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Friday, June 14, 2013

Marc Jacobs Beauty At Sephora


The much-anticipated Marc Jacobs makeup line  is launching in North America on August 9,  exclusively at Sephora, sephora.com and select Marc Jacobs boutiques.  The plan for 2014 is to bring the line to Europe, and the following years to launch in China. The choice of Sephora as the main retailer should not surprise anyone. Marc Jacobs- the fashion brand- is part of LVMH, the company that owns Sephora and many of the brands that are sold exclusively in the store (Marc Jacobs fragrances are licensed to Coty, though). Below you can see the Marc Jacobs Beauty counter display at Sephora:
 LVMH owns some pretty fabulous cosmetics brands: Guerlain, Dior, and Givenchy. But there's also Sephora makeup brand itself (mostly mediocre, but decent when you want to experiment with newcolors before committing to an expensive product), as well as Sephora-produced name-licensed (everything from Kat Von D, Disney Princesses, and Hello Kitty). As far as I can tell from today's article on WWD, Marc Jacobs Beauty is a Sephora brand and was created and formulated in their labs. Their interview with the designer is quite telling, actually:
"We spent a lot of time developing materials and choosing the colors. We work with the technicians at the mills to achieve a certain effect, so we did the same thing with Sephora. The color palette tells a story and that story is based on a spirit. I chose different types of characters, such as an ingĂ©nue. ... Putting this together and working on this with the team from Sephora was very much like putting a [fashion] collection together with my design team. It was exactly the same approach. I mean, I didn't go to them with a specific idea and I couldn't define for them what Marc Jacobs Beauty should be no more than I could define a collection the first day we meet about fabric or define what the shoe will be on the first meeting we have about shoes. It’s an evolutionary process."




The talking about the line's "color story" seems a bit disconnected from the reality of Marc Jacobs Beauty as it appears in the released photos. According to the article, the line is going to include e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g: base products (concealer, powder, foundations) and a wide range of color cosmetics:  precision pen eyeliner, lash lifter, gel crayons, lipsticks and lip balms, blush, eye shadow palettes, bronzers, brow tamer, and nail lacquer.  As far as I can tell from the pictures, apart from the sexy packaging there's little to suggest a unique brand identity. There's something from everyone, it seems, many pretty colors to choose from, but is it really a Marc Jacobs creation? I doubt it.

Nevertheless, the deciding factor for me is going to be texture and quality. The colors look more interesting than Michael Kors for Estee Lauder, so that's a good starting point. Sephora Beauty Insiders will get a sneak peek before the official launch, so ask me again in July.

Photos and info via WWD.

11 comments:

  1. Well those red lip colors in the middle row look like my kind of colors but as you say, texture and quality are the deciding factors. Those little pots look cute too.

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  2. I guess I will reserve judgment until I see it in person, but I'm not all that excited for this nor the Kors collection. There are beauty brands with heritage and then there are beauty products with designers names on them. Though I love many Tom Ford & Burberry products (of the designer new-ish comers), I feel that these other brands are just capitalizing on the beauty market by sticking a celebrity designer on it.

    Who know, maybe I will fall deeply in love... *shrugs*

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  3. Interesting article--thanks for the "where it's made" alert. I too will reserve judgment until I see/try the products.

    That photo is ... well ... colorful. And will probably give me nightmares. ;-)

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  4. Oooh nice! Wondering if that "lip lacquer" is a gloss or a liquid lipstick. I spy some nice colors overall. Let's see what comes out of that pretty packaging!

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  5. I like the promo picture and how Jacob's himself is mimicking the femininity those models with the contradiction of his masculine beard and almost sailor-like arms...I'm not that wowed about the packaging as it looks too much like other brands but I will read the reviews soon on the blogs if the content is anything worthy :)

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  6. if the cosmetics are likely to make me look the way he does in that shot, count me out! omg!

    the colors i can see look like colors i've seen. but then, it's really hard to come up with makeup colors we haven't seen somewhere. it takes a truly artistic eye to come up with a new twist.

    cheers,
    minette

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  7. Nope. I am afraid the picture did NOT sell me. Yuck.

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  8. The collection as the potential, but the truth and you make a point : this is a really creation from Marc Jacobs himself or just a new collection with the name of a super designer of the millènaire for sold the beauty products more and less good ?! I d'ont know and the answer, we have it on August with the swatchs, tests and others reviews !

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  9. I read that he said, "I don’t like natural, that’s a little lazy". If the above picture is his makeup aesthetic you can count me out. I rather look like myself than a clown.

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  10. Those little pots of color are tempting! Love the first pic-- glam lips look good on the guy.

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  11. MJ has been so successful with his mass market Daisy and all its flankers, perhaps Sephora thought his name recognition would carry over into a cosmetic line. I'm interested in seeing and swatching the products, but I'm not holding my breath in anticipation as there doesn't appear to be any unique or special hook to the collection.

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