I first came across the Marc Jacobs Beauty line when the online community was buzzing about it some time last year. The first images that came out, I admit, didn’t grab me. There was a buzz of reviews when the line was new and then it sort of all quietened down, with preference falling back to the established, tried and true brands.
Knowing that most exciting new brands take forever and a day to reach our shores, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention until the local buzz started that Marc Jacobs Beauty was landing on our shores at Sephora stores. Now, how on earth?! We’re actually WITH IT!
Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No. 3 RM137
As of last week, Marc Jacobs Beauty is now available at all Sephora stores nationwide. Marc Jacobs, if you didn’t already know is mostly known for his fashion and at one time was the designer over at Louis Vuitton. He was responsible for some of the more interesting and edgy designs to have come out of the luxury design house.
I used to be keen on the Marc Jacobs brand bag (being the bagaholic that I am) but they were all so heavy! He uses a lot of hardware in his designs and that spells weight. The Marc by Marc Jacobs line is more wearable and less weighty. So being quite familiar with his more flamboyant fashion designs, I was a little surprised at how sleek the MJ Beauty line was.
Here are some pictures of some of the products available, and some preliminary thoughts of a couple I’ve quickly tested in store.
The first thing to notice is the sleek black packaging with its rounded curves. This was apparently inspired by 2 things. Marc Jacobs’ love for polka dots, and a highly polished black lacquer table he owned. This is translated into all the items as every item bears a black case and glossy finish with rounded corners.
Style Eye-Con No. 7: Tease (bottom) and Lolita (top)
The polka dots theme is also found in the little details – the silver buttons to open the case, as well as round pans of colour within. A popular item is the Style Eye-Con No. 7 eyeshadow palette (RM207) above which comes in a few different colours. Unlike other palettes that come in compact geometric shapes, this one comes in a long slim case with 7 complementary colours, 7 being his favourite number as the story goes.
The most popular item so far is the Lolita palette whic you can see above. It’s the neutral palette that has gotten a lot of raves, having a decent mix of matte and shimmer shades and 7 shades of neutral browns and beiges. Neutrals seem to be doing well in recent times haven’t they?
At first swipe, they appear fairly pigmented and have a fine texture. I can imagine that Lolita will be very popular here as well.
Shameless Blush Bottom-Top: Provocative, Tantalizing, Promiscuous, Reckless
My eye naturally gravitated towards the Shameless Blush (RM140) which comes in only a few colours for now. If you are a woman of colour, I can tell you off hand that you will find it easy to get colour in this range because the colours are bold and bright!
If you prefer lighter shades of blush then you will, like me, have a little more trouble. I would suggest that you try Obsessed, which you’ll see in a picture below. That’s the one I bought, this is a light peachy pink. It’s fairly pigmented but because the colour is light, mistakes are minimised.
The Lovemarc Lipstick (RM95) have a creamy pigmented texture and come in sleek cases with a magnetic clasp. There is a good selection of shades to pick from from light to dark and all cases are black bar one – Showstopper, Marc Jacob’s version of the perfect red lip. I didn’t have the chance to test this one so I can’t say for sure how it fares.
A colour I was told to try is a very nude shade called Moody Margot, that is supposed to go on lips more pigmented so it gives lips a neutral yet natural look. It looked a bit nude to me hence my hesitation but if you are in the market for a good nude, try that one.
The Lust for Lacquer glosses (RM89) are bright shiny pops of colour in a sleek case and comes in lots of very lovely colours that I can imagine may capture the imagination more than the lipsticks. I didn’t test these either so I can’t tell if they’re sticky or not, but colour wise, they look very promising.
At back of the picture, you may see a large bronzer pan. This aptly named O’Mega Bronzer (RM137) is a gigantic bronzer that you can use on face and body and if you love bronzers then I suggest you check it out simply because it’s one of those things that make it worth your money LOL!
Interestingly, Marc Jacobs launched their beauty line with a full set of face brushes available for sale. All brushes are synthetic barring the angled blush brush and they feel very thick and dense and very soft as synthetic brushes feel. At the counter, you will notice the brushes paired with the products on offer so it takes the guesswork out of figuring out what brush to use with which product. There are no eye brushes yet, but I expect that will be in the works in the future.
Brushes bring me to the item that I received a lot of queries about – the Genius Gel Foundation (RM189) because at the launch, we were showed how easily this foundation could be applied using the Marc Jacobs Face 1 Brush which is a fluffier, dense liquid foundation brush.
The texture of the Genius Gel Foundation is as the name implies, rather like a gel which means it takes some getting used to if you’ve never used anything similar. Just off hand, the texture is fairly sheer but buildable to medium coverage and the gel texture is lightweight on skin. Let me take this for a spin for a while and I’ll bring you more detailed thoughts to come.
When I spoke to Marc Jacobs Beauty International Education Specialist Melissa Laughrey-Taieb about her favourite products, she proclaimed it to immediately be Moody Margot lipstick, which she’s wearing the picture above (but which you can’t see very well) and Remedy Concealer (RM110).
Remedy Concealer comes in a click pen form with a cool palladium tip that cools down your eye area when you run it over your lid. I’m a sucker for under eye concealers so I picked one up and I’ll tell you I’m not terribly impressed off the bat, but let me wait a bit and see if I figure out how to use it properly.
I do also have some colour products to have a good ol’ play with and I’ll tell you what I think of them too in time to come. They are all permanent so there’s no real need to run out and buy them all. As with all beauty brands, I think there will be some hit and miss items so I’d suggest doing some research and seeing what people like that they think is worth trying. I say so because the price point is rather high, with the Marc Jacobs Beauty brand being positioned as a luxury makeup brand. So as wise consumers, let us be sure we get our money’s worth yes? 
Style Eye-Con No. 7 The Vamp, Genius Gel Foundation 22 Light Bisque, Remedy Concealer 2 Wakeup Call, Highliner Gel Eye Crayon in Blacquer, Magic Marc’er Precision Pen Blacquer, Lust for Lacquer in Boom Boom and Shameless Blush in Obsessed
Have you already checked out Marc Jacobs Beauty at Sephora? Did you buy anything? Which item do you want to hear about first?
I’ll take requests, and I’ve already put the Genius Gel Foundation on the top of the list to review as soon as I possibly can but if you are keen on finding out more about the other items I have, holler and I’ll try to oblige! 
Were you excited about the brand being available here? I admit I was a little underwhelmed. Clearly, I was the only person who hadn’t done her research going in for the launch 
