Pricing!!

Pricing is one of the four p's of the marketing mix. Price is the only revenue generating element amongst the 4ps.
There are a good number of factors affecting the pricing of a product. These factors are labelled under internal and external factors.
Internal Factors: Those factors which a company has control over. This means the company can manipulate to suet its self. To a large extent, these factors are controlled by the company and if necessary, can be altered.
The factors includes:Return on Investment (ROI), which requires that all products attain a certain percentage return on the organization’s spending on marketing the product,
Cash Flow: which seeks to set prices at a level that will insure that sales revenue will at least cover product production and marketing costs,
Market Share: The pricing decision may be important when the firm has an objective of gaining a hold in a new market or retaining a certain percent of an existing market,
Maximize Profits, This is often the case when the marketer has little incentive to introduce improvements to the product.
(e.g., demand for product is declining) and will continue to sell the same product at a price premium for as long as some in the market is willing to buy.

On the other hand, we got the external factors. They are a number of influencing factors which are not controlled by the company but will impact pricing decisions. Understanding these factors requires the marketer conduct research to monitor what is happening in each market the company serves since the effect of these factors can vary by market.
These factors includes:

Elasticity of demand: Marketers should never rest on their marketing decisions. They must continually use market research and their own judgement to determine whether marketing decisions need to be adjusted. Elasticity is evaluated under the assumption that no other changes are being made and only price is adjusted. The logic is to see how price by itself will effect overall demand.

Customer and Channel Partner Expectations:
Possibly the most obvious external factor that influences price setting are the expectations of customers and channel partners.

Competitive and Related Products: Marketers will undoubtedly look to market competitors for indications of how price should be set. Analysis of competition will include pricing by direct competitors, related products and primary products.

Government Regulation: Marketers must be aware of regulations that impact how price is set in the markets in which their products are sold. These regulations are primarily government enacted meaning that there may be legal ramifications if the rules are not followed.

As regards Mary Kay products, I am not versed with their pricing strategies but I do believe they follow the rules enacted by the law as regards pricing. I also think their pricing is being done or carried out to meet the company's objectives and goals.
The state pricing regulation definitely affects Mary Kay company products since it has to do with the law and in order to work in accordance with the law, one has to respect its roles.