Goodbye, Bite Beauty!
Three weeks ago, I shared my feelings on Bite Beauty’s rebrand–and that nothing seemed to go right–and uh, I guess that was really more of a post-mortem since Bite Beauty officially announced they are shutting down today. You can read about all of the many reasons why the rebrand seemed to go poorly for a deeper discussion on the brand and how it didn’t come as a surprise that they are closing for good.
I have been waiting for an announcement of yet another rebrand or that they were closing, as all signs pointed toward them doing something drastic. Last week, they made adjustments to their affiliate program terms that suggested closure, and then they gave a heads up (that was embargoed until today) that all products would be 50% off through June 30th. As you might expect, all products are final sale.
In a way, I already said goodbye to Bite Beauty. The rebrand did not strike me as promising (I loathe ‘clean beauty’ and never liked that they were leaning into it), and when products came out, nothing made me fall in love with the brand again, only more and more disappointed over time. I’m still sad over the loss of the products from before the rebrand, LOL!
Nonetheless, I’d like to thank Bite Beauty for:
- Once putting out blackened lipstick shades like Kale and Squid.
- For having some of the prettiest, shifty duochrome glosses that ever existed – that I actually bought backups of during the prior rebrand
- For that delicious maple-scented Lip Mask that I wish I had more of
- And the pleasant folks that I’ve interacted with over the years at the Bite Beauty HQ!
Bite Beauty’s Lip Labs will remain in business, so should you want to mix up a custom lipstick when you’re near a location, you’ll still be able to do that!
Oh those glosses! I miss them so much! And the original agave lip mask. Sorry to see they’re closing, but the rebrand didn’t really get traction with me.
Oh Bite, you should’ve stuck with what made your brand great. Too bad rebranding cost everything in the end.
If this were the Bite of yesteryear, I’d be devastated. But now – bye.
You’ve stated it exactly, Sarah. They should have stuck with what they were best at AND it is hard to feel bad about the shut-down now as there was little in the past 5 or more years to be excited about.
Exactly.
Thanks as always for your thoughtful post Christine. I’m interested to hear your reasoning on why you don’t like the “clean beauty” trend. I haven’t ever wanted to cut out products that work well for me. But I have many friends who switched to all “clean” products. Thanks!
“Clean beauty” is typically built on fear-mongering, pseudo-science, and is fraught with even more dubious claims/marketing than normal, imo.
Michelle (Lab Muffin) has a great write-up about it – https://labmuffin.com/clean-beauty-is-wrong-and-wont-give-us-safer-products/
Christine, you are absolutely right about the “clean beauty” craze. Lab Muffin’s article is spot-on as well. The whole skin care industry has been rife with unsubstantiated claims for many years, so it’s no surprise clean beauty got hyped so much. As a beauty user and a Chemist it just makes me want to scream about all the misinformation!
I felt like before we were dealing with over the top claims, you know, like this will turn back time by 20 years, but now I feel like the marketing used by clean beauty brands really is particularly manipulative and far more based on misinformation/bad studies than what we tended to see before 🙁
Trends like “clean beauty” are one of my pet peeves. It really is just a marketing scam that preys upon the inclinations of the consumer to want to be a good citizen and to do good by the environment. It also is a way of fear mongering to imply that unless you use “clean” products you are putting “dirty” products into your body or on your skin or into the environment. This is marketing at its absolute worst.
Love your thoughts on this!
Clean is fear mongering. Clean does not exist. There are no dirty and Clean brands.
The part that bothers me most about clean beauty is that it bashes the use of preservatives that are necessary to keep products fresh and safe. If they are not present, or are less effective versions, products are more likely to expire quickly or have bacteria. I would much rather have safe products with well-tested preservatives than products that waste my money by going bad in a few months, or risk an infection.
I was one of the diehard Bite fans before they went vegan. I loved their lipstick and had all the lip masks- the maple! The candy cane! So good! Then they went vegan and I have it a chance and it didn’t even remotely compare to the previous. And that upset me. They catered to vegan fans and lost their original fans. Then they stopped making what made them special- the lipsticks and when they did- instead of a nice, creamy formula we were given more matte crap. Disappointed! But back in the day they were incredible!
Sad to say this, but I’m not surprised in the least. Was hoping for a hail Mary last minute rescusitation. But, nothing. The moment that they did the whole vegan, “clean” beauty thing and axed their entire lipstick an gloss line without a SOLID replacement for same, they were DOA. My only regret is that I didn’t buy much more of their stellar lip products, but I thought there’d be more time.
If this were 3 years ago I’d be devastated, but I have neither been interested in nor bought anything since they rebranded, and I won’t even mourn the loss. I’m not even interested in their deeply discounted product. Bye, Bite Beauty. To think of all that could have been…
I would be sad but I already mourned them. I guess they couldn’t make a come back happen.
Oh how sad….though to be honest, BITE hasn’t been part of my makeup life since they got rid of their “bullet” lipsticks 5 or more years ago. I still treasure the BITE lipsticks I have (and their VIBRouge one – a tiny “VIB gift” – remains one of the best reds every and even though it’s on the matte side, I find it comfortable and wearable). This is so sad, though – a brand that was a solid winner and, like BECCA, just doing itself in (oh, and I got 2 tubes of MAC Craving today…I was tempted to get maybe half a dozen but the reality is that lipstick – unlike powder products – does have a limited life, even in storage!)
They carried both my favorite lipsticks of all time as well as my favorite lip balm – it’s so sad to see it turn out this way. 🙁
That’s a nice obituary you gave the brand, very nice. I only ever bought the lip mask. Becca, Bite. It’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop. My guess and what I’ve heard vaguely is on its last leg is It Cosmetics.
Oh gosh – I hope not! If that is the case, I’d better stock up on their concealer and CC cream!
I totally agree. So many products have been destroyed by the so-called clean beauty trend. It is a sham. I’ve been in this industry for years and it’s just a marketing tool sadly. It cosmetics only made it due to QVC and their loyal followings. Don’t know one person that uses their products anymore. Their brushes are so overpriced it’s ridiculous even though I have them all until I realized that they really were no better than drug store brands. Next on the chopping list is probably two-faced. I will say though they’re complexion products are/were legit
I DO! I DO!!! I still rely on several products from IT – the concealer, CC cream, Bye Bye Redness (that is a fabulous product) and a wonderful LE or DC’d face palette I got from them years ago that contained a blush, bronzer and all over face/finishing powder. It was wonderful but only available briefly and, perhaps, only on the Canadian Shopping Channel and its US counterpart. Most of the brushes I have from them are wonderful too. They all came in “deals” from TSC as that used to be the only place IT was available and the special deals from TSC made them very affordable and it also exposed me to products I wouldn’t otherwise have tried. I think when Jodi Kern, who started the company, basically sold it to a large conglomerate, the company went down-hill, trying to launch too many products. I sure hope they don’t fold, though!
Ooops, Jamie, not Jodi!
Interesting. With their “HG” status for many on the CC cream I would not expect IT Cosmetics to be going anywhere. They are still regularly talked about in YT videos and blogs positively (for their older products… the newer ones don’t fare quite as well). What have you heard that makes it seem that they are on their last leg?
Oh God I hope IT doesn’t fold! Their CC cream and under eye concealer are absolute holy grails for me…
I hate it when they cut their own throats.
Brenda, you’ve basically summed it all up in a very few concise words!
this is my saddest makeup loss since OCC shut down (though, like a lot of people, I hadn’t bought anything since their rebrand and pretty much already considered them gone). it was so nice to be able to get bold and fun lip colors with a great formula from a “mainstream” brand at sephora 🙁
Sad, but not sad.
Had it been Bite Beauty from before, I would have been sad, but now, no, not so much.
The only thing I’m actually sad about is that back when I so wanted to buy from them, they didn’t ship internationally, they started to when I no longer had any interest in their products.
So, Good Bye to the hope of getting Kale, a lipstick I’ve wanted since I first saw the photos here.
Good Bye, Bite Beauty!
Their original formulas were so special…honestly, I never forgave them for discontinuing them in favor of the vegan “stuff” (crap). In a way I think they deserved to go out of business for ignoring customer opinion. I’m sure they saw all the negative feedback the vegan formulas received but chose not to heed it. Oh well….
I’m not at all surprised, but also very sad by this. Bite used to be my favorite lip brand and while I still have plenty of lipstick from them to choose from, i’m very sad in particular that they no longer make the shades Musk and Glace, as they were my absolute favorites.
I loved every product I ever tried from them, prior to rebranding, My holy grail lip liner was #40, thank goodness I bought backups, although they’re gone now too, I hope that they will return someday perhaps under a new name but with the formulas for the original products we knew and came to love.
They had the best lip products out there. But they jumped on the wrong bandwagon, and in the end it felt like they didn’t care about the loyal customers that made them successful in the first place.
COVID and masking had to be a big blow, too. It’s a damn shame.
The only thing surprising about this is how protracted the brand’s demise has been. I feel like they’ve been teetering on the edge for YEARS. They really killed themselves with the reformulations/rebrand.
Well, I guess that’s the beauty of being part of Kendo / LVMH… plenty of cash to burn, lol.
I’m with you on everything you said. I LOATHE the “clean beauty” buzz-phrase that advertising companies managed to push in to the beauty sphere as if it’s a real, concrete standard and not just *words*. When Bite came out with their “vegan, clean” beauty that was chock full of silicones? *lol* No, no thank you, ma’am. I have a brain that functions. It takes a little more than catchphrases and foundation-less fearmongering to brainwash me.
Pre-the rebranding….I had a like/loathe relationship with the original lipsticks. I bought in to the hype that they were amazing, I still have some (they’re fine!), but actually they’re not a formula I’d reach for when looking at my collection. I found them to be heavy, waxy, sticky, tough to apply evenly, smeared more than any other cream lipstick I have, and I hate the lemony smell. But the addition of Kale and Squid?? I never did pick up Squid, but Kale? Heck, yeah, it’s absolutely beautiful and I still drag it out. Though, at this point, the formula is a little stringy feeling (to be fair it’s from before the rebranding years so….).
I have 2(!!!!!) Maple lip masks unopened in my backup stash for when I finish the currently open one. That makes me feel very rich, and very sad, indeed. Lanolin is a holy grail for my lips. It works better than any oil, petrolatum, wax, etc… and I should thank Bite Beauty for letting me know that. So now I can buy a $11 2 ounce tub of golden lanolin once a year and use it judiciously.
I think someone who wasn’t so easily swayed by the noise of popular social media outlets could swoop in and set themselves up a very nice little business with all of Bite’s old offerings.