Would you buy a £120 lipstick? That’s the question that Louis Vuitton are gambling on with the launch of La Beauté, their new beauty line. The price is sky-high and the stakes are even higher.

The venerable fashion house is entering a crowded marketplace, thanks to newly-launched products from couture house Celine and long-established makeup collections from rivals like Chanel and Hermès. But, as La Beauté creative director Dame Pat McGrath put it in a press statement: “The beauty universe is about so much more than just product. What we are creating here will unlock a new level in luxury beauty.”

With full respect to McGrath – who has been called the most influential makeup artist in the world – these are just products. They are beautiful: the 55-shade monogrammed lipstick range is enca

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