Keepsake, Monogrammed & “Un-Dupable” Beauty

With its stratospheric price points (even the lip balms are $160), Vuitton is raising the bar on luxury beauty and hoping to push the new collection into keepsake territory. Adding to its staying power – not to mention sustainability? It’s all refillable, doubling down on the notion of keepsake beauty.  

Developed in collaboration with British mega makeup artist Dame Pat McGrath, who holds the title of Creative Director for this venture, the collection is centered around lips and eyes. Why? According to McGrath, a legend in the editorial, runway and advertising sectors, lips and eyes help consumers “create the full character.” Well, ok.

There are 55 LV Rouge lipsticks — 27 satin finish, 28 matte finish – all broken out by color categories: Nudes, Roses, Pinks, Plums, Reds and Oranges. The names, at least in the ones in English on the French powerhouse’s U.S. site, feel a little all over the place. Though some are descriptive, à la Tonic Orange and Rose Eugénie, others, like Rumbling Storm and Chasing Dreams, are more nebulous.

The wildly expensive LV Baume lip balms, 10 shades in total, range from clear to a dark burgundy brown. Infused with a raspberry mint scent developed by Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, they’re pumped with hyaluronic acid and shea butter and deliver benefits like 48-hour hydration and a “smoothing effect.”

What can I say about the eyeshadow quads besides the fact that they’re available in eight colorways and are straight-up stunning? For that price, they should be. And did I mention the five-piece lip and eye brush set for $1140? Now those are some tools of the trade.

While the entire LV collection landed with a splash, the biggest buzz has emerged around the insanely adorable “Beauty Accessories.”  Launched in both the house’s famous Monogram and Damier patterns, the mini cosmetics LV trunks were also launched in limited edition hues like Tender Bliss (a bubblegum pink), Monogram Rouge (a rich burgundy) and Rouge Louis (a fiery red). As testament to the power of LV reinventing beauty keepsakes, the more brightly colored items have already sold out on the U.S. website.

These cosmetics keepsake social media superstars, which have been all over TikTok and Instagram since the collection’s August debut, range in price from a Mattifying Paper Case for $560 to a Trunk Lipstick Case for $2990. If the Trunk Lipstick Case houses a single lippie and clocks in at nearly three grand, one shudders to think how much the five-lipstick number would cost.

The Other End of the Spectrum: Old Navy

How do we know Gap Inc. CEO Richard Dickson is dead serious about getting Old Navy’s new beauty venture off to a flying start? He’s tapped John Demsey as an advisor. The ultimate finger-on-the-pulse guy, Demsey, who was pushed out of an illustrious, multi-decade career at Estée Lauder Companies over one questionable Instagram post, has a recognized knack for knowing what people want exactly when they want it. Is Demsey several decades older than the Gen Z and millennial core target Old Navy is targeting with this new master plan? Yes. Does it matter? Not in the slightest. 

Old Navy’s merchandising mantra, “Affordable But Curated,” seems to be leading the new beauty venture, to be launched this fall. According to a statement released in early September, here’s what we do know: A mix of Old Navy-branded merchandise and a curation of under $25 SKUs from Gen Z beloved brands like E.l.f., Mario Badescu and Tony Moly, will kick off with a “test-and-learn” roll-out to 150 Old Navy doors this fall.

As a deeper way to gauge feedback, a handful of those 150 doors will have dedicated shops-in-shop manned by dedicated Beauty Associates. If all goes well, Old Navy will expand the beauty program to its 1100+ doors throughout 2026.

For what it’s worth, I polled my informal focus group, aka my 19-year-old daughter and her fellow hyper-groomed Florida State University sorority sisters, about whether they might be lured into Old Navy’s new beauty department. The consensus? Probably not. They don’t shop there for clothes, and unless Old Navy will be serving up something they can’t find at Sephora or Ulta, they’re guessing it won’t be carving time out of their packed schedules.  On my end, I’ll be on standby at the Old Navy at Tyrone Mall in St. Petersburg. After all, I love an elevated beauty bargain as much as the next savvy consumer.

What These New Ventures Reveal

Unless you’re in management or on the boards of these two publicly traded companies, it’s impossible to know for sure the true rationales behind these new beauty ventures. But here’s what we can tell you about the business behind these beauty launches.

• Vuitton is worried about how viable and covetable mass market makeup is becoming and wants to plant a stake in the luxury sand with ultra-high quality, design-forward and refillable products that will ostensibly last for years.
• Vuitton is anxious to provide more entry level price points for aspirational consumers and is piggy-backing on the strength of its massive small leather goods category.
• Old Navy CEO Richard Dickson is keen on boosting the retailer’s lagging relevancy. By tasking well-regarded designer Zac Posen (Executive VP and Creative Director for Gap Inc. and Chief Creative Officer for Old Navy) to craft a sharp new handbag collection, Dickson took the first step in that direction. Now, with Demsey adding his expert two cents, it’s on to cosmetics.
• Old Navy is hoping to steal a slice of the beauty-curation pie essentially owned by Urban Outfitters in the last decade-plus.

Closing Thoughts & Parting Shots

As luck would have it, one of my colleagues at The Robin Report, Glyn Atwal, tasked his students at Burgundy School of Business with diving into an in-depth case study of Louis Vuitton La Beauté.

A fascinating read, the report doesn’t shy away from laying out the hard truths. In a section dubbed “Negative Consumer Commentary About Louis Vuitton La Beauté,” Atwal’s students corralled a handful of brutal soundbites from Reddit.

Here’s just one: “We should not normalize these prices. Whether we can afford it or not, it’s makeup. It’s not a bag that lasts for decades. We put it on, wash it off, and then it expires. Hermès doesn’t even charge this much. Absolutely insane.”

As Atwal’s students sum it up, “Ultimately, Louis Vuitton’s expansion into the beauty market is a risky move to diversify its offerings and establish a foothold in a growing, resilient industry. By leveraging its brand recognition, partnering with industry leaders like Pat McGrath, and prioritizing product innovation, Louis Vuitton seeks to challenge traditional notions of luxury. However, it faces the tough challenge of justifying its ultra-luxury prices at a time when consumers increasingly question the true value of brands, placing greater emphasis on authenticity and quality beyond just a well-known name.”

Personally, I find myself more intrigued by the Old Navy beauty venture, especially given the oceans of ink spilled recently on Dickson’s latest moves across not only that brand, but Gap as a whole. From The Hollywood Reporter and Vogue Business to Puck and Business of Fashion, industry-watchers are tracking Dickson’s every move. So are we.

Lensing out from Old Navy to Gap Inc. more broadly, Dickson will be leaning on Demsey to provide beauty insight across all brands. Demsey’s counterpart in accessories? None other than Coach turnaround king Reed Krakoff. By bringing Krakoff and his impeccable, design-forward taste into the equation, I have zero doubt the merch will look incredible.

But will it sell? That remains to be seen.