Back in March, Pharrell Williams’s Louis Vuitton announced the most influential makeup artist in the world, Pat McGrath, as the cosmetics creative director of their first-ever cosmetics line, La Beauté. Now, just ahead of this year’s spring/summer 2026 season, the line’s first campaign is officially here.
House ambassador Hoyeon led the campaign next to models Ida Heiner, Chu Wong and Awar Odhiang. Odhiang, the campaign’s single Black model, looked divine in one of the collection’s LV Rouge lipsticks—a scarlet red coined 854 “Rouge Louis”—and a triangular martini green eyeshadow (951 “Force of Nature”) from one of the LV Ombres palettes.
In another look, she’s a woman in blue. The LV Baume 051 “Monogram Touch” kisses her lips while her eyes borrow tones from the gradient sky with the chromatic eyeshadow shade 950 “Sky is the Limit”. Just like Tracee Ellis Ross’s new PATTERN body care line, the La Beauté campaign is an invitation to surreal destinations, from crimson deserts to light pink lakes, all transported through makeup.
Below, ESSENCE breaks down all the details from Pat McGrath’s first Louis Vuitton makeup collection.
LV Rouge
The language of lipstick is well understood in the new LV Rouge collection. At the heart of La Beauté, the Roman numerals for “LV” manifests through 55 shades of lipstick all crafted by McGrath. 27 creamy satin hues join 28 velvety mattes (all priced at $160 dollars each) formulated from upcycled rose, jasmine and mimosa flowers. 85 percent of the lipsticks’s base is skincare—like shea butter and hyaluronic acid—to condition your lips while you wear, which makes the pigment last comfortably up to 12 hours.
LV Baume
For a no-makeup lip look, the LV Baume collection is a wardrobe of 10 shades acting as a more sheer counterpart to the lipstick. The sensorial balm texture tints and polishes the lips, promising 48 hours of hydration encased in a pearl tube with LV-inscribed in gold.
LV Ombres
While some lean exclusively on a classic red lip for color, the LV Ombres palettes offer a new modality for beauty. The curated edit of eight harmonious palettes each hold three everyday eyeshadows and one with an unexpected twist: a dimensional shade meant to shift the narrative around makeup.
With a mix of six finishes, from ultra-matte to pearlescent glitter, McGrath’s ethereal, cinematic approach to makeup is felt through every swipe. Pigments in their purest forms, coined “LV Pigment Originals”, meet with ingredients like plant-derived squalane, camelina flower extract, and transparent gel for the pearlescent finishes.
The Makeup’s Odour
While Pat McGrath is Louis Vuitton’s first cosmetics creative director, the House has long been one full of fragrance. But, for the first time, their fragrance is entering the realm of makeup.
In a cross between McGrath and master perfumer, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, each lipstick has been infused with an olfactory signature we’ve never smelled before. A melangé of aroma extracted from the House’s fragrance atelier Les Fontaines Parfumées, in the heart of Grasse (a city in France), you can taste the scent of mimosa, jasmine, and rose on your lips. Meanwhile, the lip balm lives in the deliciousness of mint and raspberry, tying in the collection with fragrance so good you wish you could eat.
The collection will be available August 29th in a selection of Louis Vuitton stores and on louisvuitton.com following the worldwide digital pre-orders on August 25th.
