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I'm feeling a little gaslit. You remember Marc Jacobs Beauty, right? I distinctly recall, way back in 2013, being so excited to experience the makeup vision of one of my favorite fashion designers. And the line didn't disappoint—until it went away in 2021. The brand's return has been fantasized for years and ecstatically anticipated ever since Marc Jacobs Beauty was credited for the makeup in Jacobs's spring 2026 New York Fashion Week show. So why does the press release say, “INTRODUCING MARC JACOBS BEAUTY”?
In fact, there are precisely zero mentions of the original Marc Jacobs Beauty—which launched in August 2013—in the five-page announcement. Not so much as a nod. I've been looking for Easter eggs, some quintessential Jacobs's wink. But this press release would have you believe that the Marc Jacobs Beauty you're about to meet is the first installment.
I get it. There are parts of my past I would prefer to pretend didn't happen. But, unlike micro bangs and shitty exes, Marc Jacobs Beauty was celebrated and collected. I still have an unused mini Le Marc Lip Crème from a decade ago; its glossy black case has hardly ever been opened. The buzz around this launch is fueled by more than just the typical excitement for newness from a famous person. It's partially powered by nostalgia, even if it wasn't all that long ago.
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But with the exception of its name and the familiar font on the packaging you've always found on his apparel and handbags (shoutout to my Marc Jacobs The Sack bag sitting in my peripheral vision as I write this), Marc Jacobs Beauty is, for all intents and purposes, an entirely new, fully reborn makeup line, with a new yet trusted parent: Coty. The same company that Marc Jacobs fragrances call home.
“I do trust the people at Coty, because obviously that is very high on their priority list—making something that is safe, that meets all codes and all that stuff, but also delivers on its promise,” Jacobs told attendees at a media preview for Marc Jacobs Beauty in New York City in April. And he's quick to admit that he left the formulation of the new products up to the experts there. "I mean, I'm not scientific, I'm not working with the labs or the places that develop the actual product.… I didn't go around from place to place and work with some person in a lab saying, like, ‘Well, it needs to be creamier and the dry down,’ whatever. I just didn't know about that."
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While letting the experts at Coty create what Marc Jacobs global marketing director Julie Palmieri calls “city-proof” makeup formulas—layerable, versatile, long-lasting pigment that goes on easily with a finger if necessary (or preferred)—Jacobs personally focused more on packaging. And it's on this topic, in front of editors and reporters, that he was willing to acknowledge the ghost of Marc Jacobs Beauty's past.
“We looked at obviously what Marc Jacobs Beauty was before,” Jacobs said, explaining that, back then, he felt strongly that the packaging should be black (his take on a sophisticated standard). But that's not the aesthetic he's going for in 2026. “Instead of going down the road of brown or black or silver or gold, like, well, let's just make it colorful and exciting. And why can't mascara be in a lavender container?” He felt that, if they played with color, they could build on that, both in the packaging and in the products themselves.
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And with this launch, Marc Jacobs Beauty has certainly built a colorful foundation. Well, actually, there's no foundation yet. The June 1 drop will introduce seven products, including the lavender-packaged Flashes Mascara, which comes in black, brown, and blue; Drawn This Way Eyeliner, available in 21 matte, metallic, glitter, and duochrome shades that glide on like kajal and stay on like…not kajal; and 14 similarly finished, cream-to-powder Born Star Eyeshadow shades.
It's not entirely surprising that nearly half of the products in the launch are eye products. When Allure interviewed Jacobs about the first Marc Jacobs Beauty launch in 2013, he told us, “I’ve always been very drawn to the eyes,” and it seems that hasn't changed. “It's the eyes for me,” he told preview guests. “I think it's the place where there's the most opportunity for experimentation, for expression. It's what I look at first when I see someone. So, I think the eyes just have all that possibility.”
Allure’s coverage of the launch of the first Marc Jacobs Beauty in the August 2013 issue.
Jacobs: Rankin; Models: Greg Kessler; Getty Images; Courtesy of brand
The launch also introduces 10 shades of Joystick Blush Stick (made to be shared with your lips); Legally Bronze Bronzer, available in eight fair to deep shades; a single bluish-pink shade of Money Shot Highlighter Gel; and Heart On Lipstick in 15 shades with names like Love Muscle, Kinky Business, and Blow Stick.
“I felt that we should counter the sort of sweetness and the sort of poppiness of the packaging with names that were a bit more provocative and naughty,” Jacobs says. “And it just felt like a naughty-nice mix, where you have something that was maybe a bit sexually provocative, combined with something very sweet to look at.”
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There's also a mix of luxury—the collection, running from $26 to $42, earns its designer status with its conspicuously thoughtful formulas and shades—and unabashed fun, which Jacobs has felt was missing for a while (coincidentally, when there was no Marc Jacobs Beauty on the market). He wants to bring back the enjoyment of shopping for makeup and the ritual of putting it on.
“Wherever you're going and whatever pleasure you can have in that situation, I think that joy and pleasure are hugely important,” Jacobs says, “especially when there's so much stuff in the day that isn't playful or joyous.”
Marc Jacobs Beauty launches on MarcJacobs.com on May 28 and on Sephora.com on June 1. As soon as we get our hands on the products, Allure will have a full review.
