Why Do Makeup Brands Reformulate Your Favourite Products?

The “fresh, wear-proof face.” That was the tag line of Estée Lauder’s Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup when it debuted in 1997. The long-wearing matte foundation was revolutionary and quickly became a fan favourite. Today, it remains a top seller worldwide, including in Canada. Yet in January, Estée Lauder announced a reformulation of the fail-safe formula, striking anxiety in loyal customers.

Reformulations have a mixed reputation in the beauty industry. For every lauded remix (like Armani’s reimagining of its Luminous Silk Perfect Natural Glow Foundation), there are the mixed or downright-terrible reviews of others: MAC, Givenchy and Laura Mercier, to name a few. For a closer-to-home example, there’s Canadian makeup brand Bite, which discontinued its beloved line of creamy lipsticks in favour of an all-vegan offering and then shuttered two years later.

Tweaking the formula makes sense when a product doesn’t live up to its promise, but messing with a good thing is risky. So, why do so many brands do it anyway? The answer, according to industry experts, is complicated. Typically, it boils down to four factors: ingredient regulations, safety perceptions, supply-chain challenges and customer preferences.

Regulatory changes alone can make a reformulation unavoidable. In recent years, microplastics, colour limits and retinoids have all faced tighter regulations, alongside expanded allergen disclosures. For example, talc is expected to be banned in the EU by 2027, and restrictions on cyclopentasiloxane (a silicone used to create a silky feel in foundations) will take effect in the same year, due to the ingredient’s negative impact on waterways.

Even just swapping out one ingredient can trigger an entire reformulation. “Like with a Jenga tower, you pull one piece out and the whole thing can come tumbling down,” says Annie Graham, a cosmetics chemist at Atomic Pom Labs. “It is very expensive to reformulate a product, so it’s not done without a good reason.”

Consumer perception poses an additional hurdle. “It has a lot of play in the ingredients a brand will use,” notes Graham. “It’s competitive out there, and they have to sell in a world of fearmongering.” Customers are more informed than ever— and quick to push for ingredient changes, whether they’re backed by science or not.

“They wanted a formula that was more buildable and blendable and felt more breathable on their skin.”

Supply-chain issues—especially for natural ingredients—can force a reformulation, too. “For me, as a third-time brand founder, the landscape now is different from my past experiences,” says Susanne Langmuir, the formulator of waterless beauty brand Lixr and founder of Bite, which she exited after selling to LVMH incubator Kendo. “With global climate change, the production and shipping of ingredients has become more challenging. Some ingredients are no longer available. There are a lot of moving targets.”

Ingredients are only part of the story. Consumer expectations have also progressed. “People want to look like themselves,” says Langmuir. “They want to put products on their skin that enhance it instead of covering it up. That’s a big shift.”

That means that legacy foundations like Double Wear, known for its fuller coverage and matte finish, are often due for a glow-up if brands want to appeal to new customers. But that push doesn’t always come from the diehards—it can come from shoppers who haven’t yet bought in, signalling shifting expectations around finish, feel and performance. Still, when you’re talking about a hero product—one that’s been successful for decades because people buy it over and over—it can be a tough sell. When the Double Wear revamp was announced, Instagram lit up with comments like “I’m so scared!” and “Please do not mess with this foundation!!!!!! I’ve been using it for 15 years!!!!"

So, how do you modernize a formula in response to evolving beauty habits without alienating the client base that has made the product so successful? You have to keep its essence the same while making it better—a sort of beauty Catch-22. Somehow, that’s what Estée Lauder has done.

“Over the years, we heard from consumers that they loved the staying power but wanted a more dimensional matte finish,” says Marianne Russo, the brand’s head of global product development. “They wanted a formula that was more buildable and blendable and felt more breathable on their skin. Several years of research, consumer insights, testing and perfecting went into the new Double Wear to ensure that we were keeping everything our consumers loved about the original formula but making the best even better.”

The new Double Wear is more fluid, letting users layer it to personalize coverage. A breathable polymer system moves with the skin, while skincare ingredients like hyaluronic acid and niacinamide balance hydration and oil control for a matte finish that doesn’t look flat. As for staying power, it’s been upgraded from 24 to 36 hours with zero transfer. In a lot of ways, it’s the same Double Wear, just more customizable to suit a wider range of needs.

Whether that is enough will depend on how the brand manages the inevitable backlash from change-resistant loyalists and how effectively it educates—and entices—consumers in an increasingly crowded market. The beauty landscape has evolved since Double Wear first launched: Thousands of brands now compete for attention online rather than at beauty counters. “The industry is fast-moving and impulse-driven, especially with social media picking up speed,” says Langmuir. “We learn about things and want them instantly.”

Formulation alone isn’t always enough to attract attention. “It’s no longer the differentiator,” says brand strategist Camille Moore. “Good products are the baseline. Now, it’s about world-building—making people feel something and leaning into the experience.”

Heritage brands face the steepest climb. They must execute precise reformulations that outperform their originals, clearly communicate the reasons behind the changes (so consumers don’t feel betrayed) and build a compelling brand world that resonates with new generations. It is a delicate dance, and as more brands tinker with their hero products, it will be a lesson in strategy when some strike the right balance and others fall by the wayside.