Louis Vuitton's $58 Lip Liner Is Infuriatingly Good

Fifty-eight dollars for a lip liner. I had to read it twice, too.

Even by luxury standards, Louis Vuitton's new lip pencil is eye-wateringly expensive. (For reference, it's double the price of Saint Laurent's Kiss Shaper, which launched just a few months ago.) Then again, people are increasingly willing to invest in their beauty routines — and designer makeup has responded in turn.

Burberry and Marc Jacobs have both recently revived their once-dormant makeup lines, and Louis Vuitton officially entered the category last August with La Beauté Louis Vuitton — and immediately sparked debate with its $160 lipstick. Yet despite the initial sticker shock, several shades quickly sold out, suggesting there are plenty of shoppers willing to treat makeup the same way they treat designer handbags: as a luxury purchase rather than an everyday essential.

Still, I would've happily admired this lip pencil from afar — until I saw celebrity makeup artist Nina Park had it in her kit ahead of Emma Stone’s appearance at the Louis Vuitton Cruise show. If you’ve ever admired her signature blurred lips, you’ll understand why my curiosity was piqued. Between Park’s stamp of approval and Pat McGrath at the helm of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, it felt like one luxury beauty launch I shouldn’t write off quite so quickly. Ahead, my honest review of the new LV Crayon.

Fast Facts

• Price: $58
• Best for: A soft-matte, blurred finish.
• Rating: 4.7/5
• What I like: The creamy formula lives up to its long-wearing claims.
• What I don’t like: The price tag.

Louis Vuitton’s LV Crayon

At $58, the new LV Crayon is by far the most expensive lip liner I’ve tried — but it also comes with some equally lofty promises. According to the brand, the peptide-infused formula delivers intense payoff while remaining blendable enough for ombré lip looks. Louis Vuitton also claims all-day wear, 24-hour hydration preservation, immediate smoothing and plumping, and 12-hour true color.

The formula has a soft-matte finish, balancing oil-absorbing ingredients like zeolite alongside emollients like ethylhexyl palmitate and sunflower seed oil to soften and smooth the lips. It also contains palmitoyl tripeptide-1 — a peptide often found in skin care to help support collagen production — and vitamin E for antioxidant-infused hydration.

Unlike the chunky contouring liners that are everywhere on the market right now, the pencil itself looks refreshingly old-school. It’s a classic wooden pencil, shaped like the LV monogram flower, that can be sharpened to a fine point for precision lining or kept to a more rounded tip for a diffused look. Available in 10 shades, from a deep plum to beige-brown, Pat McGrath's recommended technique involves slightly overlining the Cupid's bow and center of the bottom lip before blending the pigment inward with a lip brush for a fuller-looking pout.

My Review

First things first: I'm extremely picky about lip liners. I almost always reach for gel-like formulas because they make it easier to achieve the blurred French-girl lip that's become my go-to. The catch is that creamy formulas and long wear don't usually go hand in hand — which means I'm constantly searching for one that can actually do both.

From the first swipe, the LV Crayon delivered on the part I was hoping for most: blendability. I tested the shade Nude Quest, a warm terracotta nude, and it matched my natural lip color surprisingly well. Even before I smudged it out, it had created that soft, diffused edge that I usually have to fake with my fingertip. Plus, the creamy formula glided on like butter without any tugging or patchiness, making it just as good for shading in the corners of my lips as it was for defining my Cupid’s bow. Instead of sitting on top, the pigment seemed to melt right in.

My only real complaint is that the texture is *so* creamy that the tip can be a little fragile. After sharpening, little pieces of the point kept crumbling off while I was swatching it on the back of my hand. (A lighter touch is definitely the way to go — you barely need any pressure to get full pigment payoff, anyway.) Ironically, those failed swatches became an early indicator of what was to come: by the time I washed my hands, I had to seriously scrub to get the color off.

Thankfully, that staying power translated to my lips, too. I applied the liner right before dinner, fully expecting to touch it up afterward, but I never needed to — the pigment held up through eating and drinking. It’s not completely waterproof, so I wouldn’t expect it to survive a swim or a face wash. But for everyday wear, it outlasted every liner I’ve tried that wasn’t technically a stain. (To really put it to the test, I even reapplied it before bed. Eight hours — and plenty of tossing and turning — later, it was still there.) It also layered perfectly under my lip gloss without the color bleeding or slipping around, and even after the gloss had worn off, the soft-matte finish didn’t leave my lips feeling dry or tight.

The Verdict

If you're someone who's constantly losing your lip liner, this is probably not the one to splurge on. But as a luxury beauty skeptic, the LV Crayon is one of the few products that actually feels like you’re paying for the formula — not just the logo.

It’s creamy enough to blend effortlessly but stubborn enough to stay put for hours — a combination that’s surprisingly hard to find in this product category. Plus, if I'm not reapplying throughout the day, I'm technically using less product... which, by my girl math, means it practically pays for itself.

Whether you’re chasing Nina Park’s blurred lip look or simply want a liner that makes your pout look plumper without the babysitting, the LV Crayon delivers. Against the better judgment of my bank account, I need it in every color.