What beauty brand do you miss?
Tarina Tarantino! It was such a cute brand, and I loved so many products.
— Christine
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A skincare brand, in my case: Nude Skincare. I still haven’t found a “dupe” for their Omega Cleansing Jelly that I like.
I used to use a facial oil from Nude and I was so sorry to see the company just vanish….
Tarina Tarantino, for sure. I have one of her 5 pan eyeshadow palettes and the Emerald Pretty one and the quality, not to mention the shadow colours themselves, is outstanding. I wish I’d had time to purchase more of her products, including some of her liners. CARGO is the other brand I miss. Their Blu-Ray concealer is the best concealer, hands down/bar none, that I’ve ever used. While some Cargo stuff is still available (though discounters like Winners/Marshalls), that concealer is totally GONE, even from sellers on Amazon.
Cargo is gone?!? Did not know that!
It may be available in the US but it’s pretty much gone in Canada. Amazon (and discounters) still have some things but no one has their fabulous concealer!
Body & Soul, Pout, Tony and Tina
Didn’t I think of those as well! Two were available at the original Fresh stores. Good formulas and colors. T & T were a blast with innovative products, powders, pencils.
Mary Quant! It was my favorite brand when I was in my teens. I can’t remember when it stopped being sold in the United States…late 70s, maybe? I think it was bought out by a Japanese company.
Oh gosh – I’d forgot about Mary Quant as it’s been decades and decades since that line was available. I remember buying it when I was in grade 9. The one thing I really remember was a contouring set – a highlighter and dark contour powder which I swiped on like mortar, almost, trying to turn my 13 year old round cheeked face into something akin to Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg) in the Avengers. I’m sure I looked an absolute fright!
Her book was terrific, too. Lost it in my last move. Lots of the concepts were universal and timeless, and not just Swingin’ London related.
Original Jane. Max Factor being in the US. Loreal HIP line or Revlon Streetwear
Max Factor was what so many young women started out with. They were the first company to come out with a colourless lip gloss in a stick/bullet. It was my only lip product for about a year and I remember that the refills (you could buy refills then) was $3.95, which seemed a huge amount (I remember my mom saying “Why don’t you just use Vaseline?”)
Max Factor was the “high end” of drugstore too. Their Calorie 2000 mascara was my all favorite. I mean people always say oh drugstore has really stepped it up but they never grew up with Max Factor and some of these other lines bc that stuff really rivals HE products imo
And before the gloss in a bullet, Max Factor had a gloss in a little white pot. It was clear red in the pot, but it applied colorless. It was originally developed for actresses. Back then, movies were primarily shot in black and white and the gloss photographed beautifully, making the actresses lips look full and moist. Needless to say, women in general wanted in on that Max Factor goodness but the original pot gloss was a bit messy and tended to smear. A more solid gloss in a bullet was born. It was a game changer.
I agree with all of these.
Yes to Max Factor being available in the US! I loved their mascara. It was my first make up product I bought with my own money.
All 4 brands you mentioned, Erica! The OG Jane and Revlon Streetwear were two of my favorites during the 90’s. Max Factor was always a winner for me from when I first began wearing makeup in 1972. L’Oreal HIP eyeshadow duos were amazeballs when I got turned on to them in the 2000’s!
Max Factor would be my first choice also. I loved their LipFinity line and believe it was the first readily available liquid lipstick. It was a good formula also and lasted really well without being uncomfortable. I wore it while working 12 hour shifts at the hospital and it would still be there about half way through my shift which was amazing for me since I am such a lip worrier.
I miss the Jane eye liner! I haven’t found a decent dupe for it yet.
You can still purchase Max Factor in Australia – the local budget beauty shop Priceline has a stand with Max Factor products in it – perhaps not the full range, but quite a few cosmetics.
Hi Genevieve. Are they still good?
i still have a couple of jane eyeshadow quads from ~2005 in my closet somewhere. they were fun in middle school, though i doubt anything i did with them is worth remembering
Probably NYC. They were such a great brand for beginners.
my all time favorite liquid liner. to say i was pissed when i went to walmart to get a new one and the brand was just gone is an understatement.
Quite a few, actually. My favorite was Fresh at its inception, with great shadow, blush, and especially lipstick. Their current product line is uninviting, unexciting, and has ‘reactive’ ingredients for me. One flash in the pan was Linda Cantello’s line which was at the now belated Barney’s. Not sure that the MUA’s line lasted even a year, but for me, best concealer in history. Of course LC claimed to have invented the cat eye. Uh, off by a few decades. Google Ronnie Spector, ex wife of Phil, that Phil. Poster Girl not only for cat eye, but #Me Too.
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and Tarina Tarantino would be the two biggies for me.
OCC was the one that hurt the most! I still keep a bunch of my lip tars in a drawer, they’re past expiry but I can’t bear to part with them quite yet. 🙁
OMG yes I miss OCC! Their liptars came in the most unique colors.
My heart still breaks for him and it makes me wonder what might happen to Melt.
I also miss OCC and Tarina Tarantino terribly. I saved lil’ stubs of her eyelinerslike a hoarder OR to compare the colors. They were beautiful. It was pretty funny when she was on QVC. I had to watch the same way I had to watch when Liza Minnelli was being Liza on one of those shopping channels. ?
I miss when Eyeko made other products than just mascara and eye products :/ they used to make a lip balm called Fat balm and it was amazing! Chubby screw up balm that could be used on cheeks too!
I’m still trying to get off an Eyeko mascara I put on in 2017, lol.
Haha ?
Shu Uemura. They still sell hair products here in the UK and probably makeup in Japan and elsewhere, but back when Space NK was just one concession in a shopping centre in London they had an amazing range of single eye shadows and lipsticks, all in simple Perspex packaging. Also great brushes and empty pots and powder containers. Sigh.
The range and quality of their blushes was incomparable, and may still not be equaled. I do think that the brand lost its distinctive competency and cachet when he died in 2007. But BITD, Shu really was the best,
Oh yes! I still have 2 blushes – I must dig them out. 🙂
I second the Shu Uemura, lived there eyeshadows
I miss Versace and Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci had color cosmetics? As a diehard L’Air du Temps fangirl, would have thought I’d have glommed onto that one.
Omg! I remember Versace! I still have my purple and pink eyeshadow duo. It’s always been difficult to store with the raised bubble on the face b
Versace blush, yes! I bought a second one of a particular light coral that looks great on me and I still have it (and rarely use it now, but for a while a lot and panned the first one). Great feel (powdery, but not drying) and just the perfect amount of color (pigmentation) during application (at first application).
Mark by Avon. I wish I had stocked up on more of their stuff before Avon discontinued the line.
That stuff was really good! There was an eyeshadow ( I think it was called Mink but I’m not sure) that was the most perfectly flattering mocha color I ever found.
I loved the Tokidoki makeup line that was at Sephora! It was the cutest. Rip.
I also miss the Bonne Belle teen line for strictly nostalgic purposes. Haha
Yes! Bonnie Bell had the perfect gel blush and bronzer in tubes. It’s all I wore in high school and college.
Borghese , think I’m spelling it right. I used to use some of there products!
Loved those, too, and the MUA at Bloomie’s. He’s still in local/ community theatre, so I see him occasionally. They had terrific blockbusters. I think Borghese is still around, minimally, under their 25th ownership. The company, owners, and the family (who have zero to do with the company) are an interesting history, if you have time to check it out.
Not Sur if it’s the same company, but my CVS carries a fairly full line of MUA products. They’re average drugstore quality.
I’ve occasionally seen Borghese products at Rite Aid. The frequency is pretty hit-or-miss, though.
Pout. Their lipglosses were the glossiest! They did great brushes, too.
Max Factor!!! Please, somebody bring the entire line back stateside? Best DS makeup ever!
Pre-scandel Kat Von D. I really love what I bought from the line for the beautiful shades and quality. Hey, she NAILED pastels that actually show up on my NC35-41 skintone without looking ashy and powdery.
Pre-scandal KVD?! Lol! I love it. I have every palette she ever made. Every. One. Backups to some of them. Loved them and the packaging. But the brand was heading downhill before everything.
Absolutely agree about KVD. I was not really a fan of the hipster goth aesthetic but I over looked it bc the eyeshadows in particular were so good. I loved her Metal Crush eyeshadow singles. I’m still using what I own from the brand but it’s a shame she ruined her brand. Now if only Jeffree Starr can follow in her footsteps. Not right that she fell from grace so epically but he is still thriving though he’s a horrible racist, misogynist and bully!
Erica, I agree with you 110% about J*. His time is up. Or at least it SHOULD be. Probably the only reason he gets a pass on his outrageous misogyny and racism is because of his privilege being a white male.
Hard same! I yelled out “Tarina Tarantino!” in a longing, nostalgic tone when I saw this prompt. What a great brand. Such creative and useful color combinations in the palettes. And there was a sort of romantic cuteness to the names of her products that made you feel like a badass when you used them. I still have a tiny stub of her Cute Robot eyeliner that I can’t bring myself to throw away, because it is my favorite eyeliner ever.
Prescriptives is my all time favorite brand. Custom-matched foundation and color cosmetics matched to your undertone (I’ve said it before, but WHY does no one else do this! they might not have been inclusive enough, but the idea can be expanded.) I remember seeing an almost yellow blush and thinking it looked insane, then putting it on to see the most beautiful natural looking cheek color on me, before or since. Finding out that plum was great on me. Shades of pink I never would have considered. But the system led you to shades you could trust, outside your comfort and knowledge zone. Everything high-quality, but the revelations around color were one of a kind.
I also miss Tarina Tarantino and L’Oreal HIP. I nearly cried when I broke my TT fantastical palette. I only wish I collected more L’Oreal HIP shadows.
Prescriptives. They had four color families. I think they were yellow, yellow orange, red, and blue red. Mine was yellow-orange and I could wear anything in that category so it was really easy to shop. They also had a custom foundation system at their department store counters. And that gray packaging! I loved the skincare also.
Yes! I got my concealer and foundation shades somewhat straightened out for the 1st time by Prescriptives (circa middle school) and they had a great tubing lengthening mascara . I’ve mentioned this before… I feel like IT Cosmetics is similar to Prescriptives maybe a little more grown up?
But IT doesn’t make a mascara like that!
Agreed about TT! Her eye liners and those little 5-pan compact eyeshadow palettes were my favorite! Plus I’m still obsessed with Emerald Pretty, it’s one of the few palettes I didn’t depot.
I TOTALLY miss Tarina Tarantino!! I’m on my backup of Spark of Envy now!!!
I also miss Prescriptives. I know they’re still around but it’s not the same not being able to go to the counter.
And certain Bonne Bell items.
Someplace around here I still have my Tarina Tarantino blush in Parasol. A friend of mine was like “You should buy this blush it would look so good on you!” and she was right. It was the first blush I really liked 🙂
I miss Estee edit and sebastian international
Omg!! I haven’t thought about Tarina Tarantino in so long! Loved their products too. And also Rock & Republic—esp. the blushes!
Dolce & Gabanna
Yardley of London! My curio cabinet is loaded with Paintboxes, and the original “slicker” lipstick line. They STILL smell exactly the same! Other ones I miss are Mary Quant, and Helena Rubenstein. For the gal that loves Cargo, Kohl’s has it.
Halston cosmetics and the original Calvin Klein cosmetics in the maroon compacts. And that original Calvin Klein fragrance!!!!!! Look up both brands online, just search vintage Halston and Original Calvin Klein cosmetics.
Tarina Tarantino! When she first launched, I thought a lot of her packaging was too cutesy and juvenile, but once I tried her products, I was a convert. I loved the creamy smooth quality of her long-wearing eyeshadows and eyeliners. I also really loved the well thought out color combinations of her palettes—nothing gimmicky.
When I read the question, my first thought was Tarina Tarantino – she really did bring out lots of diverse and colourful palettes and quints that were of excellent quality. I own a couple myself: the Wonderful Jewel quint and Emerald Pretty.
Toki Doki. Surprisingly good quality!
Rock&Republic.
Iman, I hope she returns with a line that is truly priced for the drugstore or truly made for the makeup counter, because that is what went wrong.
I’m 61 and started wearing makeup at 14 so….Max Factor, Yardley, Revlon’s Natural Wonder line, Club Monaco, Prescriptives, Il Makiage old eye shadows, Azziza, Bonne Bell eye pencils, Love Cosmetics(baby soft fragrance company had makeup too)
Those Bonnie Bell eye pencils were holy grail status for me for years. I had a brown one and a gun metal grey shade that were just perfect!
I have a Club Monaco eyeshadow single still and it’s the smoothest, most pigmented thing. A beautiful rust brown matte shade
Flame glo. Loved fb did glosses in the square container.
I loved Halston and miss that line most of all. The packaging was so glamorous. I had an ivory colored compact with sheer peach gloss that had a light Halston fragrance. It was divine. I believe packaging was designed by Elsa Peretti who also designed the bottle of famous fragrance. **sigh**
With further pondering, I really wish they would bring back that Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy line. If I had known it would just be gone, I would have picked up a few back ups. I’ve been searching for her blush in Ethereal for years!
Also I remember getting a Garden Botanika lipstick in Platinum that I adored until I lost it. They had stores in the mall much like the Body Shop
OCC! I miss their lip tars.
A note for people looking for their old faves: Poshmark has a surprising amount of discontinued products for resale. Sometimes they are expired or used, but if you gotta have it, you may not mind.