It has taken me many many years to come to the realisation that when I come to the end of a bottle I am actually usually a little sick of the product and am ready to move on anyway...except that I can't as there are still another 4 or 5 bottles stashed in my cupboard/under my bed/in the freezer - pretty much wherever I can fit them.
I now think that discontinuing a product, or releasing a limited edition is actually a brilliant marketing ploy. It makes my fellow panickers and I race out to the shops and buy the product without assessing whether we even really like it - we buy first, think later. And in the cases where we do actually love it, we then buy it in quantities we would never consider if it were a permanent line. But, even though I am aware that I am being manipulated by marketers, I won't learn. I will still hoard.
So, in celebration of my hoarding ways I have listed a few products that I totally panicked over when I found out that the were discontinued or limited edition, products that I just didn't know how I would survive without... yet here I am, not simply 'surviving' but thriving without them!
When I first started writing this post I thought that there would be products from many different brands. Turns out all the products I have gone into a discontinued meltdown were from Lush. Lush are the kings of limited editions and discons and have caused me many a panicked bulk buy up and these are the products that I have hoarded.
Love Bug
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| Lush Love Bug image from Lush Wiki |
I remember when I first sniffed this I fell head over heels in love, which is rather appropriate considering it's name. It is fragranced with rose and vanilla and it really is divine. It also has the most amazingly flattering gold shimmer. Unfortunately it was a limited edition only available in February one year for Valentines Day. So I did what every sensible person would do about bought 5. Turns out I didn't actually use it that often and am still only half way through my first one, have sold 3 and have one other stashed away.
Schnuggle
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| Lush Schnuggle image from Lush |
I love Lush massage bars but they are pretty greasy and can leave you feeling pretty slimy if you apply them before bed. That's where Schnuggle was brilliant. It wasn't greasy at all and was packed full of lavender oil which is great for sleep. It became part of my night time routine. Then they were discontinued. I bought 4 and stashed them in my various clothes drawers to fragrance my clothes until I used them...but somewhere along the line I forgot I had them. It wasn't until I moved houses a year or so later that I found them, and since I had gone a year without needing them I decided that I could survive without them...and so sold them after all of that!
Butterfly Ball
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| Butterfly Ball image from Kaboodle |
This was my favourite out of all of Lush's ballistics. It is intensely floral and right up my alley. It was a small ballistic yet smelt stronger than most of the bigger ballistics. When I found out it was being discontinued I bought 5...then went back 3 days later and bought another 5. I actually used every last one of them. It was sad to use the last one but then Lush have many other lovely ballistics so my life isn't completely meaningless without it!
Yummy Yummy Yummy
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| Yummy Yummy Yummy image from All Hail the Queen |
I actually used Yummy Yummy Yummy as my baby's bubbly bath and damn did it make him smell good. Babies smell nice normally (except when they have dumped) but this made him extra delicious. I would just sit there, sniffing his head. I miss Yummy Yummy Yummy. I bought 3 bottles but they are long gone. There are millions of other baby bubbles baths out there but none are as 'yummy' as this was!
There have been products from other brands that have broken my heart when they were discontinued, but then they were not at a price point that I could hoard. Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Youth Creme is one such product. This moisturiser could have become my Holy Grail moisturiser, I loved it so much. But at $400 a jar (though much cheaper on eBay!) it was not realistic to hoard this one.
So, what products did you think that you couldn't live without, then found out you could. Or did it turn out that you actually couldn't live without the product and you are now commenting from the grave?