After the Mary Kay roadshow, I was invited by my beauty consultant for a free skincare & makeup consultation at their office on Friday. I was a bit hesitant because I thought she was going to push me to buy a lot of stuff, so I kept repeating to her that I was only interested in the mineral foundation. But guess what? In the end, when I arrived at the office, she said that she hope I didn't bring any money as today was a "sharing session" and not a "buying session". I was feeling a bit strange, but hey... it's ok. After all, I'm still thinking about the mineral foundation. My Boots No. 7 mineral foundation is finishing (but not yet finished) so I was hoping to repurchase only when I'm all out, lol. Especially since now I started using the compact foundation again, not keen to buy foundation straightaway.
The Mary Kay office is in Jaya 33, and you have to get the concierge to give you access to the office floors. Quite "mafan"... it's not DIFFICULT, but it's just annoying. It's like, they make it difficult for you to buy stuff from them? Anyway, that's not really true because if you wanna but stuff, you can call your beauty consultant to meet you at the shops in Jaya 33, or she can even drive to your house to pass you the products. Yes, it's something like direct selling, though my beauty consultant told me that their role is more to share out news about Mary Kay than to push products. Though of course I'm sure they have sales targets to meet.
So... let me share with you what I learned, and some of the stuff that they let me try out on Friday...
SKINCARE:
Started the day with Red Tea & Fig Loofah Body Cleanser. My beauty consultant (I'll just call her Yvonne from now on, ok?) let me use the scrub on my right hand so that I can really feel the difference when I compare it against my left hand. This was supposed to be a bit like a "spa" treatment, I suppose. She was quite heavy-handed with the loofah body cleanser, so I could scrub right up to my elbow!
My thoughts? This is definitely a very nice cleanser, and with soooo much exfoliation beads (they are actually kiwi seeds, and some other stuff I don't know about), you get a REALLY good scrub that leaves you feeling clean and refreshed. However, I don't quite like the smell of the red tea & fig. It's not a BAD smell, but for the price (RM75), I think that I could get something that smells better from Body Shop. I told Yvonne so as well, and she said that she heard from other customers that the price from Body Shop is about the same as Mary Kay. What I do know is that Body Sho's exfoliation beads tend to be smaller. This one is quite large! Anyway, it's a good product, just too pricey for me.
After that, she allowed me to try some products from their Botanical Customized Skin Care range. There are 3 ranges - dry skin, normal skin and oily skin. Each range has a different "magic product" to suit that particular skin type. Dry skin contains hibiscus, oily skin contains with hazel and normal skin (mine!) contains beech tree bud. I'm glad that I didn't waste my time putting on make-up that morning, as the first thing we used was the cleanser!
My thoughts on the cleanser --- it is definitely a very gentle cleanser, non-foaming (so if you like those very foamy types, this is not the cleanser for you. However, she did tell me the cleanser for oily skin is very foamy... so I guess it depends on your skin type. If you are normal skin, probably you won't like this cleanser) and has some moisturising properties as well. Since we were doing this at a table and not a sink, she gave me a wet facial cloth to wipe off the cleanser after usage, and it was enough. My skin did feel more "comfortable" and definitely had a clean feeling WITHOUT the tightness. However, it is quite comparable to other cleansers that I have used, so I wasn't super impressed by it.
However, she did teach me how to wash my face using "beauty fingers" which is the 3rd & 4th finger of each hand. Apparently using your entire hand (like what I've been used to --- gasp!) is super terrible because it's very harsh on your skin. She also recommends to NOT rub the cleanser over your eyes to remove eye make-up because she said skin around the eye area is 1/4 the thickness of skin on the rest of our face... she was shocked that I have been doubling up my cleanser as make-up remover as well... Sigh. Guess I gotta change, but I super hate using make-up remover!
After that, we had the MASK SPA, which was quite honestly my favorite part of the skincare consultation! She allowed me to use 2 different types of masks because of my combination skin. At the T-zone, she put some light purple mask from the "oily" skin care range. This was ONLY applied at the T-zone. For the rest of my face, she allowed me to use a light green mask from the "normal" skin care range. This was applied everywhere else. It has some light exfoliating beads inside the mask as well, and it is used for BRIGHTENING, EXFOLIATING, CLARIFYING and WHITENING as well. The masks are applied on thickly (don't be stingy!) and are left on the face for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you will feel that the masks has started to feel "tighter" on your skin. That's when you know it's done.
To remove, you do NOT peel it off (as this can be harsh on the skin). You wet the mask, and then you gently scrub it off in circular motions. Oh yeah, Yvonne asked me to put the mask on only one side of my face (Harvey Norman style) so I can see the difference. After taking off the mask, I'm really surprised that THERE IS A HUGE FREAKING DIFFERENCE!~ Seriously, I was so sad to see my un-masked face look so tired compared to the brighter, fairer and clearer face without the mask. T___T It is really, really good. I want the mask!! :( It's quite pricey though - RM75 per bottle, but then I reckon that if I have been doing hydrating masks with My Beauty Diary, and it costs RM70 for a box of 17 masks... I'm sure RM75 for > 17 usages should be quite worth it, right?
That's not all... the part of my T-zone that had the purple mask... well, the reason why I was even using it that day was because I just got a pimple that morning (looks like my Vitamin E face wash is not that effective after all!), and as you know, when you get a pimple, you need to wait a while before it becomes "ripe" enough to deal with right? After putting on that miraculous purple mask... the pimple was instantly RIPE enough to be burst!! SERIOUSLY! I was so impressed, but I had to maintain my face just in case they expected me to buy it then and there. (I was still a bit hesitant about spending money... -___- Cos Tron kept telling me not to end up spending thousands of ringgit).
Anyway, so that's why I'm in quite a quandary. RM75 for one mask is already pricey. But if I buy two, that's RM150 just for masks lor! Granted, the light purple one, I won't be using so often (only to deal with pimples), but it's quite a lot to plonk out in one go.
There was also another mask treatment that I was going through at the same time... a LIP MASK treatment. Similar to my Lipscription from Benefit, this one was called SATIN LIPS. You just spread the Satin Lips lip mask over your dry lips and leave it on for one minute. This is different from Lipscription which involves you to just use the buffing solution to scrub away the dead skin. Of course, for Satin Lips, when you remove the lip mask, you do scrub away the dead skin as well.
Also, same like Lipscription - after you are done with the Lip Mask, you put on the Satin Lips Lip Balm. The lip balm is SAME as the one in Lipscription! Since you can't get Lipscription anymore from Benefit, I would suggest that you can use this as an alternative. However, since I already have Lipscription, I won't be purchasing this.
The 3rd step in the Botanical Customized Skin Care range is the FRESHENER. Take note, it is not a TONER but a FRESHENER. A freshener is actually more for "double cleansing" and does not "tighten the pores" like what a toner claims to do. It also does not contain any alcohol. According to Yvonne, sometimes after cleansing, when she wipes with freshener, she can see extra dirt being removed. I don't know whether this is to say that the cleanser is inefficient or the freshener has super cleansing properties! For me, when I used it, I didn't see any extra dirt coming out, but the freshener leaves a cooling and "fresh" sensation behind. To me, can do without it... but if you try it, you might beg to differ.
Last of all, is the moisturiser (but of course). It is comparable to other moisturisers on the market - does leave your skin feeling softer & very moisturised, but other than that, I didn't find it super outstanding so I didn't enquire much into it. I was actually still thinking about the masks!
Phew! Believe me, just getting the skincare consultation took sooooo long. All the while we were chatting about beauty stuff, beauty routine, etc. My beauty consultant is super good. If you are interested in finding more about Mary Kay, just drop me a comment or email me and I'll get you in touch with her. No worries, like me, you don't have to purchase anything. I think the beauty consultants themselves do get some kinda award for being the top SHARERS, so it is in their interest to get to know more people to share these skincare stuff with. Plus, so far the products are good, it's not like some sleazy multi-level marketing kinda thing.
We were then done with skincare and moved on to the MAKE-UP LESSON. Since I have been doing my own make-up all this while, you might wonder why I also agreed for a lesson. Well, we are always learning, and besides, I don't think I'm an expert though I know basic stuff. For a base, we started with the Mary Kay Sun Protector SPF 35/PA+++. To be honest, I don't like using sunscreen, not because I think I don't need it, God knows I do. But I don't like the "stuffy", "clogged pores" feeling I get from all sunscreens.
This one is no different though it claims to be lightweight. I didn't like it at all and wished that I could scrub the whole thing off! I know it's supposed to be good for it, but my skin just doesn't like it. My face felt like it was "heating up" again...
For foundation, she allowed me to try both their mineral foundation and their tinted foundation.
By the way, I'm "IVORY 5" shade. ;)
As I told Yvonne, I'm in a quandary over these two products. For mineral foundation, I just love how it feels on my skin. It is super lightweight, it makes my skin feel like I can BREATHE, and it offers light coverage that feels barely-there. The liquid foundation makes me feel a bit "clogged" up (just like the sunscreen), but the coverage is AMAZING with just a small amount of product. Yvonne said that equal coverage can be achieved with the mineral foundation by layering on more foundation, but as mentioned - just a small bit of liquid foundation goes a long way, whereas for the mineral foundation, you have to keep brushing on more and more. Plus you know how it is with mineral foundation --- it's hard to achieve zero fallout...
Yvonne also claimed that she has the miracle solution for me for the liquid foundation. She said I could use a face primer before putting on the liquid foundation. That way, it would be putting on a "cover" before putting on the liquid foundation. I can't find a picture of the face primer she showed me, but the cream is more like a balm, and it really is lightweight. However, unlike other face primers that I have used before, it doesn't have any shimmer or glow effect after putting it on. It really does seem like the function is only to prep the face up for the foundation, lol. (Different idea from my Benefit face primers.)
After foundation, she taught me how to put on eyeshadows. My first time using an eye primer as well. The eye primer comes out like a moisturising cream, and you just pat it on around the eye area with the "beauty fingers". Just keep patting lightly til it has been absorbed. Then and then only can you continue with putting on the eyeshadow.
Yvonne tried to quiz me on how many eyeshadows are needed for a look. I guessed 3 and am correct, haha. Yes, yes, watching beauty videos on Youtube are useful for something, I guess. One is a highlighter used near the brow. The other is the main color, and one more is for shading. Actually, sometimes when I'm lazy I just use 2 colors or even 1 (no highlighting at all). Sometimes when I'm hardworking, I use the highlighter for both the brow and for the inner eye.
Since I happened to be wearing green that day, the colors we used were white (for highlighter), green and a dark brown.
The brown colored color is called "Espresso" and the green one is called "Lemongrass". To be honest, even before I met Yvonne, I browsed through the Mary Kay catelogue and was quite taken by the shimmery yellow-green of Lemongrass. However, the color is really more of a vivid green than one is pictured. Yes, it is shimmery, but I thought it came out looking more EMERALD than light green! You can see the "after" results yourself after this. The good part about learning to do my eyeshadows with Yvonne is that she thought me how to put on my eyeshadow using an applicator. -___- I am quite lazy to use applicators actually, but I now see what a difference it is between using my fingers and using an applicator. And yes, the importance of having an applicator JUST FOR BLENDING!
For the cheeks, she used a color called "Shy Blush" that is a pinkish coral. It is a mineral powder blush as well. Again, Yvonne gave me a "paradigm shift" in terms of putting on my blush. Firstly, I was always a fan of the "smile and put blusher on the apples of your cheeks". Then I watched a Youtube video of this make-up artiste (tied to an international make-up brand, forgot what it's called) who said that the older you get, the more you should highlight your cheek bones and not the apple of your cheeks as your skin is starting to sag already. Yvonne taught me a combination of highlighting both the apple of your cheeks and then sweeping up to your cheek bone. The effect is quite nice and stunning! I like it already! Going to do it this way from now on...
Also, she said that for my skin tone, corals are more suitable for me than dark pinks. I'm not banned from pinks, she just said that dark pinks are better for a night look for me. This is already something that I had been thinking by myself for some time, so I guess it confirms it for me...
There was also eye liner (but of course) and mascara. The liquid eye liner is normal lah... I still prefer my current eye liner (which I think is the best liquid eye liner around). The only good thing is that Yvonne taught me a different way to do my eyeliner, as well as how to line the bottom part of my eyes (partially). Gives a more 3D kind of look that I like as well. Also means that I won't need to dump my Ever Liner as I can use my ZA Ever Liner for the bottom part, and still use my Maybelline eye liner for the top. Will show you more later. ;P
The mascara does give length and thickness, but I find that it gets quite clumpy too.. so wasn't too impressed with it. Plus, there are a lot of other mascaras on the market, don't think I will be using Mary Kay mascaras...
Lastly, we used a liquid lip color for a touch of color on the lips. I felt quite odd putting on more stuff on my lips as I still had the Satin Lips lip balm on. But Yvonne said that if I had just the lip balm on, it's weird cos everything else was "colored in" already. Lol!
So we used the Malted shade (a very neutral shade) from their liquid lip color range. Honestly, I find that the liquid lip color is such an interesting product! It comes in a packaging like lip gloss, but without the sticky, glossy feeling of lip gloss. I quite like it!! But I'm wondering what's the point, cos I like the quick-and-easy swipe on of a good old tube of lipstick.
The final results of the mini makeover :
You can clearly see how GREEN the eyeshadow is in the 2nd picture right? Haha... sorry for the bad camwhoring pics, as I was actually super busy on Friday. After the 2.5 hours skincare + make-up consultation (darn long, I know right?) I rushed off to Kelana Jaya, and had so many other things to settle for the day in preparation for the weekend. Craziness!
Before I left for the day, Yvonne also passed me some free stuff for me to try... check it out:
- Crystalline mineral powder eyeshadow
- Lemongrass mineral powder eyeshadow
- Midnight Star mineral powder eyeshadow
- Shy Blush mineral powder blusher
- Dusty Rose creme lipstick
- Tinted Lip Balm
To be honest, I'm probably only going to get the mineral powder foundation and the mask spa (probably going to get both, might as well go all out, eh?). I was afraid that Tron is going to scold me for getting suckered in, but what the heck --- he is super cool with me buying Mary Kay stuff. You know why? Cos he said it's a Christian company. Lol! Actually, the Mary Kay philosophy for their employees is "God first, family second and career third." This is what Yvonne told me, and I was honestly surprised...
About Tron --- I told him I was in a quandary over getting 1 or 2 spa masks, and he said get both. You know what he said? He even said I should limit myself to 1 or 2 products a month from Mary Kay. Is he insane? I was thinking more like 1 or 2 products every 6 months! He thinks I'm made of money? (He's not paying for all this, lol)
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Despite me saying on this blog entry that I want to finish my Sunsilk shampoo, I really couldn't tahan the strong, chemical smell and I also realised that using a "Smooth & Manageable" shampoo when my hair had just been rebonded has really no point. After all, after rebonding, it's already so smooth and manageable. So I'm saving the Sunsilk shampoo til my hair really needs it. ;) Meanwhile, I started using Clairol Herbal Essences with Camellia Hot Oil for strong & weighty hair. It's actually for dry hair, but I think it's quite suitable for me right now, because after rebonding, hair DOES tend to get more dry / damaged...
I didn't use both my vouchers that day... cos the prices of Cellnique products are quite expensive, and they didn't let me combine vouchers. So only bought the skin action sebum gel, which I need anyway because I am on the warpath against blackheads and whiteheads. Sigh, I'm guessing the non-comodogenic Organic Aid facial cleanser doesn't really do the job, huh?
