Hey guys! I'm super excited for today's review, which features the brand spankin' Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Mascara & Primer*. I was lucky enough to get to try this out as a part of Influenster and I can't even tell you how excited I was about it. Admittedly, I don't try a lot of high end mascaras these days, because I have a lot of drugstore favorites that really get it done for me and it's hard to justify the spend. That said, there have been a handful of high end mascaras that have really stood above the rest for me and I was eager to know if this one would as well. 

Keep reading for more!

Marc Jacobs Velvet Epic Lash Primer*

Take your mascara to the next level with Velvet Primer. The creamy, conditioning formula coats your lashes to maximize the benefits of your favorite mascara. Lashes look longer, fuller and more dramatic. The soft-beige color helps you cover every lash, making it easy to apply evenly from root-to tip. Unlike a traditional white-colored lash primer, the unique shade helps intensify your mascara and won’t gray it out. This ultra-plush primer gives you the full treatment for lashes that feel luxuriously soft and healthy, not brittle or dry. It also helps prevent your mascara from flaking. For the most irresistible, over-the-top, false-lash look, this is your go-to step before mascara.

The effect of this primer on my lashes is really a lot of added length and fullness. I've tried it both with the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara as well as some of the other mascaras that I currently have in rotation - some of which I already really, really love - and I found that it really did improve the overall look no matter which mascara I used it with. Honestly, this product really may have made me a convert to lash primer, that's just how impressed I've been with it. 

The lash-maximizing, curvy brush in this volumizing mascara places the most volume at the hard-to-reach center lash line, and the defining tip styles lashes for major drama. The ultra-concentrated black pigment delivers the greatest visual impact, and the flash volume complextm creates instant, smudge-free length and volume in three strokes or less.

First off, can we just take a moment talk about how gorgeous and sleek Marc Jacobs packaging is? Making a high end mascara feel really luxurious without skewing into the ridiculous can be difficult, but I think Marc Jacobs has done it here. This mascara tube is really beautiful and understated while having a weight and sturdiness to it that makes it feel like it's really good quality. The brush is the same slightly hourglass shaped natural bristle brush as the primer and it's a good size, not too big or too small to really get the job done. 

I have to say, this is a mascara that I know I'm going to be absolutely obsessed with in about a month. It's really richly pigmented so that there's no question about just how much and intense your lashes are going to be when you use it. It also really builds an incredible amount of volume while also maintaining the length. For me, the formula is just a little bit too wet for my personal taste, but I've tried enough mascaras in my day to know without question that once this one dries up a little bit it's going to be an absolute killer as far as my taste is concerned. Like I said, it's very black and it also wears really well without flaking, smudging or weighing down my curl. I really think that this is going to end up ranking, for me, amongst those rare but amazing high end concealers that make me willing to accept the higher price tag... it's just not quite there straight out the gate. 

Left: Primer Alone, Right: Primer + Mascara

I really feel like these pair well together and were well thought out to be used together as a team. While they both do work really well apart and I really love the primer with pretty much any mascara I've paired it with, you can tell that they were formulated to work together to create really richly black, full and lengthened lashes with a really dramatic look. I think that once a little bit of time has passed and the mascara gets a little bit drier, I'm going to be fully obsessed. 

Overall, if I was going to recommend only one of these it would definitely be the primer, but I also think that the mascara is a great option if you're looking for a really dramatic lash look and prefer a wetter formula or don't mind waiting a little for the mascara to get perfect. I also don't feel like either of these have a lower cost alternative, because they both are really unique and well formulated. All in all, worth the spend if you have the budget for a high end mascara. Personally, I know that I'll be purchasing another tube of the primer once this one runs out. 

The Marc Jacobs Velvet Epic Lash Primer* & Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara* are available now at Sephora and retail for $33CAD each!

Thanks for reading!