03.06“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”
Last night, I went to my first Mary Kay consultant party.
Now, before I go any further, let me just say that my introduction to Mary Kay started off in the pages of a Bloom County comic strip collection, The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos. (“Even their uzis are pink!”) (And, actually, the book may or may not have been partly responsible for ending Mary Kay’s animal testing.) The pink Cadillacs were infamous to me, much like mob cars, with their insidious pink paint jobs and devious Mary Kay logos plasted on the back windshield.
I originally didn’t want to go to the consultation because companies like Mary Kay, Arbonne, and Avon didn’t really impress me. I’d purchased a few cheesy little Avon things, primarily out of pity for the determined sales rep who kept coming to the building I worked at, despite the fact that virtually nobody ordered anything. The make-up wasn’t that great, but was a cheap way to play with colors and looks. As well, my skintone is incredibly difficult to work with and I usually prefer to try on colors or at least see them in hand, which you don’t really get with a catalog.
Boatshoes’ sister was invited to be a make-up model, which basically entails a big long sales pitch while letting you try out different products. She invited a few of us to join her and, well, I agreed, mostly because I want to spend some more time with her and we planned to discuss some more ideas for the wedding.
The Mary Kay rep was a tall, thin woman, relatively young and very much put-together. She was delightfully quirky and didn’t mind any questions we threw at her. Definitely points in her favor. We sampled a bunch of products for our various skin types and a few dabs of make-up which were, for the most part, not entirely flattering. However, I can say I was pretty impressed by some of the products, which lacked that cheap, greasy quality I’d seen in Avon products.
At the end of the night, I wound up spending $100+ on skincare.
I’m meeting with the consultant this weekend for a check-in, as well as to experiment with some colors for the wedding. I think I’ve officially been sucked in.
But you do not piss off a woman carrying a pink uzi.
PS – I totally stole the Flickr (Fuckr?) header code from Rockstar Mommy, who, I believe, stole it from someone else. Yes, we’re a bunch of theives but at least our sites look cool.
Yeah, I'm still hesitant about the make-up. To me, things like eyeshadow, eyeliner, and blush are disposable. I'll buy Revlon, Cover Girl, Rimmel, whatever catches my fancy. I'll spend a little more on mascara if it'll get the look I want and I'm really picky about facial make up since my skin is so fickle.
That said, I love Sephora.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:18 am
In college we had a Mary Kay Party and the "consultant" ended up ripping the eyeshadow applicator out of my hands and saying " Just let me do it!" To this day I am hopeless with make-up!
March 6th, 2007 at 2:55 am
I hate those kinds of parties with a passion. But then when my cousin started selling Arbonne I went to a party out of obligation… and then she somehow roped me into signing up to sell the stuff. That was in October. I haven't sold a thing. Ha!
I did buy some of their mineral foundation which is nice, but now that everyone else has their own line of mineral foundation out… I probably won't order it again. Besides I have dry skin on my face and that stuff I think is better suited for normal to oily skin.
I actually use Avon's Anew line of moisturizers and wrinkle creams on my face. I tend to just use whichever one is on sale. I like them.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:18 am
I love Sephora too! I just cry for days when I walk out $200 lighter with a fuckton of stuff I will use SO sparingly, because I don't want to use it all right away, it expires.
This is why I refuse to spend alot.
Yes, I am mental.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I stole it from Y
Hahaha, Fuckr. You people are never gonna let that go. I can't help it if my L's run into my I's!
Mary Kay doesn't have bad products. They had this one lip gloss a few years ago that I absolutely loved and I knew I should have bought a few but I didn't. I went to reorder and the girl told me it was discontinued. Figures. :/ I tried a few of the other lip glosses in hopes that I could find something as good, but alas… I do, however, like their concealer. It works well when the kids have me up all night long and I get those nice, attractive bags under my eyes. I have a bunch of Mary Kay products from being forced to these parties that friends and family have. And yes, definitely better than Avon.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:25 am
Those pink Cadillacs are hideous.
And, there is an exception to the laws about stealing if you're cool, I think. You and rsm should be fine.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:12 am
The new pink Cadillacs aren't that bad. I actually really love them.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:18 am
That was my favorite book ever, by the way. I had all the Bloom County books. I loved that strip.
Incidentally, my wife is a Mary Kay whatchamacallit. Consultant? Saleswoman? Uzi-packer? She did it for years and still loves their stuff, but she's tired of selling it.
She may or may not have tried a few of the products on me. I'm not telling.
And you don't have to get the pink Caddies. If you get to that level, you can get other kinds of cars. Or, they'll just give you a bunch of extra $$$ per month, the equivalent of what the car payment would be.
I can't believe you hooked me into talking about this crap.
March 6th, 2007 at 9:41 am
I agree with you. Mary Kay is a far better product than Avon. Unfortunately, I am a tight wad who refuses to spend a fortune on makeup.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Yeah, I’m still hesitant about the make-up. To me, things like eyeshadow, eyeliner, and blush are disposable. I’ll buy Revlon, Cover Girl, Rimmel, whatever catches my fancy. I’ll spend a little more on mascara if it’ll get the look I want and I’m really picky about facial make up since my skin is so fickle.
That said, I love Sephora.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:18 am
I too am very particular about what I put on my skin. My skin is so sensitive I really have to be careful. I have tried so many foundations and have had the best results from Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse. I love the texture. I love makeup. all this talk about makeup lately is giving me the itch to go buy new stuff.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:29 am
In college we had a Mary Kay Party and the “consultant” ended up ripping the eyeshadow applicator out of my hands and saying ” Just let me do it!” To this day I am hopeless with make-up!
March 6th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I hate those kinds of parties with a passion. But then when my cousin started selling Arbonne I went to a party out of obligation… and then she somehow roped me into signing up to sell the stuff. That was in October. I haven’t sold a thing. Ha!
I did buy some of their mineral foundation which is nice, but now that everyone else has their own line of mineral foundation out… I probably won’t order it again. Besides I have dry skin on my face and that stuff I think is better suited for normal to oily skin.
I actually use Avon’s Anew line of moisturizers and wrinkle creams on my face. I tend to just use whichever one is on sale. I like them.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I love Sephora too! I just cry for days when I walk out $200 lighter with a fuckton of stuff I will use SO sparingly, because I don’t want to use it all right away, it expires.
This is why I refuse to spend alot.
Yes, I am mental.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I stole it from Y
Hahaha, Fuckr. You people are never gonna let that go. I can’t help it if my L’s run into my I’s!
Mary Kay doesn’t have bad products. They had this one lip gloss a few years ago that I absolutely loved and I knew I should have bought a few but I didn’t. I went to reorder and the girl told me it was discontinued. Figures. :/ I tried a few of the other lip glosses in hopes that I could find something as good, but alas… I do, however, like their concealer. It works well when the kids have me up all night long and I get those nice, attractive bags under my eyes. I have a bunch of Mary Kay products from being forced to these parties that friends and family have. And yes, definitely better than Avon.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Those pink Cadillacs are hideous.
And, there is an exception to the laws about stealing if you’re cool, I think. You and rsm should be fine.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
The new pink Cadillacs aren’t that bad. I actually really love them.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
That was my favorite book ever, by the way. I had all the Bloom County books. I loved that strip.
Incidentally, my wife is a Mary Kay whatchamacallit. Consultant? Saleswoman? Uzi-packer? She did it for years and still loves their stuff, but she’s tired of selling it.
She may or may not have tried a few of the products on me. I’m not telling.
And you don’t have to get the pink Caddies. If you get to that level, you can get other kinds of cars. Or, they’ll just give you a bunch of extra $$$ per month, the equivalent of what the car payment would be.
I can’t believe you hooked me into talking about this crap.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
FTN – don't worry… my husband has tried out a few "pink" products as well.
Steen, the great thing about the MK stuff is that if you don't like something, RETURN IT. Your consultant will just send it back to the company, and it won't cost her a thing (other than the dollar or two for postage). When you want to try on the colour stuff, make sure that she gets you lots of samples. If she doesn't have them, she should be able to ask her director or fellow consultants if they have the colour you're looking for. If she doesn't work with you on that, find another girl who will. There are lots of consultants out there who WILL help you
This reminds me, I have got to start doing more in my business!!!
March 12th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Kait – I'm liking it so far, as well as my consultant. She's really nice and we actually just did a color session this past week. She brought some fresh ideas and left me with two pages of samples.
I'll admit, I only tried it out because you had mentioned how great their skincare was! I figured I'd give it a shot.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
FTN – don’t worry… my husband has tried out a few “pink” products as well.
Steen, the great thing about the MK stuff is that if you don’t like something, RETURN IT. Your consultant will just send it back to the company, and it won’t cost her a thing (other than the dollar or two for postage). When you want to try on the colour stuff, make sure that she gets you lots of samples. If she doesn’t have them, she should be able to ask her director or fellow consultants if they have the colour you’re looking for. If she doesn’t work with you on that, find another girl who will. There are lots of consultants out there who WILL help you
This reminds me, I have got to start doing more in my business!!!
March 13th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Kait – I’m liking it so far, as well as my consultant. She’s really nice and we actually just did a color session this past week. She brought some fresh ideas and left me with two pages of samples.
I’ll admit, I only tried it out because you had mentioned how great their skincare was! I figured I’d give it a shot.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:05 am