Review: BITE Beauty Vivid Luminous Créme Lipstick Duo
So, this isn't actually the first one of these BITE Beauty duos that I bought. I actually bought the other one that Sephora has on offer first, but one side of it broke literally the first time I tried to put it on... which is a bummer, because it's two really gorgeous nude shades. I won't dwell on that, however, because I'm going to exchange it (hopefully) and I'll do a review of it then.
For now, let's talk about this duo - Palomino and Violet.
Now, if you know anything about me, you know that I absolutely love purple lipstick. It's pretty much my latest obsession and I'm drawn to it in many shades. When I saw this, I absolutely had to have it. I'd actually heard really good things from The Internet about the Palomino shade, but I don't know if I would have bought this duo if it wasn't for Violet. So. Gorgeous.
Keep reading for more of my thoughts.
There are a few cool things about BITE that I really like. The first is that it's Toronto based, which I really like. I'm hoping that the company continues to be Canadian and doesn't sell out to an American or Overseas company. Another cool thing is that BITE uses natural, food grade ingredients in all of their products. When you think about how much of what we put on our lips we end up consuming, that definitely sounds like a "Duh, why isn't that required for all lipsticks?" kind of idea, doesn't it? Granted, I doubt anyone thinks that taking a big bite of their lipstick is a good idea, but you could without having to worry.
So. From jump, we like BITE. As far as I can tell so far, BITE is my kind of company. AND all of my experiences with their products have been positive, even their lip plumper - which I was terrified was going to be similar to the Too Faced tortureplumper. It wasn't, it was lovely. All of the colour products that I've tried so far have been really beautiful.
I love the packaging of pretty much all of the BITE products that I've seen. This sleek charcoal tube is similar in size to a standard stick lip balm, if about a half inch longer. The BITE logo appears on the packaging but doesn't at all interrupt the beautiful simplicity of the packaging. The lids fit tightly and feel sturdy enough that I have no concerns about tossing this into my purse (Unlike some other lip products that I could name. Ahem.) Each end of the box that you purchase the lipstick duo in is the colour of one side of the stick and the pictures on this particular box are pretty dead on. I say this particular box because the same cannot be said for the nude duo packaging, but more on that in the future.
Long story short, the packaging on this is definitely a win in my book.
Palomino & Violet
Can we take a moment to bask in the absolute gorgeousness of these two colours? Both are just incredibly bright, vibrant summer colours that somehow manage to be incredibly wearable - which I can attest can be a very hard to thing to find. Also, I feel like these are colours that defy age and that any woman could pull them off. But let's take a look at the colours individually.
Palomino
This is one of the two shades that I'd heard about before I purchased any of the BITE lipsticks for myself. It's described as a "vibrant magenta" and I'd say that's pretty bang on. This is definitely in the berry family, somewhere smack in between red and purple.
Violet
PURPLE. I love this shade. I want a full size of this in my life right now. I want to wear it every day until it drives me crazy and I take a vacation in nude land. I love it. When it comes to the colour, I would say that it, too, rides that line of being somewhere very much in the middle of blue and red. I'd say that it plays very well with Radiant Orchid colour of the year trend. It's beautiful.
Formula
Seriously, everything that I've heard about the formula of BITE Beauty lip products is true for this duo. The pigmentation is so incredible that there was a definite staining effect on both my lips and on my arm where I did the swatches below. The feel when you first apply almost feels like it's going to be a little too slippery for the brightness of the pigmentation and like it's going to end up all over your face, but the crazy thing is that it doesn't. At all. At application, there's a lot of creamy shine on the lips and that lingers quite nicely, but after the shine fades you're still left with really incredible colour on the lips that lasts and lasts. (And if the lip smacker herself is saying that, it has to be true.) Also, I don't find this formula drying at all.
Palomino
This is one of the two shades that I'd heard about before I purchased any of the BITE lipsticks for myself. It's described as a "vibrant magenta" and I'd say that's pretty bang on. This is definitely in the berry family, somewhere smack in between red and purple.
Violet
PURPLE. I love this shade. I want a full size of this in my life right now. I want to wear it every day until it drives me crazy and I take a vacation in nude land. I love it. When it comes to the colour, I would say that it, too, rides that line of being somewhere very much in the middle of blue and red. I'd say that it plays very well with Radiant Orchid colour of the year trend. It's beautiful.
Formula
Seriously, everything that I've heard about the formula of BITE Beauty lip products is true for this duo. The pigmentation is so incredible that there was a definite staining effect on both my lips and on my arm where I did the swatches below. The feel when you first apply almost feels like it's going to be a little too slippery for the brightness of the pigmentation and like it's going to end up all over your face, but the crazy thing is that it doesn't. At all. At application, there's a lot of creamy shine on the lips and that lingers quite nicely, but after the shine fades you're still left with really incredible colour on the lips that lasts and lasts. (And if the lip smacker herself is saying that, it has to be true.) Also, I don't find this formula drying at all.
Value
Each duo is priced at CAD$15 at Sephora. At first, when I saw the size of each lipstick, I felt like it probably wasn't a good value, but it actually is. Each end of the duo is 1.55g of product for a total of 3.1g. A full size Luminous Créme Lipstick is 3.69g of product and retails for CAD$28. If I'm doing the math correctly (And I think that I am, but not with enough certainty to put money on it) that means that the value of this duo is CAD$23.50. Not bad, right? Plus, I feel like there's added value when you're someone who hasn't actually finished an entire lipstick in the last decade and you're getting two shades in one.
One Beef...
I'm going to include something about the other duo, because this is a problem with both of the ones that I have. I know, I know. These duos are limited edition, but still... In each duo, there's one shade that I absolutely adore. In this one, it's obviously Violet and in the other it's Lychee. Cool, right? With these small sizes, I'll probably use up my favorites a little more quickly. The part that bums me out? Neither of the shades that I love come in a full size, at least not in the permanent collection. While there are products with both of those shade names, neither of them are lipsticks and they are definitely not the same shade. That, my friends, is a piss off and a half. Now, I guess I'll have to conserve them or desperately seek dupes for both formula and colour. Unlikely, indeed.
My one beef aside, I'm a bit obsessed with these lipsticks and can't wait for a good summer night out to really let these lipsticks shine.
Verdict: WIN WIN WIN and a half.
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