Review: Marc Jacobs Beauty Style Eye-Con No. 7 in 202 The Tease

Getting the Tease eyeshadow palette from the new Marc Jacobs Beauty line was a little bit of a beauty milestone for me – it’s the first time I’ve ever purchased something from a new line on launch day. Normally I wait until the reviews are in before buying something for myself, but a mostly-purple palette just drew me in so much that I couldn’t resist. Of course there’s a little bit of uncertainty when you’re getting something sight-unseen, so here are my thoughts on it. For photos of the packaging, pans and more swatches, check out this post, plus a FOTD using it here.

Colors

I really like the color selection and arrangement of this palette. The colors work well together and are arranged pretty logically (blue-er on the left, redder on the right). If you love pink/purple looks, there are enough shades in here to keep you from getting bored, and the more neutral shade in the middle is a nice addition. As gorgeous as they are, though, none of the colors are terribly complex or un-dupeable – you may already own similar shades. Here are some comparison swatches to the most comparable shadows that I have; you’ll notice I’ve left out #6, and that’s because I don’t have anything similar.

Left: Marc Jacobs Tease #1
Right: Urban Decay Rockstar

Left to right: Marc Jacobs Tease #2, Laura Mercier Plum Smoke, Lorac Pro Palette Mauve, Burberry Midnight Plum

Left: Marc Jacobs Tease #3
Right: Lorac Pro Palette Lt Pink

Left: Marc Jacobs Tease #4
Right: Lorac Pro Palette Champagne

Left: Marc Jacobs Tease #5
Right: Lorac Pro Palette Nude

Left: Marc Jacobs Tease #7
Right: Laura Mercier African Violet

Texture

The first six shadows in the palette are nice and soft. The texture reminds me a bit of the shadows in the Lorac Pro palette. They blend well and apply smoothly, but aren’t as finely milled as some of the other shadows I own (Laura Mercier, Lorac, etc). The last one is a whole other story. It’s really dry and gritty. It blends better than expected, but not as well as the others, and will give your brush the glitter herpes. I haven’t noticed any fallout but I very rarely do, even with UD shadows that people gripe so much about, so your mileage may vary. I tested the wear time over NARS primer because bare skin wouldn’t be a fair test – nothing lasts more than a few hours on my lids without primer. With primer, though, there were no signs of fading after 9 hours, which stacks up well against other brands.

Pigmentation

The color payoff isn’t bad on these shadows, but I did have to work a little bit harder than I felt I should to get the intensity I wanted. The first shade in particular was a bit difficult, because it lost a lot of its shimmer and color intensity with blending.

Packaging

I have to say that I felt like the packaging on this palette was a huge miss. The very first thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the shipping box was that the cardboard packaging was very thin and light, creased in a couple places where it had been bent, and was bowed out a bit at one end. It turned out that the snap on the pouch was causing that because the box wasn’t quite deep enough to accommodate the extra thickness. The pouch itself had a loose thread on the edge binding, and the opening isn’t straight, but isn’t quite slanted enough to make me think it’s intentional:

For the palette itself, the casing is plastic, and it’s not the thick, heavy plastic that I associate with higher-end brands. If I run my fingers across the ends of it, I can feel a sharp-ish lip where the top and bottom don’t quite meet perfectly. The push-button closure is made of light plastic and opens easily, so I don’t see this palette standing up well to travel – I’d worry about it popping open or the button breaking in my luggage. The label on the bottom was another place where I felt they didn’t pay enough attention to detail; even to a casual glance, it’s obviously very crooked. I do, however, think the design of the palette is aesthetically pleasing, even if it’s not entirely practical – glossy black minimalism is always a good thing in my book. All the rounded surfaces aren’t conducive to storage though – I can’t stand it on its end like I do with my other eyeshadow palettes (they’re in a letter sorter), and nothing can be stacked on top of it easily. Overall, the brutal truth of it is that the packaging feels like a drugstore product.

Value

I generally make it a point not to factor price into my reviews much since people’s budgets and what they’re willing to spend a little extra on can vary wildly. Since this is a completely new product line though, I feel like it’s too important to leave out. This particular palette is $59 for .24oz, so per product weight the pricing is similar to other high end brands like Chanel, YSL and Guerlain. However, at that price point I want the product quality to wow me and the packaging to be luxe, and neither was the case here.

In Short: I was really excited to see what Marc Jacobs would come up with. I haven’t tried anything else from the line yet but as far as this palette goes, I feel a little let down. You can’t use exceptional quality, luxurious packaging or the experience of shopping at a more exclusive retailer to justify the price, so I think in this case literally what you’re paying for is the brand name.