Why TikTok Loves Discontinued Beauty Products
TikTok’s latest beauty trend du jour? Yearning.
Nostalgia for pre-2010s era beauty has been rising on the platform, with the discourse extending beyond trends — like brown lip combos and Kate Moss-esque plucked brows — and into the world of discontinued products. (Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Quickie Contour Stick, anyone?)
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Perhaps it was TikTok’s rediscovery of Clinique’s decades-old Black Honey Almost Lipstick —which in 2021 brought a new generation of Gen-Zers to the plummy-sheer shade’s cult fan base — that opened a Pandora’s box to the platform’s burgeoning interest in long-loved and -forgotten classics.
The unique level of cross-generational connection TikTok fosters, too, could play a role.
“There are more generations on TikTok than on most other social media platforms — and we’re all together here,” said art historian and cultural commentator Seema Rao, adding there are likely just as many “young people and teenagers who are excited to be a part of the nostalgia,” as there are folks who are reminiscing on their own ’90s-era pasts online.
One popular creator, Maddie Peed (@maddiepeed), has made a name for her near-encyclopedic knowledge of discontinued beauty products. Among the hundreds she’s resurfaced in her viral, 89-part “Discontinued Beauty” series: Lanc?me’s Juicy Shaker bi-phase lip oils, Nyx Professional Makeup’s Badunkadunk Mascara, Too Faced’s Mascara Melt Off (essentially a cleansing oil packaged in a mascara tube) and the brand’s Peach Puff Lipstick, a predecessor to Charlotte Tilbury and E.l.f. Beauty’s more recent cushion-tip blush and highlight wands.
“A lot of the discontinued products I’m talking about are by brands that are still around,” said Calgary-based Peed, whose extensive makeup knowledge stemmed from her teen years as a Sephora beauty adviser, and is fueled today by niche Tumblr blogs, Pinterest, old magazine product roundups and tips from her own audience. “Part of the [appeal] is that it almost feels like we’re rallying together to tell these brands — ‘hey, this is what we love,’ or ‘we miss this — you should bring it back.'”
Brands do appear to be listening.
As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, in July MAC Cosmetics launched its Lipstick Bringbacks Collection, featuring eight discontinued shades including Bubbles, Hot Gossip and the cool-toned nude, Fleshpot, each in a glossy-balm finish and limited-edition packaging, retailing for $25.
The launch made a splash on TikTok, with the makeup community’s heavy-hitters — including makeup artist Erin Parsons, a longtime advocate for the return of iridescent, warm-white Bubbles — rushing to purchase and swatch the collection.
“The ’90s and early 2000s were when makeup was in its heyday — when it was all about artistry and there were no rules, and I think a lot of people are missing that creativity,” said makeup creator and photographer Hanna Khymych, who similarly shopped the collection and has seen a fast rise on TikTok since launching her account last year, often touching on product discontinuations and deep-cut makeup lore in her content.
“One of the things MAC has always done well is create that culture of absence — they were one of the first brands to understand that faster trend cycle, even during the dawn of the internet,” said Rao. Indeed, the products that comprise the brand’s Bringbacks Collection are just a few of MAC’s many well-loved discontinued shades — there are entire Reddit threads dedicated to sharing lookalikes and dupes for the brand’s decommissioned Punk Couture and Persistence shades — and MAC has also long played in limited-edition collections, most prominently via its annual Viva Glam collection launches.
Urban Decay, too, made waves last month when it relaunched its Original Naked Eyeshadow Palette — a mainstay of 2010s-era YouTube beauty guru makeup tutorials — for $59 direct-to-consumer and at Ulta Beauty.
Launched in 2010, the palette sold more than 30 million units prior to its discontinuation in 2018. Though Urban Decay did not share sales figures for the limited-edition relaunch, it noted that the palette sold out via the brand’s DTC channel within three weeks, and the launch prompted a 200 percent increase in engagement across the brand’s social channels for the month of August.
While it remains to be seen whether more brands will capitalize on the chatter, it’s likely the nostalgia is here to stay due to the sheer fact of people’s increased access to the past.
As Rao put it: “there’s no Wild West of fashion or beauty anymore”
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