( 
)Shelf Life of Mary Kay Products
Frequently I am asked about the "freshness" or shelf life of Mary Kay products, mostly from Ebayers who are considering a purchase.
What does "Shelf Life" mean?
Shelf Life is the period of time that a product can be stored, unopened, and the conditions it must be stored in to remain suitable for use.
Who Determines how long "Shelf Life" is?
Here's the information provided by the company in material available to its sales force:
"Most Mary Kay® products are manufactured to have a minimum shelf life of three years from the date of manufacture. This is the standard for the cosmetic industry, not a regulation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the shelf life of over-the-counter (OTC) drug products such as sunscreens, anti-perspirants, etc., as follows:
If the shelf life is less than three years, then the expiration date of the product must be clearly indicated on the package. This is not required if the shelf life is greater than three years. Some Mary Kay® products (e.g., Acne Treatment Gel) may have an expiration date because they have a shelf life of less than three years. For these products, it is particularly important to check the expiration date before using them. ..."
"We recommend storing products at a temperature between is 59-86°F. When products have been exposed to very high or low temperatures, examine them carefully. Note the appearance, odor, and color of each product. If these appear normal, the product has probably recovered completely. Occasionally, separation or an “off odor” will develop several weeks after exposure to high temperatures, but this is not usually the case. If your products have been overheated or frozen, it is NOT a good idea to refrigerate or heat them. Let them return slowly to room temperature, and then examine each product."
Most products have a shelf life of more than three years. Unopened and properly stored they can typically last from 5 to 8 years. After that, they may deteriorate and lose effectiveness. Common signs of being past "Shelf Life" are separating, color change, and odor.
Common warning signs that your items have gone bad:
"Off odor” - if it doesn't smell right toss it!
Cream eye color that is cakey or dry
Foundation that has separated significantly in the bottle
Grainy or hard-to-apply lipstick
If you notice any of these characteristics in any item you have, toss it.
Finding the manufacture date
All Mary Kay products have a manufacture date, or date code.
This is a four-digit code of two letters and two numbers. It can be found on the bottom of a container or on the crimp. This is not an expiration date, just a manufacture date- so if it was manufactured 10 years ago or last year- you'll know the difference.
.
For example, BC15, indicates the date of manufacture, the year (B), the month (C).
The following products have a TWO YEAR shelf life:
Acne Treatment Gel*
TimeWise® Day Solution With Sunscreen SPF 25*
Sunless Tanning Lotion.
*Over-the-counter drug product
You can interpret the day code using the following key:
Character 1: Letter representing the year in which the product was produced.
A=2000 H=2005
B=2001 K=2006
C=2002 M=2007
D=2003 R=2008
F=2004
Character 2: Letter representing the month of year in alpha order. I don't belive that knowing the month something was manufactured has any bearing on whether it is still useable, so I won't print it here. It would only be helpful if you were returning it to Mary Kay so that they can determine if a particular 'batch' of products had a problem.
Characters 3 and 4: Numbers represent the day of the month.
Date Codes for products manufactured before 2000
Any product manufactured before the year 2000, has a date code that ends in a number that represent the year they were made.
This is a four-digit code of two letters and two numbers. It can be found on the bottom of a container or on the crimp. This is not an expiration date, just a manufacture date- so if it was manufactured 10 years ago or last year- you'll know the difference.
.
For example, BC15, indicates the date of manufacture, the year (B), the month (C).
The following products have a TWO YEAR shelf life:
Acne Treatment Gel*
TimeWise® Day Solution With Sunscreen SPF 25*
Sunless Tanning Lotion.
*Over-the-counter drug product
You can interpret the day code using the following key:
Character 1: Letter representing the year in which the product was produced.
A=2000 H=2005
B=2001 K=2006
C=2002 M=2007
D=2003 R=2008
F=2004
Character 2: Letter representing the month of year in alpha order. I don't belive that knowing the month something was manufactured has any bearing on whether it is still useable, so I won't print it here. It would only be helpful if you were returning it to Mary Kay so that they can determine if a particular 'batch' of products had a problem.
Characters 3 and 4: Numbers represent the day of the month.
Date Codes for products manufactured before 2000
Any product manufactured before the year 2000, has a date code that ends in a number that represent the year they were made.
Here are a few of the codes.
If the first digit of the code is 5 the item was manufactured in the year 1995.
5 1995
6 1996
7 1997
If the first digit of the code is 5 the item was manufactured in the year 1995.
5 1995
6 1996
7 1997
8 1998
9 1999
9 1999
What Mary Kay and it's consultants Want You To Believe
There is always a lot of discussion about Mary Kay products available on eBay. Most negative beliefs are purposefully misinformed and just plain wrong. Who would want to put fear into you and have you believe that any Mary Kay item for sale on eBay is old, tainted, or to be avoided? From my experience, most of the products on ebay are relatively fresh, recent if not new. On some occasions there are products listed that haven't been made for decades- but there are customers out there who KNOW when they were made and just loved them and didn't want to switch to whatever replaced it. Ebay is a great source of many discontinued and limited-edition items.
Obviously the items being sold were purchased directly from the company. The Ebay sellers fall into 3 different categories:
A. Those women who tried to sell it but then couldn't or didn't want to anymore, and either purchased way too much inventory or never really started selling in the first place. NOTE: They can return their product to the company for a 90% refund of the purchase price but if they choose this option they are not allowed to become a consultant again. Some women who leave Mary Kay leave because of life situations and they need to focus on "life" happening to them and just need to get their money back right now. Mary Kay doesn't advertise this, but they will let someone come back if they had extenuating circumstances and don't return more than a few thousand dollars of products. For other women, it is sales and they found that it takes a bit of work to be a salesperson- so they felt their calling somewhere else!
B. The other Sellers are those who only purchase their products from the women in Category A at way below cost and are now reselling it.
C. The last group is "NEW" Mary Kay consultant of the superinformation age. They realize that sometimes a customer just wants to buy the product they love and not have to deal with someone trying to be a "salesperson" or to have a "party". I am not knocking salespeople, my niece is a great consultant! (Consultants are excellent at educating you on the proper use of products and showing you what colors look good on you!) For those of you who know what I mean though, you know that if someone shows you something else, before you know it, you're coming home with "everything". That is not to discredit the consultant, because someone who overspends will do it wherever they happen to be shopping- the market, Target or the mall. They just know their triggers and it is best to buy the "one thing" they need. (Not to say they can't overspend on Ebay, but that is another story!) Also, this new consultant realizes that there is a HUGE potential for sales on the internet. Now, don't get me wrong, Mary Kay does offer a website to it's consultants BUT they only refer customers to those consultants who buy lots and lots of product. (There is a pro and a con to this, on one hand a customer goes to the consultant that has product available to give it to her that day, but the disadvantage is to the consultant who doesn't have that much product, but with enough clientele can afford to have more products available to their customers.) Another thing is there is a HUGE following of customers who love shopping Ebay- this is Taboo in Mary Kay and you can get kicked out for being a REBEL and doing so.
Mary Kay products don't get stale as quickly as some want you to think. The majority of products for sale have simply been sitting in someone's house, unopened and unexposed to extremes and mainly collecting dust.
About Me and My Products
When you buy from me, you are buying authentic Mary Kay products. However, I am neither a consultant nor affiliated with the company in any way. I am simply a seller who has extensive knowledge of the products because my niece has educated me on their proper use. Not to mention my own extensive research about the importance of proper skin care. (NOTE- if you'd like to read about WHY antioxidants help your skin I can email you some notes I made for myself. I think it is always best to be an educated consumer.)
Most of the items you see in my auctions have been purchased directly from the company by my niece and are in MY office
stored properly.
stored properly.
I want you to be happy with your products, if my description caused you to buy the wrong product, I will take a return. Please understand there are business costs of doing business on Ebay, so when you make a return, I do not refund shipping, and I only process your refund or exchange when I receive the product you are returning. This I think works for every other retailer out there, so I don't think it is an unreasonable expectation.
Whether you buy from me or someone else, I hope this helps you to be an informed consumer.
Whether you buy from me or someone else, I hope this helps you to be an informed consumer.
Ah, last but not least, WHO is the THEY that want you to be afraid of buying on Ebay? Unfortunately THEY are sometimes Mary Kay consultants themselves who see Ebay as a HUGE threat to their business. (Which I personally don't see it that way- the consumer who shops on Ebay is usually not the consumer buying from the local Mary Kay lady, she or he is the consumer who wants a "deal" or just doesn't want to interact with someone they perceive will hassle them.) THEY are the ones who try to put Ebayers out of business by reporting them to Mary Kay's legal department to find out if the seller is a current Mary Kay consultant. I think there is enough skin to go around.
Brian
This information is true to the best of my knowledge. The opinions expressed above are simply that--- my own opinions. There are no guarantees, implied or otherwise, about this information. This post or myself is not in any way affiliated with Mary Kay Inc. or approved or looked kindly upon by Mary Kay Inc.
Guide created: 05/28/07 (updated 09/30/08)
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