Patriarch is expected to acquire the makeup company from Wachovia Corp. and CIT Group for an undisclosed sum. The lenders took the company over from Sun Capital Partners through a foreclosure sale after Stila defaulted on a loan.

Stila, based in Glendale, Calif., has changed hands several times over the past decade. Estée Lauder acquired the company from founder Jeanine Lobell in 1999, and then sold it to Sun Capital in 2006.

Traditionally, beauty products have proved relatively resilient during difficult economic times as women sought small, affordable pick-me-ups. But this recession is proving more challenging for high-end beauty lines, particularly as drugstore offerings have improved in quality.

The story goes like this: The beauty brand, which is a favorite with beauty editors but is a little bit of a harder sell with girls that like bright colors on their faces, was sold by Estee Lauder to Sun Capital Partners in 2006, which means the products are only really available at Ulta and Bloomingdale's besides beauty mecca Sephora.

We hear employees were given little advance notice, and arrived to offices that were shut yesterday morning.

Several attempts to contact Stila via e-mail and phone calls went unanswered.

So why not head back to MAC? Dickson said the decision was a matter of overall strategy. "We've had a history with the beauty industry, and in particular had a very successful partnership with MAC," she said. "Our cobranding strategy [with Barbie] has been to develop relationships in various different categories to create cultural noise and drive demand. In order to do that, you really do need to be limited and quick - keeping it innovative and limited has been part of the appeal of our products. For instance, we have a history of doing limited edition Barbies with fashion designers, and we follow the same strategy. We don't saturate the market. They come and go, and they keep the brand out there as a cultural thing."

The collection features four Decades of Beauty cans, each $40, with a booklet inside describing the beauty and fashion wardrobes for each doll. The first, #1 Ponytail Doll, celebrates the first Barbie, launched in 1959. It includes a red lipstick called Ponytail, a liquid eyeliner and a three-pan paper-wrapped compact with two eye shadows and a cheek color. Malibu Barbie, which highlights the doll of the same name that launched in 1971, has a pale pink Lip Glaze called Malibu, a black mascara and a compact with two eye shadows and a bronzer. Foxy Doll, which depicts the African-American Barbie launched in 1980, includes a Lip Glaze called Foxy, mascara and a compact with two eye shadows and a cheek color. The final offering, Jewel Doll, is based on the 2000 Barbie of the same name and includes a bright pink Lip Glaze called Jewel, a Multi-Effect Mascara and a compact with two eye shadows and a cheek color.