I have very mixed feelings about buying this Louis Vuitton lipstick. I’m always happy to buy product if I feel it really needs to be here with brands who don’t include me on their send out list. I think the Louis Vuitton send out list has been extremely limited from what I can see because like most luxury brands, they’re employing what control they can. £120 for a lipstick isn’t a sum to be taken lightly at all especially when it’s relative – it’s a lot for some and small change for others but I must admit I felt a bit guilty spending the money when I know how useful it could be elsewhere.
So, I bought the Baume – described on the Louis Vuitton website as ‘a delicate combination of colour and care, LV Baume transforms lips with a soft glow in 10 enchanting hues by Creative Director Pat McGrath’. The shade is Red Pulse which is a pink based red. Ingredient wise, gosh, it’s not all that spectacular. Mimosa wax from Grasse, a lot of castor seed oil, recycled from Louis Vuitton’s perfumery by-products, Five-flavour berry extract and honestly, I don’t know what that is, hyaluronic acid spheres, and shea butter. That’s pretty much it in the way of headline ingredients (and I added the castor oil to this line up) – a wax, castor oil and shea base. This is not an expensive ingredient list.
On the lips, it’s unremarkable. Pretty, but unremarkable. It feels like a million other lip balms – pleasant, hydrating and softening. I can feel the wax in the formula which I don’t particularly like and at first application really didn’t notice the mint and raspberry aroma, crafted, apparently by Louis Vuitton’s Master Perfumer, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, but I’m stumbling over the fact that a lip balm needs a master perfumer to create a mint and raspberry blend.
It’s not the ‘superior’ blend of lip balm I was hoping for. Although the hold is good, it needs reapplying often to keep the full colour. That’s not usual with a balm formula but I think I had hoped that something about it would perform above and beyond anything I’ve previously tried. I would easily favour Gucci Baume over this in colour pay off, texture and last. So, there we are – I must admit, the case is beautiful and weighty with a clear circle in the lid so that you can see the colour which is useful if you are in a sea of like lipsticks. Otherwise, I’d honestly have to say I don’t recommend unless you really are a die hard Louis Vuitton fan – there’s nothing wrong with the Baume per se, but there just isn’t £120 worth of right. You can see the other shades HERE.
