Luxury lipsticks as new status symbols: paying top dollar for lip colours in designer cases

WHEN Hermes announced it was launching its beauty line in 2020, kicking off with S$103 lipsticks (they now cost S$116 each), many wondered if those lip colours would be the most expensive one could ever own.

Not anymore.

Other luxury brands have since launched their versions of pricey lippies, with a few taking literally years to arrive on the dressing table.

It is the small details they were obsessing over – medallion-like caps, well-engineered cases, special lipstick formulae and carefully crafted scents – that come together to give users the sense of luxury they cannot otherwise get from an ordinary lipstick. Some are even positioned as collectibles or heirlooms.

And so, an everyday object that helps perk up a face in one quick sweep, has become much more than just something used to put colour on the lips.

For luxury maisons, it is a platform to enhance and strengthen their relationship with customers, and a chance to tell their brand stories in a different way to new audiences.

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From the point of view of aspiring younger consumers, the humble makeup item is now an accessible way to get a foot into the universe of luxury brands. Some are said to be willing to splurge on an Hermes lipstick just to have a piece of the French brand in their collection.

With lipsticks elevated to a status symbol, we take a look at some of the price-setters.

Chanel

Chanel has had lipsticks for ages, but what is different with the new 31 Le Rouge (S$223) is its glass case – a first for the brand.

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Inspiration for the lipstick’s name, as well as the design of its case, comes from the French luxury brand’s flagship store at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris, which also housed founder Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment. The glass case is faceted to resemble the mirrors that line the property’s famous staircase, where Chanel used to stand, secretly watching her shows.

It took four years and some serious skills from a Japanese master glassmaker to transform a fragile material into sturdy packaging that can take everyday handling. Two gold-coloured metal rings and a magnetised closure complete the case, which holds one of 12 refillable lip colours (S$100) that come in aluminium bullets. Each refill has a protective cap, so you can switch colours out and reseal them without having to first finish the entire stick.

Chanel says its formula features properties of a skincare product, including smoothing gardenia-infused oil, and camellia esters and Maracuja oil to soften and plump up lips.

As to whether the beautiful glass case will break if you drop it – we suggest you do not try.

Dior

The French luxury fashion house does not beat about the bush – it says its new ultra-luxe Rouge Premier lipstick is “haute couture makeup”.

At S$730, you would think it is.

Part of the justification for the lipstick’s price tag is its ceramic tube handcrafted by no less than the 160-year-old Maison Bernardaud, a French porcelain master in Limoges. It took the two collaborators five years just to create a case that is both resistant, yet delicate.

A Toile de Jouy pattern – reminiscent of the print Christian Dior used in his first boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris – decorates the tube, which is then completed with two medallions finished in 18-carat gold.

The lipstick contains a hibiscus extract that comes from flowers handpicked in the Dior gardens in Burkina Faso, and more importantly perhaps – 24-carat gold micro-particles to provide radiance and a “luminous finish”.

Peter Philips, Dior Makeup’s creative and image director, has said he wants a lipstick that can be handed down like an expensive and precious couture piece.

Which is probably why Dior’s Rouge Premier lipstick is only available on request, with 12 refillable colours (S$90) to go with it.

Hermes

If a maison with a waitlist for its covetable handbags inaugurates its makeup line with lipsticks, you know it is onto something.

So what if Rouge Hermes lipsticks were launched during the pandemic? The thought of a lip colour nestling inside one of the brand’s signature orange boxes was enough to send its fans into a tizzy.

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic director of the French luxury goods company, made clear its lipstick must serve its purpose, but also that it “should give satisfaction that is not due to its function, but rather to its aesthetic”.

In short, the idea is to elevate its lipsticks – and one obvious way is through design. Hermes’ answer to this is a refillable lipstick that swivels out of a metal case in a mix of lacquered, brushed gold and polished finishes that is supposed to resemble a piece of modern art. Each cap is topped off with an ex libris engraved and “curved like a fingerprint”. Even the maison’s nose, Christine Nagel, was roped in to create a signature scent for the products.

Every lipstick is accompanied by a natural canvas pouch, though you can always ditch that for a luxurious leather sleeve with goatskin lining and hand-sewn saddle stitches.

The price of this small Hermes leather product? Just S$530 each.