Wondering what those date codes on your Mary Kay products mean? They are defined here!

Every Mary Kay® product is labeled with an easy-to-read code right on the packaging.  The code consists of a shade name (if applicable), part number and day code located on the bottom of a container, the barrel of a pencil or the crimp of a tube of each Mary Kay® product. For example, an eye color refill tray might be marked “Crystalline #013044 1F01.”

• “Crystalline” is the product shade name.
• The six numbers (013044) indicate the part number.
• The second four characters (1F01) indicate the date of manufacture, which in this example would be May 1, 2011. This day code is useful in maintaining the high-quality standards of Mary Kay, as it is used to trace products returned for any reason. In addition, you can refer to this date to assure that you deliver the freshest possible product (particularly any product with a limited shelf life) to your customers. Remember to rotate your inventory with the first-in, first-out system.

You can interpret the day code using the following legend:

Character 1: Letter or number representing the year in the decade in which the product was produced.
Key to Year
A -2000
B -2001
C -2002
D -2003
F -2004
H -2005
K -2006
M -2007
R – 2008
T – 2009
V – 2010
1 – 2011
2 – 2012
3 – 2013
4 – 2014
5 – 2015

Character 2: Letter representing the month of year in alpha order, as follows (please note that the code skips some letters to avoid confusion and mistaken identification):
Key to Month
A – January
B – February
C – March
F – May
H – June
K – July
M – August
R – September
T – October
V – November
X – December

Characters 3 and 4: Numbers representing day of month.
Example: 1F01 = May 1, 2011
1 = 2011
F = May
01 = First day of month