Why We Think Gucci Beauty Is Having an Identity Crisis
In May 2019, Gucci launched 58 lipsticks and did something luxury beauty almost never does. It put a punk singer with gapped, uneven teeth at the centre of the campaign, grinning straight into Martin Parr's camera. The message was simple: makeup shouldn't hide your flaws, it should celebrate them.
People couldn't stop talking about it. For a moment, Gucci Beauty didn't just sell lipstick. It stood for something.
Seven years later, ask anyone what Gucci Beauty stands for. You'll get a pause.
We think that pause is the story. Since its first makeup line in 2014, Gucci Beauty has been run by three different companies under four creative directors. Every time, it started over. Today it's between owners again, and still looking for an idea that sticks.
A new look with every designer
Most great beauty brands pick one idea and repeat it for decades. Gucci Beauty has changed its mind every few years.
2014: makeup as accessories. The first Gucci makeup line came out under Frida Giannini, made with makeup artist Pat McGrath. Over 200 products in shiny black and gold, with the double-G logo pressed into the cases. It felt like a handbag you could put on your face.
2019: proudly imperfect. After Alessandro Michele took over the house, Gucci Beauty came back loud. Ribbed gold tubes with a vintage feel, and that gap-toothed campaign. Beauty as rebellion.
2024: clean and quiet. Michele left in November 2022. His successor, Sabato De Sarno, made his first beauty launch a single red lipstick, Rosso Ancora, in sleek tubes, worn with "fresh and natural skin." The rebel had become minimal.
Now: Demna. De Sarno was out by February 2025, after just two years. In came Demna, the designer known for Balenciaga's most provocative moments. His second Gucci runway show was on 25 September. He hasn't put his name on a beauty launch yet. When he does, it will be the fourth Gucci Beauty in about ten years.
None of these looks was bad. That's the point. Each was a strong idea, and each one got thrown away.
Three owners, and a brand in limbo
The designers aren't the only thing that keeps changing. So do the people who actually make and sell the products.
Gucci doesn't make its own beauty. It licenses its name to a beauty company that does. Procter & Gamble launched the 2014 line, then sold its beauty brands to Coty in 2016. Gucci makeup went quiet until Coty relaunched it in 2019.
Then, in October 2025, Gucci's owner Kering sold its beauty business to L'Oréal for €4 billion, including the right to take over Gucci Beauty. Coty sued the next day. In July 2026, the fight ended with a deal: Kering pays Coty about $400 million to leave a year early. L'Oréal takes over on 1 July 2027, on a 50-year licence.
So right now, Gucci Beauty is being run by a company that's on its way out. Coty's own chief executive described the deal as a way to "focus on our priority brands." Gucci, clearly, is no longer one of them.
The fashion house isn't having an easy time either. Gucci's revenue fell 26% in one quarter of 2024 and was still down 9% in the first half of 2026. Beauty borrows its glamour from the runway. It's hard to sell a lipstick's attitude when the house itself is still finding one.
What's actually working: the perfume
To be fair, Gucci Beauty isn't failing. It's just not what its makeup keeps promising to be.
The money is in fragrance. Bloom, Flora, Guilty and the pricier Alchemist's Garden are steady sellers, and Coty grew Gucci Beauty's revenue by more than 60% since 2019 on the back of them. L'Oréal isn't paying for this licence because of a lipstick.
That's the real identity crisis. Gucci Beauty is a successful perfume brand with a makeup line attached, and the makeup has never been allowed to become one thing long enough to matter.
What it looks like from India
Here, the identity question almost answers itself. Search Gucci on Nykaa Luxe and you'll find 26 beauty products. Every single one is a fragrance, priced from ₹7,450 to ₹14,050. Not one lipstick.
For most Indian shoppers, Gucci Beauty simply is Gucci perfume. The makeup that caused all that noise in 2019 barely exists in their world. And the luxury makeup brands that have arrived here recently are already being called out for shade ranges that skip Indian undertones and bases that don't survive the heat.
What happens next
L'Oréal says it will build "a new multi-billion-euro house" by fusing "Gucci's radical edge" with its own muscle. It's the world's biggest beauty company, so it has the money to do it.
But notice the words. Radical edge was the 2019 idea, the one Gucci already threw away. So which Gucci Beauty is L'Oréal buying? Michele's rebel, De Sarno's minimalist, or whatever Demna does next? Nobody has said. And a 50-year licence is a very long time to keep guessing.
SÉRA's Verdict
Gucci Beauty doesn't have a quality problem. It has a commitment problem. Every few years it falls for a new idea, then leaves it for the next designer. Buy the perfume; that's the one part of Gucci Beauty that knows exactly who it is. Hold off on falling for the makeup until L'Oréal tells us which Gucci it's making. Until then, you're buying into a personality that might not last the year.
