Mary Kay’s NEW Timewise Set

Written by Frosty Rose

Well, to no one’s surprise, Mary Kay just made a “huge, exciting” announcement, only for the big girls in the directors’ club. It’s a secret for mere consultants until the big splashy marketing campaign goes out on May 17th. The company is changing TimeWise, Mary Kay’s skincare staple. Again.

For those who missed the giant guardrails and just stumbled upon Pink Truth lately, you may want to do some background reading here: https://www.pinktruth.com/2022/12/07/mary-kay-pink-power-day/ You see, back in December, Mary Kay had a “Pink Power Day”, offering 60% off any and all orders made that day. Woo hoo! And everyone here at PT speculated that there was a big product line change coming soon. Guess who got proven right? Again.

In an effort to maintain its status as an industry leader (cough cough), Mary Kay has gone back in time five years, to before TimeWise 3D was launched, and brought back what looks suspiciously like the previous iteration of the Miracle Set, complete with day and night serums. If you think this return to 2018 doesn’t sound like the cutting-edge products you would expect from a high-end brand, well, you’re not the only one. Check out the gossip going on in the directors-only Facebook group before the moderators figured out that their group isn’t as exclusive as they thought and deleted the post.

Mixed feelings, some downright negativity, questioning the integrity of group members (gasp!), and concern about “talking out of both sides of [their] mouth”. And, of course, a heavy helping of shame, “sell the sizzle” and “keep your consultants in the dark so they won’t hold their orders.”

Honestly, this was so predictable, it’s almost boring. Almost. The only question that remains is how many of the MK faithful will finally see the light. Or will they remain, stuck in the Pink Fog, trying hopelessly to sell overpriced products that you could have picked up in any drug store 10 years ago, and an opportunity that went out of fashion in the ’70s?














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44 COMMENTS

  1. One major change is that they’ve gone from the “Mary Kay” font and heart to boring block text.

    Kind of like when Gap, Inc. changed from their distinctive blue box logo to one that looked like some random doink made it in 30 seconds in MS Paint, even though it was created by a top design firm for serious $$$. This was an attempt to refresh their brand following the Great Recession, but the logo change was basically putting lipstick on a pig. Pretty much the entire internet hated it and all PR’s creative spin couldn’t save it. They were forced to revert to the blue box logo within a week to prevent all their customers from jumping ship.

    https://bettermarketing.pub/gaps-million-dollar-rebrand-lasted-6-days-754966d3d03a

    Or Tropicana Orange Juice, who also hired a top design firm to redesign their OJ cartons. It was such a disaster that Tropicana lost $20 million in sales and the well-established design company went belly-up shortly after.

    https://bettermarketing.pub/the-worst-rebrand-in-the-history-of-orange-juice-1fc68e99ad81

    Change for the sake of change rarely goes well.

    And speaking as a consumer, placing your product in puddles of goo is really unappealing. I don’t want to buy skin serum that looks like it’s sitting in a puddle of snot :X

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  2. Also, I’m quite looking forward to a slew of Ridiculous Downvotes ™ and this article flying to the top of the Popular Posts list.

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  3. If she didn’t know a change was coming, she’d be reordering the Miracle Sets … but they are just fine with keeping consultants in the dark.

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  4. Samra Browdy Vogel: “Consultants don’t think like we do nor do they have the same level of commitment…”

    Your supportive, respectful mentor and guide to the pink sisterhood life, ladies. She’s 100% behind you and has your best interests at heart.

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  5. There’s always a major change when corp needs orders. Remember the switch to minerals? From pink to platinum packaging, then to the black packaging?

    I am glad this is out there for those consultants who will be placing orders at the end of the month.

    I am also glad you kept the names of the posters up.

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  6. “The change must be necessary and we will make the best of it.”

    Now, can I have some Kool-Aid, please?

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  7. “Consultants don’t think like we do not do they have the same level of commitment.”

    Tell that to your brand new consultant who just placed an initial inventory order for thousands of dollars. Go on. Tell her she’s not committed. After you probably had her stand up at your weekly meeting and gushed about how committed she is. How you praised her for choosing a large inventory because it shows she’s serious about this “opportunity” and wants to become a director. Go on. Say it. To her face.

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  8. I wonder what last Friday’s critic, or in fact any Friday critic, thinks of their directors when they see what said ladies say amongst themselves about their down-lines.

    Samra Browdy Vogel Consultants don’t think like we do not do they have the same level of commitment.

    This kind of thinking permeates the directors’ reasoning. And that is the justification that they use to get their down-lines to order, order, order. These ladies don’t have any respect of their underlings and as such feel that they can do want they want to them disregarding what is in the best interest of said minions.

    Hopefully, some poor IBC or some-one considering joining will stumble across the site and discover what is being discussed “behind closed doors” by those supposedly supportive and positive directors.

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    • The Friday Critics always seem to default to “NoT aLl DiReCtOrS!!!” and claim PT shouldn’t say a few bad apples spoiled the whole basket. To me, this pretty conclusively proves that the whole darn basket is already rotten.

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  9. Samra Browdy Vogel They have to notify us this far out because we need time to manage our inventory. If I didn’t know this change was coming, I’d be reordering miracle sets to keep my shelves stocked and then… Surprise, we are changing the Miracle set! Then, I’m stuck with a bunch while MK is just about to promote a HUGE product launch.

    But Samra, I thought products just flew from your shelves and there was no need for an inventory since women don’t mind waiting.

    Ava Oja I decided this morning that I first needed to focus on keeping the new summer products a secret so consultants don’t hold back from ordering this month cuz new products are coming out next month.

    This is the Supportive Positive role-model Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash wanted in her company. One happy to lie and deceive her down-line just to make her 30 silver pieces in betrayal bucks.

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    • Off-topic, but Destiny Angel, could you please tell me how to engage bold font? I can to italics and strikethrough, but not bold.

          • I swear I tried strong and /strong before, but I’ll try again. (It’s the same command as on behindmlm.com, and I use it there all the time.)

            Got 2 B BOLD

            Experiment over. Professor Google says the TM character is ctrl+alt+t, but that doesn’t work. I’ll try holding the ALT key down and type 0153 on my numeric pad.

            Alt+0153™

            Hey, that works! I think. I’ll see when I post this. I know several other alt sequences by heart, but I didn’t know that one

            Greek letter mu: alt+0181 µ
            Degree symbol: alt+0176 °
            Plus/minus: alt+0177 ±
            Registered trademark (circle R)L alt+0174 ®

            • OK, except for the mystery “L” I slipped into that last one, they all worked. Thanks, Destiny Angel! And thanks to Tracy for indulging my little detour.

  10. Ava Oja: “I decided this morning that I first needed to focus on keeping the new summer products a secret so consultants don’t hold back from ordering this month cuz new products are coming out next month.”

    In other words, “I can’t risk any missing or delayed orders, even if that means my own consultants will get stuck with stuff they won’t be able to sell.”

    Sick…and…wrong.

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    • I hope tons of people google Ana Oja. Her comment is so elitist and condescending. I hope her entire unit leaves and returns every last bit of the inventory that qualifies for returns. For someone who basically joined MK to “be the first to know” about things, that first chargeback will be exclusively news for her!

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    • It’s extra satisfying that this is happening right before the end of their fiscal year.

      I can just picture the directors saying, “Ok, girls, make sure you order lots of miracle sets at the end of April so you have them on hand for Mother’s Day! Moms just love to get a gift that says ‘you’re a shrivelled ugly old prune, Mom!'” Cue May 17th and “Ohhhh, I had no idea they were going to change the whole thing on us! You know I’d have told you if I’d known! To make it up to you, order 6 of the new miracle sets and I’ll let you wash my Caddy with your hair!”

      Kind of hard to frontload your downline with the newer, less-stuff-in-it-yet-costs-more* for those precious May and June production goals when it’s all over the internet that not only did you know ahead of time, you deliberately wanted to withhold that information so that they’d have to spend twice as much and insulted them into the bargain.

      *I don’t know that for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn the new “improved” set with fewer items in it costs the same or more as the old one.

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  11. I am so enjoying this debacle! Reminds me when there was a sales contest for miracle sets in the early 2000’s (I think) and people were stocking up only to have a “new improved” miracle set introduced without warning to directors. And the flavored lip glosses that grew mold. And the cranberry something lipstick that smelled so bad customers returned it in droves. And the starter kit that directors received for their fake consultants, one of my bff’s brought in 6 $600’s “consultants” in only to have the starter kits change without warning the next month. The old ones were worthless b/c new products were in the new starter kits.

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  12. I am also seeing May and June ordering numbers down… oopsie. There go the seminar goals. Chargebacks will be coming.

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    • No less than they deserve. It’s high time their slimy tactics came back to bite them in the behind.

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  13. It’s a pretty effed-up business that treats the majority of its sales reps — who paid money to join — so shoddily.

    “Shhhh! It’s a secret!”

    Screw you, Mary Kay.

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      • Given how close the Then. Now. Always. slogan is the the Time Variance Agency’s For All Time. Always. , maybe they are hoping that they can get the Hunters to reset the Time-Line and prune the unwanted Pink Truthers away.

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  14. Ha, I love how one of them was talking about how they “reported” a “negative” FB group to MKC but nothing’s “been done about it”…then she says:

    “probably like that Pink Truth or whatever it was, couldn’t get rid of it”

    We are like a bad rash for these directors!!! That’s awesome. Well done, everyone! Well done.

    Now we need to schedule a ridiculously overpriced Scaminar event where we all sashay/shauntay across a stage wearing sashes and giving out pageant waves as we celebrate our anti-MLM successes.

    I cannot wait for some Ridiculous Downvotes ™, hopefully from some Mary Kay “hotel reservation Room Captains” desperately trying to gather up cash from their units.

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  15. “The Miracle Set has been purposefully reimagined”

    I guess that’s better than accidentally reimagined.

    Where is MK getting these copywriters? Some of the recent copy is laughable. They must be hiring recent grads or farming it out to foreign countries.

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    • Maybe the MK copy writers are the same people who tell every PT Critic to claim they “stumbled onto your site.” Ya know, ’cause it’s such a clever turn of phrase that we’ve probably never heard before.

      They’ve practically trademarked “Lazy loosers [sic]”

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  16. So that 60% off was really only an extra 10% off? LOL oh wait.. then the full tax they charge it’s really only 53% off.
    Glad tub sales directors are keeping it honest and not allowing your downline to waste $$$ (NOT)

  17. One of the things that’ finally got me out of Mary Kay was when they switched to 3D. I missed the old Miracle Set. I got stuck with a ton of them and I couldn’t get behind the new version.

    It’s ridiculous that they are going back to the what looks like the old miracle set.

    I’ve spent several years perfecting my new routine. And guess what? I’m using different products from different brands and there’s no “chemical warfare” on my face.

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  18. Apparently the Friday critics are NOT pleased with me or this post. Next week is going to be fun! 😈

  19. Does anyone else remember when we were taught that pores on our faces were “V” shaped, and held bacteria and other creepy crawlies so when we used MK, that “V” was emptied and closed and that’s what the bumps from initial skin care use? I was so very very fogged. Ew.

  20. Back in the mid to late 80’s I was recruited by none other than Kathy (and Daniel) Helou. Kathy was moving up in the “ranks” of MK. Back then, it was God, family, career. I was brainwashed into thinking that I ALWAYS needed plenty of inventory on hand. I was able to do so, and I did. I cannot believe that I was so gullible to fall for it all. Jumped through hoops for a ribbon, pen, and some goofy applause at a weekly meeting! Just a bunch of costly attention/accolades. As long as I was ordering (even though not selling as fast), it didn’t matter. Book more classes, wear your pin upside down, call more people, ask for referrals, and keep ordering, keep recruiting. Finally it just got to me, I sent my product back. Guess what – no support from anyone and it was as if I had the plague. Kathy turned her back on me quicker than you can imagine. It was all about her and her Cadillacs. Her and her status. Her and her commissions. Well, I’ve been out since the early 90’s and I don’t miss it – at all. When I see IBC’s at fairs, craft shows, etc….. I feel sorry for them. I’m just so glad I’m out, glad I learned fairly quickly even back then, that it’s all a SCAM! The Kathy Helou’s, Debi Moore’s, Mickey Ivey’s, Rena Tarbet’s, and on and on have made so many women gullible to their SCAM! All I can say is KARMA IS A BITCH!

  21. I love how they feel it’s necessary to notify Directors (only!) so far in advance, yet not everyone. That’s because Directors spend the most money buying production and cars compared to Consultants. Lots more to lose…I mean “sell through”.

  22. …and I’ve never felt more happy I’m out when I see the same names still as just Directors over 20 years since they debuted!

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