Attacked by Mary Kay

A friend of a friend has just started selling May Kay. My friend invited me to come to a Mary Kay party held at the "Mother Ship" this morning. I've been to several since I was a Beehive, but I'd never been to one not held in someone's home. It was quite the experience!

First of all, let me be fair and say Mary Kay DOES have great products... far out of my price range, but good nonetheless. The thing that I found amusing was the "pep talk sales pitch" approach they used. There were probably about 20 guests and maybe 5 consultants, with 2 "head honcho" types running the show (the ones who drive the infamous Pink Cadillacs).

The first half was pleasant.. all the "cleansing" and "moisturizing." The second half was more entertaining... the "beautifying" part. Apparently we were going for the "Glamor Look". The big thing the main lady was pushing was eyebrow enhancers. She had warned earlier that she would pick people to make demonstrations. I got to be the lucky first victim.

(the flash washed me out... it doesn't look too bad here)

I was perched on this high seat in front of everyone and she called attention to my "beautifully" shaped eyebrows, but pointed out they were blonde and hard to see. So she deftly "brought them out" (a.k.a. drew some) and then had me model, calling for applause and exclaiming that it had transformed my face!.. what was wrong with it before?

I guess she liked me (she probably thought my smirk was a sign of sincere excited interest, like most of the guests), so I was told to stay on the seat and she honored me by finishing my eye shadow herself. With each color application (3 colors total) she told everyone to observe, and I would steal a glance. And with each application it was more and more scary. The final touch she called "smoking" my eyes... I thought I looked more like one of those scary women mistaken for evil fiends.

I finally got to go sit by my friend and the girls she had introduced me to. Those ladies were worth all the clown make-up. We were our own little corner of military women and had lots of laughs. In the end I thought their make-up was much more subtle and beautifying than the monstrosity I had been morphed into.


Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun... but I think I enjoyed silently laughing at the approach more than anything. Phrases like, "I won't go to my mailbox without make-up!" or "use this and you'll age 17 days less faster per day".. what does THAT mean? I also didn't agree with the pressure for women to be always "made up"... I felt it was more like hiding than bringing out your best self. Not that I'm anti-make-up... I'm just pro-practical.

When I got home, Fred had pulled up an old Animaniacs episode on YouTube in honor of my trip. I got a good laugh... and he insisted I look lovely, even though I rolled my eyes... back to masacara and lip gloss tomorrow!