eBay Finds: Discontinued Burberry & Hourglass

~ stashy

I get a bit obsessive about discontinued makeup items.  I kick myself for not buying them when they were readily available.  And when they’re gone and difficult to acquire, their lure becomes even greater!  I start plotting ways to get my hands on them.  Enter eBay.  I know some people are uneasy about being off eBay but I’ve never had any issues – just do your research, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is.
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In January I was lucky to find TWO discontinued items that I had put eBay alerts on: Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Pale Barley No. 22 and Hourglass Visionaire Eye Shadow Duo in Exhibition (Rosewood NO. 09 wasn’t on my original alert, it just came along for the ride 😛 ).  These were purchased in late January and arrived recently.

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The Story of Burberry Pale Barley No. 22

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I’ve been stalking Burberry Sheer Eye shadow in Pale Barley No. 22 since the day it disappeared off the shelves in 2013. I had purchased a couple of Burberry eye shadows from Holt Renfrew and quite liked them (Midnight Brown No. 21 and Mulberry No. 24). I passed on Pale Barley mainly because I already own – and love – MAC’s Patina. They’re supposed to be really similar, both mid-toned golden taupes.  But it gnawed at me, not having Pale Barley in my life.  Then all hell broke loose in the beauty community as Pale Barley was OOS (out of stock) everywhere. There was no word when it would be restocked – rumours of a reformulation started spreading. 😮 And then my worst fears confirmed: Pale Barley in the Sheer formula was gone, in its place, a new version of Pale Barley resurfaced in the form of the Wet & Dry formula (and renumbered to No. 102).
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Not my photo – Source: Check out more of the differences here. The new Pale Barley in the Wet and Dry formula is a flatter colour without the golden sparkle of the original.  Boo. Hiss.  Here’s another photo comparing a bunch of the Sheer vs Wet & Dry formula. Rosewood is not too different between the old vs new.

I was having none of that! I needed the original magical fairy dust version.  And so I began my online stalking. The original Burberry singles cost $33. I was seeing some Pale Barleys listed online for $50-$60 each. And I was this close a few times to pulling the trigger but I held off.
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And then it happened – in late January this year I saw a German seller selling a bunch of older Burberry items and behold, Pale Barley was among the offering. I snagged it, along with Rosewood No. 09 for a total of $62 CAD shipped! They arrived all in their original boxes and velvet pouch glory!
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Rosewood has been on my “maybe”-list for a while (ever since I bought it for a friend for her birthday years ago – she has informed me that she hit pan on hers recently, because it’s one of the few eye shadows she owns, which is a completely normal way of living, I guess… 😛 ) because I know I have quite a few rosy taupey shades that are similar.  What’s one more? 😉
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Mine! All mine!

I’ve worn both colours now and I get the hype around Pale Barley! It really is a very easy, je ne se quois type of shade. Besides being great formulas, Burberry eye shadows contain a whopping 2.5g of product, vs MAC’s 1.5g. I should state that I have nothing against the new Wet & Dry formula, I just wanted the original Pale Barley. 😛

The Story of Hourglass Visionaire Eye Shadow Duo in Exhibition

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This was just laziness on my part. I wanted this duo ever since I saw the amazing swatches on Temptalia’s blog – just LOOK at them! I had every opportunity to get the Hourglass Visionaire duo in Exhibition but at every Sephora VIB sale, I’d hold off or forgot about it.
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Then early 2015, Hourglass launched the awfulness that is their Modernist Eyeshadow Palettes (I like my palettes to have clear delineation lines, thank you very much!) which on top of insulting my orderliness, were also poorly reviewed for pigmentation and quality.  And of course, the Visionaire duos quietly disappeared off store shelves, as they do.
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Luckily for me, I was able to snag just the duo I wanted, for only $38 shipped!  It was new but without the box or the brush inside – I was totally fine with that. 😀 When I received it, the seller sent me a note to advise that she accidentally dinged my pan while packing it (EVER so slightly) and she included an Hourglass primer serum (10ml, which she lists at $16) for me as an apology. How nice!  The quality of these shadows are so dreamy – pigmented and blendable – makes me want to hunt down another shades in this formula.  Here are swatches of all the eye shadows:
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I know you guys are going to say, “that Rosewood looks so similar to the left side pan of the Hourglass duo” so I swatched those two shades side by side on purpose for you! 😉 Rosewood is more taupe while the Hourglass is more lavender.  I’ll do a comparison post on both Pale Barley and Rosewood compared to other similar shades in my stash.

Do you have any of these items? What discontinued product do you want to hunt down?  (And just an update, I still haven’t received any of the stuff I ordered off AliExpress that I ordered in late January.)

54 thoughts on “eBay Finds: Discontinued Burberry & Hourglass”

  3. Nice choices! Awesome that you found these on eBay for a reasonable price and finally got the discontinued items you were lusting over 🙂 I’m always too much of a chicken to buy from eBay…
    Pale Barley looks so pretty and is always a classic! Had no idea that Hourglass even had duos, but my goodness, is the Exhibition duo pretty. Love the left shade, especially!

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    1. I used to be scared about eBay especially makeup but just from experience, I can tell if a seller is sketchy or not. Like I said, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
      I am sad that Hourglass discontinued these in favour of the new ones – ick. I might hunt down other duos, this one looks really pretty (Gypsy):

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    1. I was surprised to have found them at reasonable prices considering I was THIS close to buying Pale Barley for $60… what was I thinking? This addiction… lol 😛

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  5. I wanted the Hourglass eyeshadow palette but I heard mostly negative reviews.. Even Tati (GlamLifeGuru) didn’t like it either.. I went and swatched it myself but was a bit unsure if I like the pigmentation. However, those Burberry’s are beautiful though!👍🏻

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    1. Yeah that palette is ALL wrong for me. I had no interest in it. I just love Burberry packaging – I feel so classy whenever I use their products. 😛 And we all know that I’m not that classy! LMAO

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      1. I’ve been on ebay since 2000! 😀 I don’t shop THAT much on it but it’s been a great source for hard to find items. I even found an antique Menorah for my coworker that was the same as what she had in Israel when she was a little girl. She was so happy.

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  9. They discontinued Pale Barley?! That’s crazy! That’s literally the only Burburry eyeshadow that I’ve ever heard anyone talk about and it seems like it was at least moderately popular. I guess I somehow missed that whole drama.
    I can’t allow myself to actually try to purchase discontinued items because I cannot be trusted. I would end up paying the crazy nutso prices and that’s sort of the beginning of some weird horror story that I would rather not live out.
    I’ll just have to live vicariously through you! 😄

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    1. Yeah they reformulated Pale Barley. Called the new version the same name but to me, the new one will always be PaleR Barley! Why did they have to mess with a good thing? I’m glad I got my hands on it though. Now I can sleep more soundly. 😉
      Yeah, to think I was willing to pay double the original price, yikes!

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  10. Love the look of Pale Barley! I think I may need that one to! I am pretty late tto the makeup game, but attempting to make up for lost time, I didn’t know Hourglass had duos before the Modernist palettes.

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    1. Pale Barley is a fantastic colour – if you can’t hunt it down, MAC Patina is quite similar too. Yes, too bad Hourglass got rid of the duos. If you can find it online, try tracking them down too!

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  11. Congrats on tracking down Pale Barley, it looks so lovely!
    I am glad I am not the only one slightly upset by he Modernist palettes…something about the wavy lines makes it impossible for me to even consider getting one (that and the price).
    xo Anne

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    1. The Modernist palettes are just silly! I’m all for creative presentations but the irregular lines make my eyes twitch! And yes, the price is a bit crazy… but, I guess if people are willing to fork over the money!

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  16. Oooo!!! That little hourglass palette is gorrrrg! I don’t think I own a mauvey lavender shade .. now I need one lol! Those Burberry shadows look lovely too!! I HATE when companies discontinue awesome products, like why!!!!:(

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    1. I wish we had CCO’s here! I visited one in the US once and I died! It’s one of those places you have to visit regularly though since they keep receiving limited edition stuff especially MAC. *sigh* I guess it’s better for my wallet.

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    1. It’s such a beautiful everyday colour. I can’t believe how subtle and classy it looks! And this is coming from someone who owns a lot of eye shadows! And of course, that palette design is just divine – I feel very posh using it! 😛

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