Louis Vuitton Introduces La Beauté Makeup Collection

PARIS — Louis Vuitton has always embodied luxury in motion. Now the French house is setting out on a new journey, with the introduction of its first makeup collection, La Beauté.

Six months after revealing that the brand and Dame Pat McGrath, the-then newly minted creative director, cosmetics, at Louis Vuitton, had dreamed up 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eye shadow palettes, the products are poised to launch.

“It’s a beauty experience that’s rooted in the art of travel,” McGrath said in an exclusive interview. “It’s luxury that moves with you; it moves seamlessly. It’s part of your everyday life. Beauty integrates into your rhythm, into your rituals, into your world.”

With La Beauté, Louis Vuitton aims to redefine beauty as a lifestyle and to elevate it to an art form, with objects of desire reflecting the house’s ethos.

The brand, founded in 1854, is no stranger to beauty products. Its earliest trunks contained cushioned compartments that could protect fragrances, and by the 1920s Louis Vuitton produced vanity cases and beauty objects, such as tortoiseshell hair brushes, ivory mirrors and compacts, plus glass fragrance bottles.

McGrath created rich colors for all skin tones. The products’ sustainable, refillable packaging design nods to the house’s Monogram flower, which appears on lipstick tubes and eye shadow compacts.

The collection minus the palettes will launch exclusively in China on Wednesday in a selection of Louis Vuitton stores. Worldwide, digital preorder will start on Aug. 25, followed by the global introduction on Aug. 29 in select Louis Vuitton stores and on louisvuitton.com. In New York, a dedicated pop-up will lift the veil on La Beauté’s universe. Altogether, 92 Louis Vuitton stores are to stock the collection. 

Also on Wednesday, a first Louis Vuitton beauty campaign — featuring house ambassador, actress and model Hoyeon and models Ida Heiner, Chu Wong and Awar Odhiang lensed by Steven Meisel and directed by Damien Krisl — will break on Louis Vuitton’s global digital channels and feature in print insertions in China. Those are set in surreal destinations. Other countries’ magazines will start running the campaign on Aug. 29.

“It was just a natural path to start with the lipsticks, and then came the eyes and then came the balms,” McGrath said. “Lips and eyes — they really do tell a story.”

She did a deep dive into Louis Vuitton’s archives, where she could see the likes of Le Milano, from 1925, which was a bespoke vanity for soprano Marthe Chenal, and a toiletry case fashioned for composer Jan Paderewski.

McGrath also looked into Louis Vuitton womenswear designs by creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, with whom she’s worked on the makeup looks for fashion shows for more than a decade.

“It was absolute joy to take inspiration from everything from the world of the house of Louis Vuitton,” McGrath said.

She visited where its trunks are made, in Asnières-sur-Seine, France.

“It was great to look at the beauty artifacts and at Vuitton’s true heritage, as it lies in travel,” McGrath said. “It gives you that luxury in motion, always evolving, always pushing forward.”

Reviewing past Louis Vuitton shows — she’s been involved with 20 years of those — McGrath cherrypicked some makeup shades and developed ideas. She was given the freedom to create colors that work on every skin tone and resonate with people around the globe, McGrath said.

Nothing is haphazard in La Beauté. The Roman numerals LV — Louis Vuitton­’s initials — stand for 55, so that’s the number of LV Rouge lipsticks launching first. These are highly pigmented and come in two textures: 27 in creamy satin and 28 in velvety matte.

McGrath said she set out to make colors for every mood and occasion. Among the core lipsticks are 896 Monogram Rouge, which melds the brown of Louis Vuitton’s brown Monogram canvas with classical lipstick red. There’s 203 Rose Odyssée, the color of a Sienna rose, and 854 Rouge Louis, a scarlet red.

Lipstick formulas are made with upcycled waxes from rose, jasmine and mimosa flowers, emblematic of the house and blended with shea butter and hyaluronic acid. Those enrich the 85 percent skin care base the lipsticks contain, which is said to give long-lasting comfort, 12-hour long-wear vivid color for the matte and 24-hour moisturizing for the satin finish products.

“They’re very buildable,” McGrath said of the lipsticks. “There is a strength, but there’s also a softness. [They are] wearable and easy to apply.”

Louis Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud created an olfactory signature for the products, inspired by lipstick scents of yesteryear. That fragrance includes mimosa, jasmine and rose notes, with ingredients coming from and native to the brand’s ateliers, Les Fontaines Parfumées, in Grasse, France.

LV Baume lip balms come in 10 sheer shades, which nourish and are buildable. Their formulas contain shea butter, hyaluronic acid, five-flavor berry extract, as well as upcycled mimosa wax from Grasse. The balms are billed to give 48-hour hydration, 24-hour comfort, nutrition and a smoothing effect.

“They look good, and they feel good on you,” McGrath said.

Signature shades include 051 Monogram Touch, a sheer interpretation of the Monogram Rouge Lipstick; 030 Tender Bliss, giving a pink pearl effect, and 020 Rose Essentiel, with a rosewood tint.

The balms have a bespoke scent containing mint and raspberry, fashioned by Cavallier-Belletrud.

LV Ombres eye shadow palettes come in eight colorways. Each has four eye shadows — three everyday shades and one with a twist — arranged in a blossom shape. Finishes range from ultra-matte to glittery.

“There are some very bold, intentional, memorable but really beautiful colors,” McGrath said. “It’s just fun, so that you can create many looks for your eyes.”

The 896 Monogram Rouge contains a deep red, rich brown and caramel tones; 150 Beige Momento is meant to echo Louis Vuitton’s heritage VVN leather, with shades spanning ivory to golden bronze, and 250 Nude Mirage is inspired by neutral rosy shades.

Eye shadow formulas include pigments in their purest form, glitter enhanced with light-up technology for maximized shine, plus plant-derived squalane and camelina flower oil extract for comfort.

Product prices range from 60 euros for the LV Ombres refill to 140 euros for the complete lipstick or lip balm and 220 euros for the complete eye shadow. An eye shadow refill is 80 euros.

The beauty products’ packaging was created with industrial designer Konstantin Grcic.

“It was important to make a real object of desire, a product that was made to be treasured, like the Louis Vuitton bag — heirloom worthy,” McGrath said.

The sustainable, refillable packaging includes a floral motif lock system, which allows only La Beauté lipsticks and eyeshadows to lock into the cases. “It’s beautiful, almost like the insides of a watch,” McGrath said.

The packaging is primarily made of durable metals, such as aluminum and brass. McGrath called it “real timeless beauty.”

A line of small leather goods is dedicated to La Beauté, featuring the house’s Monogram canvas. The small vanities and pouches can contain the makeup line, including brushes and blotting paper.

Also for La Beauté’s launch, limited-edition lipstick pouches and beauty cases in Epi leather will be released in three shades reflecting the collection’s hero hues: Monogram Rouge, Rouge Louis and Tender Bliss.

McGrath helped dream up the new Beauty Station Trunk, which is made-to-order. It’s a mash-up of the 1920s vanity conceived by Gaston-Louis Vuitton and crafted by Pierre-Émile Legrain, and a contemporary dressing table. No detail was spared.

“We made sure that it lights for all different moods,” McGrath said. “There’s a macro mirror for your eyes, somewhere to put your phone for you to record. It is the makeup trunk of all makeup trunks.”

One was on the way for McGrath to use herself. “I’ve been told it’s in the ship,” she said, adding the trunk would go in her living room. “The sofa’s being moved out.”

She’s worked on robust social content, including how-tos. “Digitally, there’s going to be real excellence in try-on,” she said. “A lot to look forward to.”

In New York, beauty aficionados will be able to experience La Beauté’s retail environment in a dedicated pop-up, located at 104 Prince Street, from Aug. 29 to year-end.

It is to have a red interior space, including a virtual try-on room, a makeup consultation room and a look room, where shades and styles are suggested after a questionnaire is answered.

Lacquered red shelving will be curvy and the entryway, too, which is surrounded by 48 digital screens. The central Monogram flower-shaped makeup station is to present the entire La Beauté collection. A screen room offers thematic, immersive storytelling behind 10 key color cosmetics shades.

“Being able to build beauty, but not just only beauty — a real world, a planet, basically — it’s been so much a universe, so much fun,” McGrath said at a press conference.