Best Bite : Product Review

I kind of waffled on writing this review, because surprise surprise, this was a limited edition item that I happened to pick up late in the game. It is not available online at this time, but the last time I was in my Sephora, there were a ton of these sets, so if you're interested, I would call and see if they have some (they are a Sephora exclusive).

With that little disclaimer mentioned, I also want to mention that I felt compelled to write this review because I like these pencils so much that I felt like it was good to review them. Also, even though this set is limited edition, Bite Beauty does sell these pencils individually (the set is $25) except for Cranberry, which is exclusive to this kit.

So what comes in this kit? It comes with 4 "matte" (more on this later) lip pencils which are housed in a cute little tin that has a mirror inside. I believe that these pencils are a bit smaller than the regular pencils since the suggested value on this kit is only a smidge more than two regular pencils. 

There is a fairly nice shade range in this kit with a nude shade, a dusty rose, and two brighter, more vibrant colors. If you've ever wondered if you could pull colors like these off, this would definitely be a good intro kit.

The reason I wrote the word matte in quotations up above is because these are marketed as matte, but they aren't true mattes; they do have a bit of a sheen to them and I would describe them more like creams. The colors are extremely pigmented and it only takes on swipe to get the color to show up beautifully on the lips. I've read that some people find these to be drying, but I don't really find that to be the case, at all. I think that these apply incredibly smoothly and stay nice and creamy for hours. Yes, after about 6 hours or so, my lips might be a bit dry, but my lips would be dry after 6 hours anyway if I hadn't applied a balm. 

I like Bite Beauty because of several reasons. First and foremost, every product of theirs that I have tried has been insanely pigmented and shows up the same color as it looks in the tube. They also say that each lipstick has as much reservatrol as 5 glasses of red wine, but that doesn't do much for me. However, they also create their lip sticks using food grade ingredients as mentioned by Sephora here "This product is free of synthetics, polybutenes, and petroleum byproducts and made exclusively with lip nurturing food-grade ingredients that are healthy enough to eat.". 

From left to right: Cranberry, Quince, Rhubarb, and Madeira.

(Ignore that smudge on the left side, this was the last one I applied and I smudge Quince!) Cranberry is a very lovely rich red shade that pulls a little bit cool, but isn't overly pink toned. I have warm undertones, so if a red has a lot of blue in it, it just looks fuchsia on me. Luckily, Cranberry is only a bit blue toned and stays fairly true to red on my skin.

(these next few pictures are out of focus because I'm incompetent...)

Quince is definitely a bold color, but it's very very pretty. Sephora's website describes this as a "rose berry", but I find it to be much bolder than that description. In the photos, it tends to look similar to Cranberry, but Quince is definitely much more pink in real life. I think I would describe this more a darkened magenta but don't let "darkened" fool you, it's a very standout color.

Rhubarb is your standard dusty rose color that for some people will be a MLBB shade. It's a touch too dark for MLBB for me, but it's still a beautiful neutral shade that could be worn with a myriad of looks and is also work appropriate.

Nude shades mostly make me look like a living corpse, but this is one that I feel like I can kind of pull off. It's a little bit more pink than most "nudes" which I guess makes sense since Sephora describes this one as "nude pink". I still practice caution with this since I'm mildly terrified of anything even close to this color, but maybe I'll have to venture into the world of lip gloss and the Kardashians and bust this one out from time to time.

I only have two complaints about these lip pencils and for some, these might be deal breakers. One being that since these shades are so creamy (except for Madeira, which is the most true matte shade in here), that they tend to transfer very easily. This could be remedied by applying, blotting, and then reapplying, but I am lazy, so I tend not to do that. The other complaint is that Cranberry and Quince appeared to feather around the lip line. I have scars and some fine lines around my lips and those two shades definitely try to creep into them. The solution to that is lipliner, which is easy, but I wanted to inform you lovely readers that they can feather!

My verdict on these? Pick these up if you can find them. Yes, the feathering can be a touch annoying, but it's nothing compared to the pigmentation and feeling of these lip products!