Evangelista and Schifter are members of a particularly tragic subset of discontinued product addicts, those obsessed with bygone hair-care formulations. Short of earning a chemistry degree and opening their own labs, they have little chance of re-creating their spritzes and rinses of choice. Happily for those fixated on a fragrance or a makeup shade, customized perfume and cosmetics companies like Three Custom Color Specialists, Giella and Sarah Horowitz Parfums can provide some hope. And Sephora’s new in-store Scentsa Fragrance Finder computers, which can access a database of more than 5,000 scents, will recognize discontinued fragrances and recommend similar blends. Still, no matter how close the match, the truly attached have a unifying complaint: It’s not exactly the same. With that in mind, the experts from Studio at Fred Segal’s Memoire Liquide Bespoke Perfumery try to capture a scent’s essence instead of aiming for a carbon copy. “We prefer to compose something in the spirit of the scent that conjures a strong memory of the former favorite but leaves room for new associations,” says Robin Coe-Hutshing, founder and creative director of Studio at Fred Segal.
But unfortunately for Gregory, they don’t do nail polish—and she has only three bottles of Rose Baby left. “I have them stored in my refrigerator,” she says. “And my mother is down to her last bottle. I don’t know if I’m a devoted enough daughter to sacrifice one of mine.”
