Skin care Home Parties: Will these be your Ticket to Financial Freedom?

Have you been thinking of hosting or attending a home party where skin care products and make-up are sold? Is there anything special about these products that sets them apart from the crowd?

If you’ve been asking yourself these questions, you really should read this page. It will help you make a few informed decisions.

The term “Company” will be used to refer to any make-up and skin care products company (like Mary Kay, Arbonne, Artistry, Herbalife, and many others) whose products are sold by representatives/consultants.

Please note: If you are someone who earns a living by selling skin care products through home parties and/or by encouraging family members and friends to join you in the business, I ask you to please not consider this page as a personal attack. Rather, keep the information contained in the back of your mind; you’ll never know when it may come in handy!

All right, let me begin by stating that I do not know of any one company (as defined above) that isn’t a MLM (multi-level marketing) business. In case you aren’t aware of this, after many years of bad publicity - most of it justified - the MLM label is beginning to change. Today these companies like to describe themselves as “network marketers”, or “direct sellers”, mainly in an attempt to emphasize a person-to-person approach rather than a “recruiting” approach.

No matter how the names have changed, they’re still MLM, and they are BIG business, make no mistake!

The products are sold through home parties which may be held at a friend’s home. Although this is the most common way in which revenue is generated, the big money is made whenever the representative/consultant (the company’s recruit) is successful in convincing others to join in the “exciting”, “lucrative” business, the “dream of a lifetime“. The company strongly encourages quick recruitment, and the reps/consultants are taught to be persuasive and use their social networking skills.

Consultants are not allowed to advertise online or in newspapers; they are not allowed to display the products in stores. The focus is on home parties… Why? Here are a few reasons:

(1) women would feel badly for leaving without buying something.

(2) it’s easier to sell “get rich quickly” ideas to women. Fabulous trips? Expensive cars? Well, yes, it’s all here for the taking, just join us.

(3) husbands are not present. No room for your spouse to object!

Over the years I had the opportunity to speak with a few dozens of disillusioned reps or ex-reps. What an enlightening experience! One lady said that if you want to make approximately $400 bonus a month, you’d better be ready to sell roughly $10,000 worth of products!! No wonder over 99% of the people who join a MLM company lose money…. And sadly, many people will also lose friends and spouses. The MLM business promotes the illusion of allowing you to spend more time with your family, when in reality you can easily become so absorbed in your drive to reach that spot at the top of the mountain that you lose sight of your family responsibilities.

But what about the quality of the products?

Ultimately, these products are not far superior to less expensive products. What sets them apart from the crowd, however, is the price. MLM products are two to three times more expensive than comparable skin products available at your local stores. The MLM companies justify the exorbitant cost by claiming their products can produce nearly magical results.

Call me fool, but I do make a point of trying most of these magic products. If I didn’t, how could I possibly pass judgment on them? I’m afraid I haven’t found one single magic preparation. So I go back to my JMS skin care line, and tell myself, "When you're great, you're great" (a little private boasting never hurt anyone, right?). I know what I put in my products, my ingredients label is rather short, no additives, etc. etc. We pretty much work around the clock, with a new batch made once a week - can’t get fresher than that!

For example, one MLM company would have you believe that products you buy from other sources often contain bat excrement and road kill remains! This same company loves to report their products are based on herbal and botanical principles? What exactly do they mean by “principles”? And if this company is so concerned with formulating pure, botanical products, free of potentially damaging ingredients, why do they use so many of them?

Don’t believe me?

Check out their Skin Moisturizing Lotion. It contains : water, carthamus tinctorius ( don’t let the unpronounceable name fool you, it’s just plain safflower), glyceryl stearate, PEG-100 stearate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, cetearyl alcohol, ceteareth-20, glycerin, butyrospermum parkii fruit, panthenol, polysorbate 60, disodium EDTA, dimethicone, quaternium-15, (etc.)

Concerned about SLS? It’s in these products. Concerned about petroleum jelly? It's in there.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Some people have no qualms about using petroleum jelly or other products containing SLS. But I believe it is wrong is for these companies to claim their products sport exorbitant price tags because of their botanical, herbal “principles”.

And speaking of prices...

One of these companies sells a product called “HTY Gold”, which - all hoopla aside - is an oil based moisturizer. Its two main ingredients are ordinary palm oil and red palm oil (an unprocessed version of palm oil). The price? Around $160.00 for 3.4 ounces!

If anyone suggests you should buy these skin care products because they are patented, please don’t fall for it.

Do you see a patent number on the product? Or do you see “Patent pending”? Patent pending means nothing, really. Anyone can submit paperwork to the U.S. Patent & Trade Office.

Last time I checked, there was nothing on file for this company (Ar----e) and for several others who make similar claims!

So, what’s the deal? You decide.

Skin care home parties; JMS