Business & Tech

Makeover Madness

Mary Kay independent beauty consultants compete for a chance to have a Habitat for Humanity home built in their area.

Tara Hallston is cleansing, moisturizing and making up as many faces as possible with one goal in mind: to have a Habit for Humanity home built in Pennsylvania.

And the Horsham mother of three has her work cut out for her. Hallston, a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant of three years, is competing against potentially 2 million Mary Kay consultants worldwide – including five who live in Hatboro and Horsham – in the 2011 Mary Kay Makeover Contest.

“Some people may not get as excited for a Habitat for Humanity house as I do,” Hallston said.

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While winning is no small feat, entering is a matter of making time for pampering by meeting with Hallston – or another Mary Kay representative – from now until June 15. In addition to trying out some new shades for the season, participants have before and after photos taken and write a short essay to accompany the pictures. The consultant with the most makeovers has a Habitat for Humanity home built in their name, in the community of their choice.

To date, Mary Kay has sponsored 10 Habitat homes in the U.S. that were built by Mary Kay employees and independent consultants, according to Mary Kay Spokeswoman Barbara Williams.

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“Mary Kay has a longstanding relationship with Habitat for Humanity,” Williams said. “Most recently, we built a Habitat home in 15 days at the Dallas Convention Center as part of the annual Mary Kay seminar.”

If lending a hand – or rather a face – to have a home built isn’t reason enough to participate, Mary Kay has another incentive: the chance to win $2,500 for a vacation and $2,500 toward the charity of your choice based on submitted before/after photos, an essay and online votes.

“Everybody has a charity close to their heart,” Hallston said. “If I handed someone an envelope with $2,500 and told them to pick a charity, I don’t think they’d have to think about it."

Helping others through volunteering has always come naturally for Hallston, who credits her parents with instilling the notion of giving back early on.

“What you put out to the universe is what you get back,” she said.

The other thing Hallston inherited from her mother, Bertie Conner, the ever-friendly administration receptionist at , is her interest in cosmetics and skin care.

“My mother was a consultant right about when I wanted to wear makeup,” Hallston recalled. “It was quite wonderful when I finally hit the age to ask.”

An active Friend of the , Hallston worked previously as an insurance agent. But, she credits her schooling at the Art Institute with bringing alive her passion for color.

“I went from painting canvases to faces,” Hallston said.


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