I picked up two of the Bite Beauty French Press Lip Glosses ($22 each for 15 oz/4.3 g, made in Canada) in Salted Caramel and Dirty Chai and liked the colors so much I decided to buy the remaining four. The French Press Lip Glosses are coffee scented sheer glosses that have a cream finish. The coffee scent is actually pleasant to me, it’s like a soft sweet coffee scent and it’s not overpowering or heavy. After testing these for a few days I feel like this is both a hit and miss at the same time. Colors are really amazing, formula is something I think could be better.
There are six shades total, all coffee-inspired ranging from a light beige to deep brown. Colors include:
- Flat White is a pale cool cream pink
- Vanilla Latte is a creamy beige
- Salted Caramel is a medium pink beige
- Dirty Chai is a pink rose
- French Press is a medium brown
- Black Coffee is a deep brown plum
The texture is smooth and not sticky. It feels comfortable and moderately hydrating on the lips. Color-payoff and finish is where I think this gloss could be improved. Both Flat White and Black Coffee settled into lip lines and looked really patchy. Even with extra blending I found I couldn’t make them look right. Vanilla Latte worked better for me and I found it moderately streaky. I could smooth it out by swiping the sponge applicator back and forth. However after around 15 minutes I found it settled into fine lines on my lips. To fix the streaking issue I had to layer with a lip pencil, which seemed to fix it 100%. I tested these with some MAC Lip Pencils and Laura Mercier Lip Pencils and the final result was much better.
The remaining three colors Salted Caramel, Dirty Chai and French Press have a better formula for me. I found they worked well alone on bare lips, but adding a lip pencil improves the overall look and lasting power.
Lasting power overall is average. It stays put but does fade within a few hours so I did need to reapply. I think there are better options out there including the Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipstick which has better coverage and lasting power, although they are thicker and more opaque. If you need something lightweight Chanel Rouge Coco Glosses are smooth and sheer. I also really like the NARS Velvet Lip Glides and the Pat McGrath LUST Glosses.
Swatch comparisons to MAC Lipglass in C-Thru, NARS Velvet Lip Glides in Stripped and Swing, Bite Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipstick in Caramelized and Whip, Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipsticks in Honeycomb, Molasses, Chai and Verbena:
All this said, if you look at the customer reviews at Sephora, they’re overwhelmingly positive. For me Salted Caramel and Dirty Chai worked the best and I’m happy with those picks. The rest of the colors are so pretty but I found the formula somewhat lacking due to the settling into fine lines and streaky application. I’m willing to make the extra effort to make the other colors work, but with all the options on the market these days I think a formula should be excellent as is without any extra tweaking required.
A few shots in direct sunlight:
Bottom line I’m conflicted about my thoughts. Colors are great, formula could be a lot better. I can make them work with a little lip liner added. I don’t know that I would say it’s worth the extra effort especially with all the other options out there, but I do know many people like these.
Also shown in top photo for those curious: Lipstick Holder from Container Store, Small Mirror by simplehuman, Agave Lip Mask in Champagne, Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipstick in Whip, Byredo Perfume in Blanche.
You can find the Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss at Sephora and Bite Beauty. If you’re shopping at Sephora don’t forget today is the last day of their Beauty Insider Appreciation Event! You can use promo code once online, but you can use it in stores an unlimited amount of times. Valid in both US and Canada:
- Rouge Members: 20% off with code YESROUGE, valid 8/24 through 9/3
- VIB Members: 15% off with code YESVIB, valid 8/30 through 9/3
- Beauty Insiders: 10% off with code YESINSIDER, valid 8/30 through 9/3
Have you tried these yet? What did you think?
