Smackers Top brands cash in on expensive lipsticks

For the same price as more than 180 pints of milk, or around 60kg of rice, you can get your hands on the new Louis Vuitton lipstick.

- Ellie Violet Bramley

At £120 each, 55 shades - 27 satin and 28 matte - will go on sale in Britain, a new high in the transformation of lipstick from being a relative mundane purchase to hyper-luxury product.

The lipstick is part of Louis Vuitton's debut makeup collection, which launches this weekend and includes eyeshadow palettes (£190) and lip balms (also £120). The lipstick, designed in partnership with the makeup artist Pat McGrath, follows a clutch of other brands releasing lipsticks that cost as much or more than a weekly shop. Last year Celine launched its first lipstick for £62. Chanel has one in a glass case for £145. Hermès, famed for its Birkin bags, which cost thousands of pounds, launched a lippy for £81 in 2020. In 2023, Dior launched a special edition lipstick priced at $500.