Prescriptives, the cult skincare and custom blend makeup brand, will be shuttering its retail counters around the world in roughly T-minus 4 months. Prescriptives customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and Australia will either have to seek out a new cosmetics counter…or start stockpiling their favorite Prescriptives products stat. Estee Lauder, the company behind such successful names as Aveda, Clinique, and Bobbi Brown, determined that the business model of 30-year-old Prescriptives is no longer viable and made the difficult decision to shut down its division effective January 31, 2010.
Though it may come as a shock to loyal customers, Estee Lauder has dropped hints that it would one day pull the plug on Prescriptives. A few years ago, the company drew Prescriptives out of Asia and downsized its distribution in other countries overseas. Ever since the custom-blended foundation made a splash years ago, growth and development of the line has been slow. As Prescriptives made gradual moves to expand its makeup offerings, the original premise of a serious skincare range with dermalogical overtones floundered. But abandoning all hope for a colossal brand with decades of history seems harsh. What brought about this fatal diagnosis?
