La Beauté Louis Vuitton Is Love At First Swipe
A monogrammed bullet. A perfumed kiss. Pat McGrath at the helm. This is no ordinary launch.
I’ve been on the beauty beat for nearly two decades, so I don’t swoon easily over lipstick. But when I held a sleek gold bullet, its casing stamped with the iconic Blossom motif, at Louis Vuitton’s Toronto HQ earlier this July, I did what any seasoned beauty sleuth would do: twisted, swiped and assessed. The shade? Rouge Louis, a fierce scarlet that made me sit up straighter and reconsider my night in. The sample—likely a one-of-one prototype—had been brought in for a few days, and I’ll admit, I considered slipping it into my bag.
With Prada Beauty making its Canadian debut earlier this year and veteran maisons like Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel continuing to raise the bar in luxury cosmetics, it was only a matter of time before Louis Vuitton joined the conversation. The buzz has been building for months, and when Doechii hit the Met Gala blue carpet with the LV logo stamped on her cheekbone, a makeup drop felt imminent. And now it’s here.
The French fashion house has officially launched La Beauté, its first-ever makeup collection: a bold, sensorial line that channels the brand’s obsession with detail into something you can swipe, blend and wear like art.
To bring it to life, the brand tapped none other than Dame Pat McGrath, DBE. The legendary makeup artist (whose decades-long relationship with the house includes keying makeup at its runway shows) has been named creative director of cosmetics for La Beauté. Another connection to the brand? She’s iconically known for arriving at her jobs with a towering collection of trunks (many of them Louis Vuitton).
“I am thrilled to now play such a key role in the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, which is the result of extraordinary craftsmanship, creativity and innovation,” she says, adding that the beauty universe is about so much more than just product. “What we are creating here will unlock a new level in luxury beauty.”
Photography courtesy of Louis Vuitton
La Beauté Louis Vuitton LV Baume Rouge Matte 605 Dance on Mars
Launching with lipsticks (LV Rouge, $200), luminous tinted balms (LV Baume, $200) and eyeshadow palettes (LV Ombres, $315), the line is rooted in both performance and polish. Formulas include skincare ingredients (like shea butter and hyaluronic acid), but it goes beyond function. It’s designed to be felt, seen and smelled.
In a unique collaboration, Louis Vuitton’s master perfumer, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, created bespoke fragrance infusions for the collection: The lipsticks carry delicate notes of mimosa, jasmine and rose, while the balms emit a fresh, addictive scent of mint and raspberry. The result? A full sensory experience, from the first twist to the final swipe. “I’ve always said that makeup is more than product: It’s performance, obsession and emotion,” says McGrath. “This new chapter is about pushing craftsmanship into a new realm.”
The packaging? Minimalist, sculptural and refillable. Designed by industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, each object is meant to live on your vanity, not in your recycling bin. And because this is LV, of course, there’s a collector’s trunk—a throwback to the brand’s 1920s beauty cases and a wink at McGrath’s famously OTT trunk collection.
“Lipstick is presence,” McGrath adds. “It’s a signature in a single stroke. It’s how women carry themselves in the world.” With La Beauté Louis Vuitton, that signature is now cast in monogram.
La Beauté Louis Vuitton is available at select Louis Vuitton stores. The collection launches online on August 25.
Julia is a Toronto-based, award-winning writer and stylist with a sharp eye for celebrity, pop culture and all things fashion and beauty. With over 15 years of experience covering the style scene, she’s currently the Fashion and Beauty Editor at Hello! Canada. Her work has also appeared in ELLE Canada, FASHION, The Kit, Canadian Living, CBC, Chatelaine and The Globe and Mail, among others. When she’s not chasing the next big trend, she’s running, traveling and keeping up with her endlessly curious toddler, Tilda.