Hello everyone, and welcome back to the blog!
I am so excited for today’s post! I wanted give you all the details from my trip to Dallas to visit the amazing Mary Kay Global headquarters!
It was such an honour to be invited to visit their beautiful offices, and also to get to check out their brand new R&D labs…plus, we got to see a few of their famous pink Cadillacs! Before arriving in Dallas, I had never actually tried any of the Mary Kay beauty products – and I was so excited to check out a brand that was totally new to me! But before getting into the tour, let me give you a little intro on the brand, and about the woman who started it all, Mary Kay Ash.
Mary Kay is a cosmetics and skincare company set up by the AMAZING and totally #girlboss woman, Mary Kay Ash. Mary Kay Ash worked her entire life training up men to be amazing salesmen, teaching them all the tricks in the trade, allowing them to go out into the world, be the best and earn as much money as possible. After seeing the men that she trained get promoted above her, she ‘retired’ at age 45, and decided to put all of her knowledge into practice by setting up her own company with only a $5000 investment from her eldest son.
Her main ambition was to create a company with equal opportunity for women – and not just for powersuited men. She wanted entrepreneurship for women first and foremost. That was pretty much unheard of in 1963 – but driven by her business acumen, enthusiasm, and philosophy, the company ended up selling ‘about $1million in products by the end of its second year. I mean – wow.
As a way to create a strong female brand, Mary Kay thought about what products women used that would be easy for them to sell too, and decided upon skincare and cosmetics. She wanted to set up a vehicle for women to be entrepreneurs through direct selling. Advancing women’s opportunities and entrepreneurship wasat the heart of the company, and you can still feel that to this day.
56 years later, the company is thriving with millions of women living the ‘Mary Kay’ life. Mary Kay Ash’s wish to change the lives of women by giving them the opportunity to succeed came true.
Today, with millions of Independent Beauty Consultants, Mary Kay offers more than 200 premium products in more than 40 countries around the world. For more than 55 years, Mary Kay has helped women discover products that they love: innovative skin care, irresistible makeup and unforgettable fragrances. At the same time, the Mary Kay business opportunity has helped women from Kansas to Kazakhstan discover extra income, and empower choices and true beauty from the inside out.
Mary Kay also touches hearts through a powerful legacy of giving back to the global community – all thanks to one amazing woman who turned her passion for beautiful lives into a one-of-a-kind success story.
How amazing is that!
She is acknowledged alongside people such as Bill Gates, and is recognised as one of the most influential women in the world. Also she has some of the best quotes out there – have a look for some serious inspo:
1)“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember you can achieve.”
2) “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.”
and my favourite:
3) “Fake it till you make it!”
Whilst I was in Dallas for the rewardStyle conference, I was very kindly invited by Mary Kay to check out their headquarters, and even got to go into Mary Kay Ash’s actual beautiful office. It has been kept exactly as it was when she was there!
After we spent time admiring her incredible china collections (her husband would buy her a gift every single Thursday to celebrate the fact that they got married on a Thursday #goals), pink bathroom, & walk-in wardrobe, we headed to their brand new R&D labs to learn more about how some of their incredible products are made and the #sciencebehindthebeauty!
When we arrived, we got our own lab coat (ahhh), and had an amazing chat with Dr Lucy Gildea, who is the Chief Scientific Officer. She told us all about the behind-the-scenes of the beauty, and how much the science, research, and development of the products impacts the health of our skin. Their Global Research and Development Program innovates new products based on what science has taught them about skin health-because ‘beautiful skin is healthy skin at every age’-and this really shows through their cosmetics and skincare products.
My favourite part of the day was when we got to actually MAKE our OWN lip-gloss and hand cream. It was an amazing experience and such a huge privilege to be able to make our own products for this iconic brand.
It was time for goggles on – and off to our own little lab bench to get started.
For the lip gloss colour, I went for Pink Parfait, which was a nice pinky nude colour. We got to do all the measuring and use all the tools– like professionals. To make the lip gloss, I had to add the ‘colour composite’ into the lip gloss base… no more than 1.3g to make the correct shade… but I managed to overshoot that to 1.8g – well done Jess (Spoiler – it turned out amazing anyway.). Then you mix it together and–bam–lip gloss was made. CRAZY.
Then it was onto hand creams. We were given a demonstration of how a basic skincare cream product is made. The two main ingredients of a cream are water and oil, which, no matter how hard you try or spin them together, notoriously don’t mix. We were then shown that by adding in just one extra ingredient, the structure of the ingredients totally changes, and allows the oil to mix with the water to produce a cream. Mind blown. I felt like I was back in a science lesson at school. But without the homework.
Then, we got to pick our fragrances for the hand cream, (I couldn’t decide, so I chose two and mixed them together…not sure that was allowed, but sure). Then the products were whisked away to be popped into packaging and voila! What an amazing, unique experience.
Just from being at the company for a few hours, I can tell that there’s so much pride and hard work that goes into this brand. The confidence it gives women is amazing.
PLUS – I loved the products. I am always slightly worried trying new beauty products, as I am very set in my ways with my make-up and skin care routine,but I LOVED my lip gloss. I am also trying many more of their incredible products that they VERY kindly gifted us!!! Make sure to watch out for those products on my Instagram stories etc.!
Thank you so much Mary Kay for having me – it was such an honour!
If you have any questions – pop them below in the comments : )
Thanks so much for reading and hope you all have an amazing day!
Jess x
This post was written in paid collaboration with Mary Kay.
