Louis Vuitton launches cosmetics – would you pay $160 for a luxury lipstick?

Louis Vuitton announced its first makeup collection this week – and its impressive price points have had social media in a flurry. In the La Beauté Louis Vuitton range, a lipstick costs about $160, which in our terms comes in at about R3,000. Refills are $69.

There are 55 lipsticks, 10 tinted balms and eight eyeshadow palettes. They come in quads (cosmetic speak for sets of four colours) that cost $250, with refills at $92. All of this was devised with Dame Pat McGrath, one of the world’s most powerful makeup artists.

The hardware itself is pure Vuitton: high-shine gold casings, enamel finishes, even a monogrammed “mini-trunk” to store your collection like a jewellery case.

Sure one of these lipsticks might seem dazzling – but what exactly does a R3,000 lipstick do for your lips. The answer is: likely nothing more than your stalwart MAC Russian Red (R400 online) or a trusty Revlon Colorstay (R300 from Dis-Chem), both of which will last and flatter for a fraction of the price.

But, then, beauty has never really been about simple utility. Perfume is the classic example: a spritz of something expensive doesn’t just smell nice, it conjures a fantasy – of allure, youth, confidence. Lipstick does the same. It can be the difference between feeling mentally drab, and somehow more in control. “Putting on your face” has strong psychological implications and LV is seemingly playing into this.

It also fits neatly into the loud-versus-quiet luxury debate. For a small stretch, “quiet” was winning: cashmere in shades of beige, classic Max Mara jackets, The Row coats that are more expensive than anyone realises but hardly even whisper their provenance.

Now it seems loud luxury is being shoutier than ever – monograms, logos and visible branding are all over ramp shows and shelves at the likes of Gucci and Prada, and huge, gold, 80s-style jewels made a comeback at Dolce & Gabbana and Isabel Marant. Vuitton’s lipstick is a textbook loud-luxury play: it’s beauty as accessory, a monogram for your mouth. Whip that bullet out to touch up at your tashas table and you’re not being subtle about your “success”.

South Africa makes the contrast particularly vivid. On one side, you’ve got a small pocket of discerning shoppers who keep close tabs on what’s happening in Paris, Milan or New York, happily hunting down new Celine items and never feeling the urge to post it. On the other, there’s the aspirational crowd for whom wealth must announce itself: the LV Neverfull slung proudly over an arm, the oversized “dictator-wife” sunnies that arrive in the room before you do. For them, a Vuitton lipstick isn’t a ridiculous indulgence – it’s a neat, portable status accelerant.

The lipstick index

Let’s not pretend there isn’t already a market for expensive lipsticks outside of Vuitton. Professional lines like Gucci Westman’s Atelier Westman have built cult followings on their elevated formulations and elegant packaging. At South African store Skins, one of her lipsticks will set you back about R1,400. I was lucky enough to be gifted one of her lippie compacts and can attest: applying a flash of crimson from it feels indulgent and outrageously sexy – a rush that even the most colourfast pharmacy purchase can’t conjure. That thrill, that sense of ritual, is half the point.

So perhaps Vuitton knows exactly what it’s doing here. Economists still trot out the lipstick index – the theory, coined by Estée Lauder’s Leonard Lauder, that lipstick sales rise during downturns because people can’t afford handbags or cars but will still splurge on small luxuries. It proved true after 9/11 and during the 2008 crash (pandemic masks scuppered it in 2020). These days analysts are more cautious: maybe it’s nail polish, maybe it’s skincare, maybe it’s wellness. But the shorthand still stands. When wallets are tight, a small treat can feel like a lifeline. And Vuitton’s R3,000 bullet, paradoxically, may be its most recession-proof product yet – a cheaper ticket into the VIP area of luxury.

All of this is happening against a tougher backdrop. Parent company LVMH’s shares are down about 25% this year, as luxury spending slowed in its big markets of China, the US and Europe. In that context, Vuitton’s makeup launch isn’t a magic bullet, but it is a halo play – a way of broadening the base, pulling aspirational buyers into the fold, and ensuring the house dominates not just bags and luggage, but bathroom shelves and TikTok feeds too. It’s theatre, if not crafty strategy, and that may be exactly what the business needs right now.

Sadly, there are currently no plans for La Beauté Louis Vuitton in South Africa or Africa.

However, the range will be available in 92 stores worldwide, along with two pop-up locations in New York and Dosan (Korea). In the UK, it will be available at Louis Vuitton New Bond Street and exclusively at Harrods, starting August 29.

_{All images: Supplied.}