Leave it to Louis Vuitton to elevate the humble lip liner. Less than a year after La Beauté Louis Vuitton entered the beauty chat with the most expensive lipstick on the market and high-tech eyeshadows, the French fashion house is debuting a new product: LV Crayon.
With a shade range and formula conceived by creative director Dame Pat McGrath, the ten shades of lip pencils — including nudes, vibrant pink and plum plus the iconic Louis Vuitton reds Monogram Rouge and Rouge Louis — are laced with heavy-duty skincare ingredients including peptides to leave lips smooth and plump.
“Aren’t they faaabulous,” McGrath exclaimed to GRAZIA, with her trademark mischievous enthusiasm, at an exclusive masterclass on how to use the pencils in New York City. The ultimate multitasking makeup, the pencils can be layered and blended to create a multitude of chic lip looks under LV Rouge lipstick and LV Baume tinted lip balm, or worn on their own for a super-saturated wash of demi-matte, long-lasting color. “Every look I have ever created on the Louis Vuitton runway begins with the lip line,” says McGrath, who has conceived the high fashion beauty identity for the house for over two decades.
The pro recommends applying the liners to lips that are “absolutely dry, dry, dry,” she says, without a trace of moisturizer, concentrating the smooth color at the cupid’s bow and the center of the bottom lip. “The texture melts into the lips like a second skin,” explains the master. “It’s creamy, silky smooth and so unbelievably comfortable… and the best part is, it stays!” Indeed, the formula claims to keep its plumping and bleed-proof power for a whopping 24 hours.
The crayons themselves, like the entire line, can practically be considered objet d’art. Designed by craftsman Konstantin Grcic, the delightfully tactile, multifaceted black matt wood pencils are in the shape of the brand’s monogram flower (celebrating its 130th anniversary this year.) He also fashioned perhaps the most luxurious pencil sharpener — costing a cool $455 — ever, called the Beauty Sharpener.
And since the La Beauté Louis Vuitton collection was inspired by the house’s long history of meeting the needs of tony travelers, beyond-chic accessories for the pencils are, of course, on offer. A special pochette is meant to house a combination of pencils, and, if you’d like, a lip blending brush ($115). For those that want it all, there’s a beauty roll housing all ten shades making the Lip Pencil Case one ultra-luxe keepsake.
Perhaps the best news: Compared to the lipsticks, LV Crayons are a veritable steal: At just $58 each, why not scoop up a few here?
