Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky Lipstick: The Ultimate Beauty Upgrade?

Hermes' luxurious lipstick gets a silky update in 17 shades.

Pucker up with the new Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lippies. Credit: Anastasiia Duvallie/Courtesy of Hermes

By Noelle Loh, 12 Mar 2025

It’s been five years since Hermes launched its first beauty product: Rouge Hermes, a line of lipsticks known for its ultra-rich shades inspired by the brand’s leathers and silk scarves, as well as TDF packaging. Regarded by many as a true luxury lipstick, each one looks like a mini modernist sculpture with its metal case that boasts a lacquered and brushed gold finish, and comes with a canvas pouch to protect it.

Now the brand has just unveiled the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick. It pays homage to the original lippie that kickstarted the Hermes Beauty collection, but is an entirely new offering for the puckers.

The first product that Hermes Beauty creative director Gregoris Pyrpylis has innovated from scratch, the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick is also inspired by silk – or more specifically, the caress of silk on one’s skin, and the transparency and lightness of silk chiffon. In short, its focus is on providing ultimate comfort for the wearer.

To achieve this, the formula of this new Hermes lipstick comprises a base of plant oils and butters, which is then combined with a host of skin-caring active ingredients.

There’s raspberry leaf extract, which has a moisturising and plumping effect, and sesame seed extract that’s known to effectively smooth and soften lips. Then for extra nourishment and protection, Hermes Beauty has added abyssinian oil – rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids – and the anti-aging white mulberry.

Eighty-five per cent of all ingredients in Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky are natural to further ensure that wearing it – and possibly digesting some of it as we all do when we have lipstick on – won’t be harmful.

We tried the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick at its launch event in Paris during Fashion Week. Our review? Rarely does a lipstick feel this good. A single swipe quenches the lips with both moisture and luminosity yet feels near weightless – a real pampering treat that makes one want to keep reaching out for it, and to use it again and again.

At the same time, high-quality colour remains central to the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick collection. Pyrpylis’ main philosophy here is to keep things personal and effortless, so every one of the 17 shades – 14 staple and three limited-edition – go on as a subtle veil (they’re buildable, of course) with a lasting, healthy shine.

And because of this finish (think of it as super-luxe tint), every shade in the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick collection is guaranteed to look good. (As Pyrpylis had said in a one-on-one interview with us, whether you’ll like a specific colour is a different thing and dependent on one’s own taste and preference.)

Each of the 17 shades of Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky offers a subtle, buildable veil with lasting, healthy shine.
Hermes

On the bolder end of the shade spectrum are the limited-edition Orange Flash (a bold and perky tangerine) and Hermes’ signature burgundy-brown Rouge H. On the other end: three variations of beige – Beige Halo, Beige Midi and Beige Tan – each of a different tone so that there’s one for everybody. (A male partygoer tried Beige Tan and it looked nearly invisible on him, simply enhancing his lips with a fresh and natural plumpness and sheen.)

Sealing the big deal about the Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick is its packaging: an elongated (read: slimmer) version of the lacquered, brushed and polished metal tube that Rouge Hermes comes in, also designed by Pierre Hardy – creative director of Hermes Beauty objects as well as Hermes’ jewellery and shoe collections. (And, yes, each comes with a protective canvas pouch too.)

The tube for the collection’s core 14 shades are in elegant black, white and brass. The one for the three limited-edition shades is in head-turning white and a duo of metallic pop colours to reflect their zestiness.

Every tube is refillable – much needed considering how it’s likely we’ll use up our Hermes Rouge Brillant Silky lipstick fast.