Mary Kay is a brand that I have known about for many many years but these are the first items from the range that I have ever tried. The business model for Mary Kay is similar to that of Avon. The brand started in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, following the death of of husband. Work life balance has been a central ethos to the management style along with ‘praising people to success’. The ‘At Play’ part of the range is aimed at a younger market (16 – 25) and both the packaging and the price point reflect this. I have been testing three products from the range – my thoughts are below.
Eye Crayon – Green Tea
This is my favourite product of the three that I have been testing. Yes, it is a very similar to a NYX Jumbo pencil, which is no bad thing as they are great pencils. Green Tea is a beautiful / Khaki /olive green with gold reflex. This pencil has become the perfect partner to several of the shades in the Morphe 35D palette. It also makes a great base for my Tom Ford Sahara Sand palette. It creases a little but nothing that an eyeshadow base can’t fix.
Shadow and Liner – Iced Lilac
I love the liner shade – a gorgeous deep purple and I tend to use this all over the lid as well as for liner. The texture is not the softest and the very pointy shape does not help so I rub it on the back of my hand before using it on my eyes. I am not a fan of the shadow shade after which this product takes it’s name. It is a very frosty pale lavender with quite chunky silver reflux.
Baked Eye Trio – Neopolitan
This is not a selection of colours that I would have chosen to put together. That said, Neopolitan is a great name for the colours. It does conjure up the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry of the ice cream. These are baked shadows and the texture is not my favourite. These shades have quite large glitter particles, personally I would have preferred a more finely milled texture. These shadows work well wet. For me they look better wet then dry. I also tend to use these products on different part of my face. The middle brown shade I use as eye shadow. The gold shade I use as a highlight and the pink as a blush. Not all at the same time because that would be a whole lotta glitter on my face.
The level of pigmentation in this range is high but the reflux is not subtle so it will no doubt go down well with the teen market. I feel with this range that you really need to see the products to ensure that you like the tones and colours before you buy. If you can find an independent consultant, it is probably worth having a chat with them, otherwise chance your luck on their website. Of the three items that I have tested the eye crayon is my top pick.
Prices for Mary Kay at Play start from £7.50 they are available from the Mary Kay website
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