I received the latest Price Comparison sheet going around now in Mary Kay. When I was a consultant, such sheets were common, as directors were always comparing the prices of Mary Kay to other “department store” in an attempt to show how inexpensive Mary Kay products are.

Yes, many Mary Kay products are cheaper than their competitors’ similar product. But I’ve always been a little skeptical about comparing Mary Kay products to those of companies like Clinique or Lancome. To me, Mary Kay isn’t quite at the same level of quality as those department store brands. I think Mary Kay products are more closely comparable to brands like Maybelline, CoverGirl, and Loreal.

In fact, Mary Kay is LESS on trend than any of those three companies, yet such drug store brands are usually looked down upon by the Mary Kay community as being inferior.

This latest sheet is supposedly trying to show how, in these penny-pinching times, Mary Kay is a better choice than the popular drug store brand Loreal.

Unfortunately, it fails.

Loreal beats Mary Kay on price for 16 of the listed 19 products. One product that Mary Kay makes doesn’t have an equivalent in Loreal, so we can just throw that one out.  Therefore, Loreal wins the price contest for 16 of 18 products.

And I’ll be the first one to argue that for the quality, price and timeliness, Loreal is the CLEAR winner, not Mary Kay.

Here’s the document so you can check it out yourself:

Color Cosmetic Price Comparison Sheet

Related posts:

1. Shelf Life of Mary Kay Products: Date Codes Explained
2. DISC Score Sheet
3. Allure’s Best of Beauty 2008: What?! No Mary Kay Products?!

Here’s a nice one page flier showing all the options for filling the new black compact.

Mary Kay Black Compact Filling Options

Related posts:

1. With or Without Inventory, Filling Mary Kay Orders is Tricky
2. Mary Kay Invades India — Part 2
3. Mary Kay Holiday 2008 Products

Here are a few pages of the MK Holiday Flier showing the new products. (Sorry about the glitch before)

Limited Edition – Holiday 2008

Limited Edition Fragrances – Holiday 2008

Limited Edition Glamour – Holiday 2008

Related posts:

1. The Mary Kay Holiday 2008 “Gift Guide”
2. Allure’s Best of Beauty 2008: What?! No Mary Kay Products?!
3. It’s Ho-Ho-Holiday Open House Time!

Here’s a chart showing all the new eye and cheek colors coming out Summer 2008. It has pictures and descriptions so you can see all the new shades.

Mary Kay Mineral Eye & Cheek Colors Chart, Summer 2008

Related posts:

1. Mary Kay Mineral Eye & Cheek Colors Conversion Chart
2. DISC Chart
3. Review of the New Mary Kay Mineral Makeup

A friendly reader of the site sent us this handy color chart to share with all of you.

It shows the old Mary Kay shades and the closest corresponding shade in the new mineral formulations coming out Summer 2008.

Mary Kay Mineral Eye & Cheek Colors Conversion Chart

Related posts:

1. New Mary Kay Mineral Eye & Cheek Colors Chart
2. DISC Chart
3. Review of the New Mary Kay Mineral Makeup

Here’s a seven page worksheet that shows the Features and Benefits of many of the Mary Kay products and the order of application.

Product Knowledge Worksheet

Related posts:

1. Lina Says “…maybe all you who spoke so mean about this company really do not have what it takes to have your own business…”
2. Turning a Product Sample Offer Into a Class
3. How to Earn a Mary Kay Car and Become a Director: The Mary Kay Career Path

Below is a guide that I originally wrote for eBay. (Mary Kay Product Shelf Life Secrets Revealed.) I’m reprinting it here because so many have written to me via eBay to tell me that they found it helpful.

Shelf Life of Mary Kay Products

I frequently receive questions regarding the shelf life of Mary Kay products, mostly from consumers who have purchased the items somewhere else and now are having questions.

What IS Shelf Life?

Shelf Life is the period of time during which a product can be stored, unopened, under specified environmental conditions and remain suitable for use.

How Shelf Life is Determined

Here’s the information provided by the company itself in material provided to its sales force: (emphasis mine)

“Most Mary Kay® products are manufactured to have a minimum shelf life of three years from the date of manufacture. This is the standard for the cosmetic industry, not a regulation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the shelf life of over-the-counter (OTC) drug products such as sunscreens, antiperspirants, etc., as follows:

If the shelf life is less than three years, then the expiration date of the product must be clearly indicated on the package. This is not required if the shelf life is greater than three years. Some Mary Kay® products (e.g., Acne Treatment Gel) may have an expiration date because they have a shelf life of less than three years. For these products, it is particularly important to check the expiration date before using them. …”

“We recommend storing products at a temperature between is 59-86°F. When products have been exposed to very high or low temperatures, examine them carefully. Note the appearance, odor, and color of each product. If these appear normal, the product has probably recovered completely. Occasionally, separation or an “off odor” will develop several weeks after exposure to high temperatures, but this is not usually the case. If your products have been overheated or frozen, it is NOT a good idea to refrigerate or heat them. Let them return slowly to room temperature, and then examine each product.”

So, most of the products have a shelf life of more than three years. Unopened and properly stored cosmetic items typically last from 5 to 8 years. After that, some products start to deteriorate and lose their effectiveness. Common signs of age are separating, color change, & odor. Here are some common warning signs that your items have gone bad:

• Off odor” from ANY lotion, mask, or other cosmetic
• Cream eye color that is cakey or dry
• Foundation that has separated significantly in the bottle
• Grainy or hard-to-apply lipstick

If you notice any of these characteristics in any item you have, toss it.

Finding the Manufacture Date

All Mary Kay products carry what is known as a “Date Code.” This is a four-digit code consisting of two letters followed by two numbers. This code is usually located on the bottom of a container or on the crimp. With this code, you know exactly when the item was manufactured. NOTE: This is not an expiration date, as some mistakenly believe.
For example, an eye color refill tray might be marked Crystalline #882800 FX05.

•“Crystalline” is the product shade name

• The six numbers (882800) indicate the part number

• The second four characters (FX05) indicate the date of manufacture, which in this example would be December 5, 2004.

The following products have a TWO YEAR shelf life:

Acne Treatment Gel*

TimeWise® Day Solution With Sunscreen SPF 15*

Sunless Tanning Lotion.

*Over-the-counter drug product

You can interpret the day code using the following legend:

Character 1:

Letter representing the year in the decade in which the product was produced.

Character 2:

Letter representing the month of year in alpha order, as follows (please note that the code skips some letters to avoid confusion and mistaken identification):

Characters 3 and 4:

Numbers representing day of month. So, put it all together and here’s what you’ve got: If the date code is CT14, then the item was manufactured on October 14, 2002.

Date Codes for products manufactured before 2000

If your item was produced before the year 2000, the date code will not follow the form explained in the above section.
Prior to 2000, date codes began with a number, not a letter. Here are a few of the corresponding codes.

Related posts:

1. Raffle Winner Gets Basket of Expired Mary Kay Products!
2. True or False: Pink Cadillacs are awarded to the top sellers of Mary Kay products
3. Allure’s Best of Beauty 2008: What?! No Mary Kay Products?!