Mary Kay Review, Plus Giveaway!

Fashion Me Fabulous is part of the Blogher advertising network, which recently offered us the opportunity to review some new Mary Kay products, and give some away to you (more on that at the end)! I've been a long-time fan of Mary Kay. It was the first brand of makeup I tried and what I wore almost exclusively for my formative makeup years.

I love Mary Kay's new Tinted Lip Balm. I'm not a fan of the texture of most lipsticks, and while I like lip gloss, it wears off too quickly and is often too sticky. This balm is perfect. It wears for quite a while, feels wonderful on and has just the right amount of color. I like that it's tiny and fits in my pocket, but I do wish the packaging were a bit prettier.
I have a complicated relationship with mascara. It tends to weigh down my upper lashes throughout the day so they interlock with my lower lashes and glue my eyes shut. Mary Kay's Ultimate Mascara gave me volume without the weight. I kept the application light and still got nice full lashes that held up longer than any other mascara I've tried recently.
The new Mary Kay Compact Mini is genius. It's tiny, with a lower compartment to hold brushes and sponges and a top magnetic layer that holds three eye colors and a blush. This new magnetic system makes the colors easy to switch out (no more fighting to pry colors out of the compact!). I love the idea of a switchable, refillable compact. It's so much better than buying pre-made compacts, and being either stuck with those color combos or forced to carry several palettes. This space-saving compact will fit in the smallest purses and travel makeup bags.
The cheek color and mineral eye color were the high quality I've always experienced from Mary Kay. I was a bit surprised by the color collection for brown eyes. It included a tan called "silky caramel", a medium/light brown called "sienna" and a rich blue color called "midnight star". I'm used to purples for brown eyes. I'm still playing with the blue to get the right look. I'm not sure blue brings out brown eyes like the other brown eyes palettes I own. The tan and brown, however, look a lot nicer than I expected, and the "shy blush" color blush is, indeed, a shy and subtle color, which I love.
To learn more about Mary Kay visit the Official site.

Also, we are giving away a Mary Kay gift pack valued at $100. To enter, tell us in the comments which Mary Kay products you want to try and why? Make sure you include you email address so we can contact you if you win.* You can also Tweet or Blog your response, but make sure to post a comment with a link here (or we won't know you entered). For questions, or more information on entry options visit the Official Rules. This contest begins June 1 and ends June 30. For even more chances to win visit the BlogHer Promotions & Prizes section.

Short Rules:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OT WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Mary Kay® Sweepstakes Official Rules: Sponsored by BlogHer, Inc. Four ways to enter:

1) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post;
2) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post;
3) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post;
4) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules and follow instructions for an alternate form of entry.

No duplicate comments. Limit to 2 entries per household. Begins June 1, 2011 at 9 AM PST and end ends June 30, 20011 at 5 PM PST. 10 Winners (one from each participating blog) will receive a gift basket of Mary Kay® products (ARV $100 per basket). Odds of winning will depend upon the total number of eligible entries received. Initial Winners will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to claim prize before it is awarded to the Alternate Winner. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, including D.C. who are 18 years or older. For complete official rules, click here.

* If you don't want to post your email, please email info[at]fashionmefabulous.com with a copy of your comment and your email.