the store no longer carries it. At the very least you want to find out if the store has any more in stock or if any of their other stores have any. In some cases you wont even have to drive across town to buy the products the stores can ship them between them selves at no extra cost to you. If the nearest location that carries the product is really out of reach for you and they don’t deliver then determine if you have any friends or family that lives in the area who can pick it up and you pay for it over the phone or internet. Of course this has to be a person who you trust enough to actually mail the product to you or keep it until you see them next.
If you are in a virtual store then send an email to customer service to see if the product has been discontinued or they just no longer carry it. Of course if they do have some stock buy it! This is not the time to second guess you’re self. It is a guarantee if you are looking for this discontinued wonderful beauty product there are many other people doing the same thing.
Discontinued beauty product step 2, If you usually get your favorite beauty product from a distributor store such as a department store or drugstore then try the home company that makes the product. The products website can usually tell you what other distributors carry the product and they may know who has not ran out of stock. When Sephora.com noted my favorite Rx Brown products were discontinued I went to the RX Brown website and sent an email to their customer service. Within 24 hours I received a one line message listing 2 online stores that supposedly still had stock. Turns out only one had stock for the product I wanted but I was able to purchase enough to last a couple of months.
Discontinued beauty product step 3, If steps 1 and 2 have not worked don’t worry there is still a chance. Do a Google search for the product. There is a chance that some where a company still has stock or maybe some one is selling their personal stash on eBay or a similar site. You may even luck up and find a message board where folks are discussing what stores still have stock. This tip is also good for finding specific shoes and clothing items that have been discontinued for the season.
Discontinued beauty product step 4, If you have tried all the above and none of it worked then as a last resort check with your friends and family, this is a good time for social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. There is always the chance that some one in your circle has purchased the product, tried it and placed it on the back shelf of hated and discarded products. Maybe they can dig it out and let you have it.
After going through this a time or two you will probably come to the same conclusion that I have. It is always best to keep a couple months supple of your favorite products on hand. This way you have a window of opportunity to find the next best product before running out of the best product. Happy searching!
