Make Match to Discontinued Lipstick - Loreal Mystic Mauve 625 Example

Do you want your favorite lipstick back that has been discontinued?

Buying lots of different lipsticks to try to find the twin to your discontinued favorite can be frustrating. The closest one may not have the same color, texture, sheen, scent, staying power, etc., of the discontinued one, or just may not seem quite right.

• The good news: It may be possible to make your own perfect duplicate.
• The bad news: It will take some trial-and-error.

In this example, I will be reproducing my favorite: The discontinued Mystic Mauve Colour Riche lipstick by Loreal 625.

The largest cost will be purchasing lipsticks of the same brand/sheen as your favorite. You will combine these colors to try to not only match your discontinued favorite, but also have similar texture/sheen, etc.

1. Hopefully you still have some of your discontinued favorite lipstick to use as a comparison.
2. Pick some of the closest colors in the same brand (hopefully with similar sheen)
3. Pick another few lipsticks in that brand that may be much darker or lighter, but in the same color families.
4. If there is a color that doesn't exist in this brand, you may need to find it a different brand. Try to limit this. The more you use of another brand, the more the texture/sheen/scent, etc. will change.
5. A pot or metal bowl for melting lipsticks (may get ruined, so use a cheap one)
6. A candle or other heat source
7. A stirring stick or utensil (e.g., small skewer or toothpick, or something that will not melt in heat)
8. (Optional): A stand to hold pot/bowl over heat source (like fondue pot stand)
9. (Optional): A lipstick mold / mould.
   • Otherwise can store in any container and use a lipstick brush.

For this example with reproducing Mystic Mauve 625, I picked about 8 Loreal lipsticks that were close in color. After trial and error, I realized my favorite Mystic Mauve included dark purple hues, but nothing in the Colour Riche line was purple. So, I found a very dark purple from a different brand so not much would be needed to add purple tint.

The 3 lipsticks needed to reproduce Mystic Mauve were:

1. Loreal Silverstone 760 (Colour Riche)
2. Loreal Bronzine 825 (Colour Riche)
3. Maybelline Blackest Berry 825 (Bold)

There are a few ways to approach the trial and error process needed to make the color mixture to match your discontinued favorite:

A. Lipstick color lines on White paper

1. Take each of the new lipsticks and make a line with it on white paper so you can see the color.
2. Use a pen to label each color as you go through
3. Make a line with your discontinued favorite color as a comparison
4. This will give a sense of the colors you have. However, the colors look very different on paper than on your skin/lips, so this is just a starting point to finding close colors.

B. Lipstick color swatches and mixtures on the back of your hand.

1. Start with a thick line of your discontinued favorite color in the middle of the back of your hand.
2. Take the 4 closest new color lipsticks. Make it easy to compare to the discontinued favorite by making one thick line with each on the back of your hand near the discontinued color (without any of the colors touching).
   • I made a line on each side of the discontinued color so it ended up looking like a disconnected box around it.
3. Leave the lines on your hand for a few minutes to let them sit.
   1. See if they change or feather.
   2. The feather color will give you a sense of the color undertones, and if they are close or far from your desired color.
4. Guess which of your new lipsticks might mix with the colors on the back of your hand to get closer to the discontinued favorite color.
   1. Try mixing these colors on the back of your hand until you get something close.
   2. Start with just pairs of colors mixed together. Then try 3 colors mixed together. The hope is to find the simplest combination to make a match with the fewest new colors.
   3. You may need to wipe some off that aren't very close and try different combinations

For the Mystic Mauve example:

From the back-of-the-hand mixtures, I realized there were no options for adding the purple tint. So, I looked at the purples from other brands, online and in the store, to pick the Maybelline Blackest Berry. Once I made a mixture that looked close to the original discontinued Mystic Mauve, I knew it contained:

• the largest amount of Silverstone
• a medium amount of Bronzine
• a small amount of Blackest Berry

To find the right proportions:

• Cut off small amounts of the lipsticks in the estimated amounts needed so you have enough for several tests
• Put in pot or bowl
• Record proportions of lipstick used for each test.
• Melt the lipsticks together over the candle or other heat source and stir.

For the Mystic Mauve example:

The proportions that resulted in what appeared to be a perfect match was approximately:

• 5 parts Silverstone
• 2 parts Bronzine
• 1 part Blackest Berry

To melt the lipsticks together to make the mixed color:

1. Place the pot or bowl over the heat source (candle).
2. Stir
3. The lipsticks should melt and combine easily.
4. Remove from heat and compare to your discontinued favorite color.

I hope you found the perfect match!

• If not, continue to add other lipstick colors to the mixture to adjust.
  • Continue to record approximate amounts of each color used.
• Use trial and error to get as close as possible to the favorite color.
• Once the match is made, pour into a container or lipstick mold / mould and try on your new duplicated favorite color.
  • You can compare the original to the duplicated color by putting one on the left side of your lips, and the other on the right side.

Now just hope that the new lipstick colors used for the mixture don't get discontinued too...