Bite Beauty is a relatively new Canadian lipstick brand that emerged in 2011. As of right now, the brand is sold exclusively at Sephora or if you are in New York, you can make an appointment to visit their Lip Lab. The company was founded on the premise that “you eat what you put on your lips so your lipstick should be good for you” and the brand markets their products as being organic, food grade, all natural and antioxidant rich.

Bite Beauty has a pretty extensive line up of products but I thought I would share my thoughts on what I’ve collected from the brand so far.

With the exception of the Agave Lip Masks, all of the products that I am going to talk about have the same scent. It’s a slightly clean scent but it reminds me a little bit of bathroom cleanser. I despise it actually although I’ve heard many other people say that they enjoy the smell.

Bite For VIB Rouge

top swatch is a single swipe and the bottome swatch is built up to maximum opacity

I can’t remember which Sephora promotion this came with (possibly this was the “welcome gift” for reaching VIB Rouge status) but this shade is really beautiful and quite possibly my favorite of the Bite Beauty color products that I own.

This is the Luminous Creme finish so it’s quite slick and I get approximately an hour of wear before it needs touching up. I don’t have too much trouble with bleeding on this shade which is surprising for a red.

Plum – From the Frozen Berries Collection (LE 2015)

top swatch is a single swipe and bottom swatch is built to maximum opacity

Plum over MAC Currant Lip Liner and a thin layer of Agave Lip Mask

Flower Beauty Lip & Cheek Chubby “Raising The Roof”, L’oreal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer – as a highlight, e.l.f. tone correcting powder “Cool”, L’Oreal 24H Mascara

Plum worn alone (after exfoliating)

Flower Beauty Creme Eyeshadows (a combination of a few of them that I forgot to write down), elf tone correcting powder, Flower Cheek stick “Raising the roof”, Wet n Wild “Fair Trade Coffee” – highlight

I adore this shade but I abhor the formula. This is just a patchy mess and there’s no two ways about it. You can see in the swatch where I wore it alone how badly it clung to dry patches (that I didn’t even know I still had!). When I tried to wear it again I had to wear it over lip balm and liner to counteract some of the patchiness. It’s a shame because this is totally my shade.

I get around 45 minutes of wear before I start forming a weird ring of color on the inner lip. Not really a great look.

As of the end of November, I can’t find this on the US Sephora site, although it IS listed on the Canadian site.

Luminous Creme Lipstick Duo in Fig and Date

L’oreal Magic Lumi Concealer as a base, from the LORAC Unzipped Palette: “Undercover” – highlight/blending, “Unconditional” – transition, Darling Girl Glitter Glue on the lid, Aromaleigh Fatalis Collection from the inner corner to the outer corner: “Nerium Oleander”,”Amanita muscaria”, “Phyllobates terribilis”, Leirus quinquestriatus”, “Chironex fleckeri”, “Atropa belladonna”, Rimmel eyeliner “Nude” – waterline, Jordana Best Lash Extreme mascara, Nuance Shape and Define Brow Kit “Medium Blond”, FACE: Garnier roller concealer, Revlon Photoready Blush “Flushed”, Diorskin Nude powder, elf tone correcting powder and NARS “Laguna”

EYES: L’oreal Magic Lumi concealer as primer, Wet n Wild “Brulee” – blending/highlight, MAC “Uninterupted” – transition, Aromaleigh “Phoneutria Nigriventer” – lid, Rimmel eyeliner “Black” – upper lash line and tightline, Jordana mascara

Both Fig and Date are lovely colors but I find them slightly irritating (dang sensitive skin!). They aren’t really drying in the way that a matte lipstick is drying but after a full day of wearing either of them, my lips are irritated and dry and a little itchy. I’ll touch on this at the end of the post when we talk about ingredients.

As far as wear time goes, they both wear fairly similarly. They feel good for about an hour but after about 40 minutes I’m left with just a ring of lipstick around the edges of my lips.

I would also like to make a note that on this duo and the red duo, one of the bullets actually fell out so they are quite fragile.

This particular duo is no longer available but the other color combinations retail for $14.00

Luminous Creme Lipstick Duo in Scarlet and Poppy

EYES: Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer, Hard Candy “Birthday Suit Palette” – used various shades for blending, highlight and transition, Darling Girl Glitter Glue, Aromaleigh “Helleborus niger” – lid,Rimmel eyeliner “Nude” – waterline, Jordana mascara, Milani Stay Put Brow Color “03 Medium Brown”, FACE: L’oreal True Match Lumi foundation “W3 Nude Beige”, Nars “Laguna”, MAC “Melba”, Colour Pop “Monster”, Diorskin Nude powder

My notes from my wear test: “Smooth, opaque and comfy. For the first hour it is perfection” I get slight fading at around an hour and a half and I DO experience bleeding if this isn’t worn with a lip liner. As the day goes on and additional layers are applied, it loses that super smooth feeling and gains a slightly grainy texture.

EYES: L’oreal Magic Lumi Concealer as primer, Wet n Wild “Brulee” – blending and highlight, MAC “Cork” – transition, DGGG, Aromaleigh “Hapochlaena lunulata” – lid, Jordana mascara, Nuance brow powder, FACE: Garnier roller concealer, Flower Beauty “Raisin the Roof” cream blush, Nars “Laguna”, Colour Pop “Monster”, Diorskin Nude Powder, elf tone correcting powder

Similarly to the Plum shade, Scarlet also applies fairly patchy and clings to dry patches. To some extent, this is a common problem with really dark shades, however, it IS possible to create a dark vampy shade that ISN’T streaky as hell so I’m not really inclined to cut any slack in this department.

I get around an hour of wear time out of this lipstick before it starts really settling into lines and breaking down in the center of the lip.

This particular duo is no longer available but the other color combinations retail for $14.00

High Pigment Pencil in Corvina

Everything about this shade really messes with the white balance in cameras. This is NOT a pastel.

this is SO MUCH BRIGHTER in real life. And less red. It’s basically neon orange but I’ve tried photographing this shade in swatches, on the lips, in the bullet, different lighting different days…basically it’s so bright it can’t be captured on “film”.

Again…this is a much brighter orange in real life.

I apologize for this photo. If I weren’t so incredibly lazy, I would go take another photo of a full face with this lip color but alas, I am comfortably ensconced on my couch with coffee so it’s not going to happen.

I have no idea what on earth possessed me to buy this lip product. It is SO. FREAKING. BRIGHT. I can’t even explain. When I put it on my entire face just disappears and I’m a single pair of neon orange lips. Maybe some day I’ll get brave enough to wear this out but I think it’s kind of a long shot.

The plus side of this product is that this is actually the most pigmented lip product that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I wouldn’t mind trying a different shade of this lip pencil.

The down side of that kind of pigmentation is that I can’t even blot this down or apply it at a more shear opacity. It has one speed and that speed is totally extreme.

Retails for $24.00

Agave Lip Masks in Natural and Champagne

OK so this isn’t a lipstick. But I did wear this all day on Monday and I feel it’s worth a mention. I keep a tube of the original Agave Lip Mask by my bed to use at night and I LOVE it. I feel that the Champagne shade isn’t quite as comforting but it’s still pretty darn good. I often will switch from lipstick in the morning to Lip Mask in the afternoon if I’m having a particularly difficult time with dry lips (which is often). This is a really thick formula so not everyone will love it but it’s not sticky so it doesn’t bother me.

These two little beauties are by far the best things from Bite Beauty. I have chronically dry lips but if I use the Agave Lip Mask before bed at night, they will be just fine in the morning. So many lip balms seem to make my lips MORE dry or at the very best, only provide a waxy coat over my lips, but the Agave masks really do improve the health of my lips. I have now typed the word lips so many times that it doesn’t look like a real word any more.

If you’re only going to get one lip mask (there is also a red tinted one that I keep lusting after), I would say go with the original “Natural” one. It feels more moisturizing and if you’re going to wear these in the day time, the Champagne doesn’t really add enough color or sparkle to make a huge difference.

These lip masks ARE a very thick consistency so if that’s not your thing, be forewarned about that. It doesn’t bother me at all though.

The Agave masks also smell and taste like agave which is delightful.

I have gone through one tube of the Natural lip mask and re-purchased a new one. They do last for ages, I believe it took me over a year to go through a whole tube and I do use this every day.

Retails for $26.00

Brand Claims

Each Bite lipstick is infused with the age-fighting
antioxidant resveratrol—the equivalent
of five glasses of wine.

-from the Sephora website

According to Wikipedia, there is roughly .40-2.0mg/l resveratrol in a glass of Pinot Noir. I’m just going to say that the benefits of resveratrol in general seem to be fairly controversial and leave it at that.

Here are the ingredients in the Luminous Creme Lipstick in Fig:

-5 Mg Trans-Resveratrol: From vitis vinifera and polygonum cuspidatum.

Organic Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil**, Organic Cera Alba (Beeswax)**, Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil**, Organic Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter**, Triisostearyl Citrate* (Vegetable-Derived), Organic Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil**, Acacia Decurrens Wax*, Jojoba Wax*, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Wax*, Polyglyceryin-3*, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax*, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil*, Organic Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil**, Organic Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax**, Silica*, Natural Flavor*, Trans-Resveratrol*, Vitis Vinefera (Grapeseed) Oil*, Siraitia Grosvenori (Monk Fruit)*. May Contain: Mica (Ci 77019)*, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891)*, Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499)*, Carmine (Ci 75470)*, Fd&C Blue No. 1 (Ci 42090), Fd&C Yellow No. 5 (Ci 19140), Fd&C Yellow No. 6 (Ci 15985), Fd&C Red No. 40 (Ci 16035), D&C Red 6 (Ci 15850), D&C Red 7 (Ci 15850), Manganese Violet (Ci 77742)*. *Natural. **Certified organic.

There are actually a handful of ingredients that can be irritants but all of those dye’s at the end are not actually things that are “organic” or “natural” and a few of them score in the yellow zone on CoSDNA.

Now does that really matter in the grand scheme of things? Not really. But it rubs me the wrong way. It also explains why a few of these products cause irritation for me. Chances are they won’t irritate YOU but for me, some of these ingredients make life a little uncomfortable.

Overall my general impression of the brand is that their products are nice enough but they are at a higher price point and for most of these, I just don’t feel that the price tag is warranted. I also feel like this whole brand gets quite a bit of positive attention and I think that they are a little over hyped. That being said, you can pry my lip mask out of my cold dead hands. I will keep repurchasing forever. I will also say that they have some truly lovely shades in a variety of different finishes. But so do lots of other brands.

Do you have anything from Bite Beauty? If so I’d love to know your thoughts! I know most reviews I read are absolute rave reviews so I may very well be the odd woman out on this.