As LL Cool J once so eloquently said, “Don’t call it a comeback…”
On May 20, Coty (finally) announced that the much-anticipated launch of the Marc Jacobs Beauty color cosmetics line will be available on the brand’s site on May 28, with a Sephora app exclusive on May 31, and on Sephora.com in the US and Canada on June 1. The collection will start rolling out to Sephora doors in the US, UK, and Australia on September 1 of this year.
The excitement for the new maximalist collection has been building since 2023, when Coty reported it would expand its licensing agreement with Marc Jacobs International to include cosmetics, skincare, and body care. The conglomerate has held the Marc Jacobs fragrance license for more than 20 years and has released bestselling fragrances like the Daisy and Perfect franchises.
“We have had a long and successful partnership, working with Coty on fragrance, and we are excited to do the same with beauty,” Marc Jacobs said in a press release. “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.”
What many headlines are getting wrong about the new collection is that it’s a comeback for Marc Jacobs Beauty, which implies that an original was revived. The first Marc Jacobs Beauty collection, incubated by LVMH’s Kendo Brands and launched in 2013, was lauded for its sleek, minimalist packaging and sophisticated color palettes of inky blacks and siren reds. Think femme fatale film noir.
But the new collection is playful, sweet, and bubbly, with trinket-like packaging adorned with stars, daisies, and hearts that resemble helium balloons. Meanwhile, the color palette screams Sabrina Carpenter meets Euphoria (season one, of course), with flirty pink cheeks, shocking electric blue and yellow eyeliners, and matte aqua and glossy fuchsia eyeshadows.
The new Marc Jacobs collection feels fresh and edgy, stomping the “no-makeup makeup” and “clean girl” aesthetics to make way for the drama.
The first Marc Jacobs Beauty line was a Sephora favorite, that is, until Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty seemed to steal the crown in 2017. Also a Kendo-incubated brand, Fenty famously launched with 40 foundation shades, shining a spotlight on the lack of diversity in color cosmetics. It felt like Fenty’s clear message overshadowed other makeup brands (like Marc Jacobs Beauty) that lacked a meaningful narrative.
While the Fenty crown-stealing is pure speculation, LVMH, Kendo Brands, Sephora, and Marc Jacobs Beauty never gave a clear answer as to why the collection was discontinued in 2021, beyond the Marc Jacobs Beauty license expiring. The products quietly disappeared from shelves and were dramatically discounted on the brand’s website and Sephora.com, and poof, Marc Jacobs Beauty was gone.
If anyone is a comeback kid in this scenario, it's Coty, or at least it’s hoping to be. The past ten years have been rough for the beauty giant, embroiled in multiple shareholder securities class action lawsuits, including a 2020 suit alleging that when Coty merged with Procter & Gamble in 2016, it did not disclose its lack of infrastructure and supply chain needs, and more recently, in 2025, allegations that it concealed underperformance from shareholders. The company has also been criticized for its executive restructuring and poor financial performance.
Coty is clearly hoping the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection will help sweep the bad juju under the rug. Coty Chief Brands Officer Prestige Jean Holtzmann said the new launch is a “joyful, maximalist celebration of color and creativity. It is exactly the kind of bold innovation that defines Coty Prestige, and we believe it will be one of the defining launches of 2026.”
The new Marc Jacobs Beauty collection may be able to temporarily redirect Coty’s negative headlines, but even the shiniest of lipsticks and eyeshadows won’t be able to erase ten years of tumult.
