Bamboozled by Mary Kay: One Woman’s “Facial” Experience
This weekend, Chrissy at My Cosmetic Bag (a site for all things makeup!) posted a review of her experience with a Mary Kay “facial.” One of the common criticisms of Mary Kay here at Pink Truth is that the facials aren’t really facials at all. And that the “facial” is simply an opportunity to try to recruit you into the scheme. Chrissy’s review fully supports those criticisms, and is from an “outsider,” …. someone with no skin in the game on either side of the Mary Kay argument.
You can read the whole piece at “Bamboozled by Mary Kay,” but a few of the more interesting snippets are here:
The Invitation
“You will experience our Indulge Pampering which includes a 3-step hand spa, 2 step lip treatment, ultimate facial with microdermabrasion experience, PLUS a mineral color makeover! You are welcome to invite along any others you might like to join you – friends, family, co-workers, etc. And its all free
”
The Event
I could not have been more wrong. When we arrived, we were rushed into a small room where other women were sitting around large conference tables, plates of product samples and mirrors in front of them. I immediately started wondering what I’d gotten us into. I sat down, already wary of the night, but since it wasn’t exactly easy to get there I thought I might as well just get it over with. There were droplets of product samples in front of me. They were numbered 1-10 and there wasn’t any information about the products or their ingredients nearby, so I was already a bit annoyed. There were probably about 20 other women in the room.
The Pitch
Then, the sales director said something that really caught my attention in a negative way. She said that one of the sales women under her employ especially benefited from being able to make her own hours because her husband had recently been diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer. It was good that she didn’t have to work regular hours because she could now spend time with her dying husband. For those of you who know me, you know that cancer is a subject that particularly hits close to the heart for me. I immediately didn’t like this lady. Another family’s experience with cancer is not a selling point for you to get a group of other woman to sell makeup. It’s an extremely personal and horrifying experience that you completely just put on blast for your own benefit. That was not okay with me. I thought it was completely shameless and borderline disgusting that she had the nerve to try and spin that angle. I wanted to leave, but for the sake of myCosmeticBag I decided I should at least try the product samples in front of me.
The article goes on to detail how the session was nothing close to the “pampering” that was promised. She washed her own face, had consultants who had no knowledge of the products they were pushing, and ended up with makeup that wasn’t flattering on her.
Chrissy calls the whole experience “misleading,” because:
“… what they think will be an evening of spa pampering, only to find out that they would be spoken down to and directed to put products on their faces in which the “professionals” knew nothing about – she should really find a new method of sales. If she had just told me directly that she’d like me to try out some of the products and consider selling them myself, I would have been more open to the experience…”
Welcome to the Mary Kay experience, Chrissy. It’s not really about selling makeup. It’s about recruiting others to recruit others. The makeup is simply the bait used by desperate women who are trying to recruit. And about that sales director who told you she doubled her income with Mary Kay? My money says she’s making a fraction of what she used to, but you’ll never know because she’ll never back up her claims with proof. It is all part of the pattern and practice of using misleading and false earnings claims to get women into Mary Kay.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Chrissy!
Similar Posts:
Trackback from your site.
Comments (10)
pinkiu
| #
I didn’t receive real training until I became a professional makeup artist for a national prestige company found in higher end department stores. In fact I was the one telling my friend who was an SD about peptides and what they did – how they plumped out cells temporarily from the inside to reduce the look of lines. She didn’t know why her customers had to use the serum before the moisturizer! I remember that moment as the aha moment about product knowledge. They don’t have any. Later she thanked me because now that she knew what it did, she sold it more confidently and had higher sales. Part of me regrets sharing that information, but it reminded me how little real training in products the company provides.
Reply
workedpink
| #
“Oh come and be a “model” for my book”, she cajoled. She was a freind and while the whole concept of MK worked my nerves, I said, “Ok” and agreed to meet her at a local hotel. We were in the dining room, which was unoccupied because it was still early in the day, but was also an open space with hotel guests streaming by. I was given dabs of cleanser and moisturizer, a wet washcloth and dabs of makeup. I looked like a pasty-faced clown as the foundation was too light and the colors too bright. The worst part though was the evil, plastic Director. She was from another state and had “adopted” this unit. I guess she needed us to buy or book or join or whatever, to make her trip worthwhile.
She basically told me I was wasting time when I refused to go off and sit with her to hear the “opportunity”. I’d already heard it, and worked for her “future director”. I knew that the Future MK Sales Director I worked for was struggling. She was making co-pays on the car, she was living at home with her mother, she could barely pay me and offered me product in lieu of paycheck all the time. Being a model or getting a facial is a big lie and they should be ashamed for duping women like that.
Reply
Lazy Gardens
| #
Using the space paid for by a local business as your demonstration studio is so tacky I can’t believe it.
Talk about parasites!
Reply
Muppet2171
| #
I was a Mary Kay Commando for a very brief period. I had one friend who was willing to put up w/ the sales meetings…er…pampering sessions, but she told me she didn’t like how pushy everyone seemed to be.
Funny thing is I didn’t really notice it at the time. I got out because I refused to go into debt to order inventory I wasn’t sure I could sell…and if ordering by catalog was good enough for Avon – it was good enough to have me shunned and ignored at meetings.
Reply
Shanay
| #
I must be a freak, I LOVE home parties and had a complete BLAST at the two sessions I went to at my consultant’s house. I even expressed interest in becoming a consultant and agreed to let a SD call me. She called me, I spoke to her once, nobody is hounding me or pushing me, which surprised me a little. The pampering sessions I have been to are just what I expected, a chance to try some new products, new treatments, new make up looks, new colors, and see if I like them. I guess not everyone at MK is pushy. Nobody likes pushy.
Reply
TRACY
| #
Give it time Shanay. You are ripe for the pickin’!
Reply
Raven
| #
The key words in your comment are “home” parties! Not everyone likes to be put on display in public, especially when they were misled to believe it would be an entirely different experience. But yes, I agree with you when you say not all of them are pushy. I signed up to be a Consultant because not only do I love the products, but I had such a great (non-pushy) experience with my now team member. I wish everyone could have the types of MK experiences we’ve had!
Reply
Raven
| #
This sounds absolutely horrible! Unfortunately, I stayed away from Mary Kay for several years because of this reputation and mentality they had. I “sold” Avon with no success, mainly just to get the discounts. If my first experience with Mary Kay had been like this, I would have RAN in the opposite direction. I signed up for MK in February, and absolutely love it. It has been stop-and-go for me, but I am extremely fortunate to be with a unit that does not advocate use of the word “facial”, and that encourages no more than 5 to 6 people at the “parties”. I do not try to recruit (not everyone does), I simply love the products and am trying to find a way to supplement income after losing my job just over a year ago. I hate that you had such a nasty experience, but I truly hope you do not base your opinion of ALL MK consultants on this.
Reply
Lazy Gardens
| #
simply love the products and am trying to find a way to supplement income after losing my job just over a year ago.
So, if you use this spreadsheet it will make a running balance of your income and outgo:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AikkeC94mta4dE5PMXZJSWRtcGFfNVdvYlBVRk5yS3c&hl=en_US#gid=3
Enter all your income from sales, then all your expenses. How’s the supplementing doing? Are you breaking even yet?
And then put in the hours. Are you making more than minimum wage for your efforts?
Reply
Foxeh
| #
This experience seemed similar to the one I had.
My Mary Kay lady said that I should do a makeover thing for some type of contest to win a vacation, another makeover, and a donation to a charity of my choice.
When she said words like, “makeover,” and, “facial,” I assumed that I would be getting pampered by a professional makeup artists. In other words, I didn’t think I’d have to do everything myself.
When I got to the Mary Kay place, there were other women there, with the same mirror trays mentioned in the article and comments. While the consultants present knew what they were doing, I was disappointed that I wasn’t being pampered the way I had expected to be. I liked the products, though.
At least I had the door prize to look forward to, right? Nah, it was just a lip balm.
But like everyone else has mentioned, it was basically a Mary Kay consultant meeting to try and get everyone to join Mary Kay.
If my ride hadn’t left to do errands, I would have left when they started the marketing scheme.
Reply