The Jeffree Star x Manny MUA collaboration collection is finally here — and according to fans, it's incredible.
But is it really? I've never worn any Jeffree Star products — partially because I already have sixty trillion lipsticks, partially because I, like many people, have Complicated Feelings about the J.Star persona — but, after hearing that you guys REALLY wanted a review, I bit the bullet and bought everything.
Here's my honest opinion.
First, let's talk about shopping the JSC x Manny MUA collab, which was pandemonium.
Getting this collection ate up most of my Saturday. It launched at 1pm New York time, so I sat on my laptop — Jeffree's Twitter open in one tab, The Manny MUA collab page open in another — and just hit refresh for a solid hour.
The bundle was available, according to my phone's clock, at 12:58pm. I jammed it in my cart, then sat in a virtual "waiting room" for about 15 minutes before I could check out.
I'm glad that I did; it sold out in 28 minutes flat. There are rumors that the bundle may restock in May, but those haven't been confirmed yet.
I paid for expedited shipping, and by Wednesday morning, THE COLLAB ARRIVED wrapped up nice and tight in a Jeffree-pink shipping box.
Even the packing tape has Star's logo on it — nice.
Inside was a special edition postcard, and the bundle — wrapped in JSC / Manny-branded tissue.
It's fortunate the whole logo lawsuit got settled.
Unwrapping the black tissue and pink bubble wrap revealed the holographic outer sleeve, featuring Jeffree's star logo and Manny's moon.
And holy shit, IS IT EVER holographic. You could signal to ships at sea with this!
Slide off the holographic sleeve, and you get the matte black product case.
This has a magnetic flap at the front, and opens up likea jewelery box. It's made of heavy, high-quality cardboard, and is lined inside with foam.
Open up the case, and POW. Here's the Jeffree Star x Manny MUA collection!
The backing is, again, SUPER GODDAMNED HOLOGRAPHIC AND SHINY, providing a perfect frame for the black product packages.
(That special black packaging is also shiny and kinda holographic, by the way.)
This is the kind of attention to detail I live for.
First, let's talk about the super limited-edition Skin Frost, Eclipse. It's HUGE — maybe the biggest highlighter compact I've ever seen. Second: the logo is holographic again, so you can blind people as you touch up your lipstick.
I've quickly swatched other shades of Jeffree Star Cosmetics' Skin Frosts, and I find the formula a bit of a mixed bag, quality-wise. I was interested to see how Eclipse measured up.
The two Lip Velours in Daddy and I'm Shook surprised me — but not in a bad way.
Daddy (on the left) was a warmer brown than I'd been expecting, and I'm Shook did NOT look as pink as it did in the reveal video. Both tubes have the black click-top cap, and more holographic branding.
Inside the Eclipse compact is an icy-peach highlight shade, embossed with Manny's moon and Jeffree's star.
The shade immediately made me think of Becca's Champagne Pop, but a little cooler and lighter.
The initial fingerswatch had me SCREAMING. This shit is BRIGHT.
That said, it needed more testing — these swatches can be deceptive. The oils on your fingers, and the fact that you can press really hard, mean that fingertip swatches will almost always look brighter and more intense than they will on your face. Just a beauty editor FYI.
Likewise, a quick look at the Lip Velour applicators had me really curious. The tip is rounded at the top, and curved on the back side (lol) for easier application.
I really like this step-down tip, so I was cautiously enthusiastic.
Here are arm swatches of everything in the Jeffree Star Cosmetics x Manny MUA collab.
Eclipse is almost the same shade as my skin, and was tricky to swatch — it looked shiny IRL, but this stripe didn't translate well on camera.
Daddy dried down to a much warmer brown than I was expecting. It was also kind of watery — I don't know if this is how ALL JSC Lip Velours are, but the box said to shake well before using. I've never seen that as a liquid lipstick instruction before.
I'm Shook looked like a red-fuchsia in photos, but was not at all. It dries down to a kind of terracotta pumpkin shade that's '90s in the best way.
It was time: I pulled out my favorite highlight brush, and swiped Eclipse all over my cheekbones. I honestly wasn't expecting much... but then my mind was blown.
Eclipse was BLINDING. It was so shiny, we had to manually adjust the camera settings because it was messing up the white balance. I was shining brighter than the Chrysler building.
Eclipse was insanely shiny — but not perfect.
First: This is a powdery, semi-granular formula. It's not as finely-milled as the higher-end highlighters I generally use, and I could feel that.
Second: THE FALLOUT. WAS. INSANE. You need to really load up your brush and work it into your skin to get that sex robot shine I'm rocking here, and after you do that, you will be covered in highlighter fallout. It was in my hair and on my clothes; everywhere.
Finally: After trying this highlighter on a few of my co-workers, we all agreed that this is a color that works best on the very pale. Though I understand that this collab was only three items, it would have been awesome if Manny and Jeffree took into account that people of color want to shine, too.
Let's take a look at the Manny-created Lip Velours, starting with Daddy — a medium brown that won my respect, even though it wasn't for me.
So this color is one hundred thousand percent not my bag. It makes me look dead, which is usually what I'm into, but NOT LIKE THIS.
That said, just because Daddy isn't DADDY for me specifically doesn't mean it's bad. If you're into slightly warm-toned browns, you will love this. Plus, the formula was really impressive — super-opaque, not drying, and a little watery, which meant it was easy to apply. It came off with an oil cleanser.
Next is I'm Shook, which did leave me shaken.
I honestly thought this was going to be a slightly redder shade of pink — but I was wrong. Hello, '90s burnt pumpkin realness! You are genuinely beautiful!
All the stars aligned for me with this color: the formula was, once again, a pleasure to apply. The color was excellent. It made me look gorgeous as hell. If left to my own volition, I would never pick a shade like this — but I'm glad I tried it. Thanks, Jeffree and Manny!
But a warning: I'm Shook kinda stains — I still have reddish marks on my arms from swatching it, and that was 48 hours ago. Prepare to scrub a lot to take this off, and then prepare to be a little rosier than you would normally be after wearing it.
All in all, I was totally won over by the Jeffree Star Cosmetics x Manny MUA collab.
The packaging was good. The shades were good. The quality was excellent. Thought Jeffree Star is — and, I assume, will remain — a controversial character in the beauty world, I'm happy to see that his makeup brand is serving up fantastic products to his millions of fans.
Though the Jeffree Star x Manny MUA collab bundle is currently sold out, there's a chance it MAY restock soon.
Keep checking the Jeffree Star Cosmetics website for updated restock info, or follow Star himself on Twitter — that's the best way to know when these ultra-limited edition products will be back!
Did you get the JSC x Manny MUA collab? What did you think?
Tell me your thoughts and feelings in the comments, or on Facebook.
