Marc Jacobs Beauty is back and the packaging is (finally) as bold as the makeup

Designer Marc Jacobs is nothing if not eclectic and playful, filling the fashion world with odes to subcultures through garments inspired by punk princesses and ’90s club kids, quirky typography, and lots and lots of color. He also loves channeling whimsy in his personal style, often sporting sculptural nail art.

To complete his creative vision, Jacobs branched into beauty in 2013, launching his own makeup collection with Kendo Beauty, the same incubator behind Fenty Beauty by Rihanna. A cult favorite among beauty enthusiasts, the original line offered coconut-scented bronzer and primer, vivid glittery eyeliner, and saturated lipsticks that could last a whole night out. The packaging was sleek, made up of glossy black plastic with silver accents and minimalist forms—a sharp contrast with Jacobs’s less-than-discreet designs. Despite its popularity, the beauty line was quietly discontinued in 2021 for reasons that are yet to be explained.

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But now, after a five-year-hiatus, Marc Jacobs Beauty is back, and the brand’s playful new packaging—eyeshadows that look like mini star-shaped metallic balloons, daisy-shaped blush, lavender tubes of mascara, and eyeliner adorned with a star charm—is already winning over fans. Finally, the designer’s cosmetics fully match his audacious vibe.

The seven-piece collection was teased during New York Fashion Week. The beauty line features products for eyes, skin, and lips, ranging in price from $26 to $42, and will be available for purchase on Marc Jacobs’s website on May 28 and at Sephora on June 1.

The playful designs arrive at a point of inflection in the beauty industry. “Clean girl” and minimalist trends are taking a back seat, Vogue Business reports, while more daring and maximalist looks (theatrical eyeshadow, scintillating skin, and expressive hues across lipstick, blush, and mascara) are ascending. Trends today are catching up to where Jacobs was when he initially launched into the beauty space. In 2013, he told WWD that minimalist makeup was “lazy.”

The more creative packaging was planned from the outset of the relaunch.

“We saw an opportunity to offer something deliberately different: bold color, unexpected textures, and a sensorial, fashion-led experience,” Jean Holtzmann, chief brands officer at Coty, tells Fast Company. “It reflects a renewed focus on self-expression, individuality, and bold creativity—values that feel more relevant than ever.”

Releasing a more avant-garde alternative to other brands is part of Jacobs’s own ethos.

“I am not interested in one right way to look; beauty, like fashion, has always been a form of self-expression rooted in experimentation, play, and reimagining the familiar in new ways,” Jacobs said in a press statement about the relaunch.

Fans are thrilled about the redesign. “I’m glad Marc Jacobs Beauty is coming back because every brand at Ulta lately feels exactly the same. Same ‘clean girl’ nude palettes, no color, no fun packaging, no personality,” a user on Threads said.

In addition to borrowing inspiration from the past, Jacobs updated the line for today’s market. While his previous collection included eyeshadow palettes, the new line offers single-pan shadows instead, as palettes have waned in popularity. The line’s blush also comes in a newer popular form factor: a stick.

Marc Jacobs Beauty isn’t merely placing old product in prettier shells. The reformulated cosmetics are multiuse, long-lasting, blendable, and “designed for real life,” Holtzmann says. She describes the versatile collection as embodying “high-impact, city-proof performance.”

The beauty line also arrives as Marc Jacobs, the brand, readies for its next chapter. Just a week before the beauty line announcement, LVMH—the French luxury conglomerate that owned a majority stake in Marc Jacobs since 1997—agreed to sell the brand to a joint venture between WHP Global and G-III ​Apparel Group. Jacobs is set to remain as creative director of the brand and help steward the transition.

While the outcome of both Marc Jacobs’s future and its beauty revival are yet to unfold, it’s clear the brand is doubling down on standing out—glitter, metallics, and all.

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