Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick Review, Photos, Swatches
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick ($36.00 for 0.15 oz.) is described as a “deep burgundy with red undertone.” It’s a medium-dark red with warm, brown undertones and a luminous finish. Tom Ford Beauty Pavlos (LE, $32.00) is warmer. MAC Runner (LE, $16.00) is more matte, cooler-toned, darker. Tom Ford Beauty Velvet Cherry (08) (P, $50.00) is more matte, lighter. NARS Bette (P, $32.00) is a smidgen lighter. NARS Jeanne (P, $32.00) is lighter, warmer. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Since brands have really embraced the whole “let’s release a way more expensive version and call it luxury” over the past year or so, I think it’s important that brands do it right–that’s the least they can do–and Bite gets it really wrong here. Bite Beauty’s Luminous Creme formula (which has the exact same packaging) retails for $24 for 0.15 oz., which makes this luxury formula 50% more expensive. Huge fan of the Luminous Creme formula and other lip products by Bite, but I really couldn’t feel anything different in this “better” formula, and worse, it under-performed, period. It had semi-opaque color coverage that goes on unevenly with visible streaks and patchiness, while the formula is unforgiving and pulls into lip lines. I had feathering, which is unusual for me, after two hours, and the color was mostly gone after four and a half hours. The consistency had a lot of slip (a little more than their regular formula), but it was also thin, which I think made it shorter-wearing. It didn’t stain, which was also a surprise, given the darkness of the color. It was only somewhat hydrating, but it didn’t seem as moisturizing as their standard formula. The extra kick in the pants was that it had a strong, waxy scent and lemony-soap taste.
You would think that to kick off a 12-month long limited edition release party, they would have come out with guns blazing and given us something to covet, but this was disappointing and you’re far better off looking to their Luminous Creme formula for a better-performing, longer-wearing, and more pigmented option. The packaging should have reflected the up-charge, and the formula should have been near perfection, especially since their Luminous Creme formula is excellent, so there’s no excuse for this under-performing release. Bite can do a lot better.
One last annoyance was that the bottom wasn’t labeled with any name or number, so you might want to mark it!
#001
LELimited Edition. $36.00.
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Bite Beauty #001 Creme Deluxe Lipstick
Omg Christine! You’re amazing. Thank you for saving me from this “luxury limited edition” ridiculousness!!! I was so upset that I missed out and now, I’m so thankful! 😀
No problem, Bonnie!! They really didn’t put their best foot forward 🙁
It’s such a shame that this doesn’t live up to the expectations 🙁
🙁
It’s such a lovely shade. It looks very good on you I have to say.
Thanks, Nicole!
expected more from this.
Me too!
Too bad about Bite messing this up. The shade looks beautiful on you though! I just got mine and it also bleeds like crazy on me (and I am not prone to that). Bite should use the Luminous Creme formula for the next batches because it’s likely that most of their customers who bought this first lipstick thought it was going to be like the Luminous Creme lipstick – creamy, moisturizing, opaque in one swipe. Sadly this Creme Deluxe formula is a fail. In fact I’m surprised they didn’t just stick to their Luminous Creme formula for this shade! Why mess with a tried and true thing, you know?
The luxury formula (as far as I understand) is offered at the Bite Beauty lab, but it’s so much more expensive than their standard base formula so I wonder how many people have actually used it prior. I thought it was risky to do a burgundy in what is a more slippery formula usually as their first shade, but I was hopeful that maybe they had perfected it. No such luck!
Ah! See I’ve mixed a custom at the Lab before and it was 36, but I used the regular creme formula. I guess this is supposed to be like the luxe formula but not custom. Thanks! I indeed had no idea they had a 50-dollar formula. Just a weird campaign that could’ve been handled much better. At that price point it has to be great and compare to NARS Audacious, YSL, Givenchy, etc and ensure you’re getting top quality. Or one could get a Guerlain KissKiss or save up for a Rouge G.
Yes, $48 was shocking! I was like, “No wonder nobody talks about this formula,” LOL!
At this standard, I may as well go w Nars. IMO, Nars has better packaging anyway. Shame on Bite.
The NARS Audacious shade is VERY similar and applies better – plus $4 cheaper.
Such a pretty colour but the rest is disappointing! Such a shame!
Agreed!
This whole promotion puts me off. The 36 dollar tag is the cost of making your own custom lipstick at the Bite Lab. While the 12 shades are going to be super LE, they are not custom shades that we get to make ourselves so why on earth is it priced and advertised that way? I’d get pricing these somewhere between the custom and regular price.
If you go to the Bite Beauty lab info (http://bitebeauty.com/blog/lip-lab-2/), the Deluxe formula starts at $48, whereas the standard seems to be more like $36. It looks like there is a $12 amount that goes towards the custom mixing portion!
Haha whoops, put my response to you in another thread 😛 Thanks for the info on the Luxe formula. I’d only ever experienced the regular creme custom.
I can’t help but still love it! I really love that Bite is doing this 12-month release too, I think that’s awesome.
Hopefully next month’s is better!
I feel like that is where they are trying to get consumers by only making so many.You can’t see reviews beforehand. I said” no” to it when I saw the price and the “LE” in my mind. It just seems unfair to introduce a formula that no one has seen before and expect people to snatch it before it’s gone.
Its a lovely colour, I think I’ll get the NARS dupe 🙂
It is very similar for color + finish!
My exact same thoughts Christine. The oackage was exactly the same, no luxuriois detail yo it, the formula worse than the regular one, and the color bori g, unremarkable with no real complexity and far warmer than I expected. Very dissapointing.
You can’t tack on $10+ to lipstick and then not DO something that merits it. Even if slight, but if you make it worse, it can shatter consumer confidence in your products!
I think it has been a long time since you’ve bestowed such scathing a commentary on a brand (that you’ve liked, in the past) and I do agree that they have it coming – they cannot slap a premium price on substandard products, pull the wool over consumers’ eyes and pray that their marketing shenanigans slip under the radar of critics like you, who are able to frankly point out the shortcomings of a marketing / product campaign.
This rating was a shame, but then, so was the product. Bite Beauty thoroughly deserves their C this time round.
It’s funny, because had this been their regular Luminous Creme line, it would have been a C, but it would be a more run of the mill, “this is disappointing” review. I am just really tired of the trend of taking a regular product (eyeshadow, lipstick, etc.) and then creating a “new” one and just tacking on 30-50% more, in general, but particularly when there is hardly any difference to be noted.
oh too bad. if i only looked at the pictures, i’d be glad i purchased it. it’s a great color and it looks beautiful on you! of course we all rushed to buy it the first day, and i think it sold out that day, but i’ll be a lot more cautious with Bite Beauty LE v. 2 in Feb. Shame on you, BB!
It sold out in HOURS! So fast. But a lot were disappointed 🙁
That rating is a fast cure to my hung up! It was gone too fast when they release it. Did they make like 100 only? lol. But sad though it’s underperforming. Hmmm lip product is starting low this year. Eye and contour palettes are coming on strong!
They probably made a few thousand, but it definitely sold very quickly!
I spoke to a staff member at Sephora in Toronto and she told me that Bite Beauty made only made 250 lipsticks of this batch. I hope next month’s will be better but I am not holding my breath…
I’m kinda excited it’s awful because it’s completely unavailable where I am. I might have cried had it lived up to my expectations AND was unavailable.
Now I’m gonna feel vindicated for like thirty more seconds until I find another lemming.
lol!
I feel like I got a different lipstick than everyone else?? Mine doesn’t have a ton of slip, stains for ages, but does get a little lip liney. I’m not sure it was worth the money, but I have gotten compliments every time I wear it…. Shame it’s not good for everyone!! I’ll still be stalking for next month’s release.
Good to hear someone got a better one 🙂
Totally agree on this one. I probably would have given it a B or B- but you’re totally justified in a C. The color is so stunning, really gorgeous, and unusual (most like this seem to have a purple undertone). But I got bleeding (rare for me) and patchiness. Add in the price hike and no way….
I’m really surprised they went with this as their first release… I’m sure plenty will give February’s shade another shot, and then you’ll have those who missed January wanting to get February. If they keep dropping the ball, though, I’m not sure they can count on selling out in a day!
Totally agree. I jumped at this one but I’m taking a pass on the next. Too many other wonderful options…
Yeah..so won’t be jumping on the next ones.. January 2015 has been a lesson in not caving on Sephora VIB early releases: Bite LE, Hourglass eyeshadows.. I should know better.
Those Hourglass eyeshadows might end up most disappointing release of the entire year, and we’re only 18 days in.
I really appreciate how honest you are with your reviews! I was interested in the color because I love Bite but that price tag is ridiculous for what you get. Would you say the color is similar to Bite Scarlet or Bramble?
I don’t think I have Scarlet or Bramble, unfortunately 🙁
I love BITE lipsticks, and I was SO mad when I didn’t get any VIB Rouge notification email and it instantly went out of stock. Now I’m SO glad I wasn’t able to buy this. This sounds like an absolute disaster on all fronts – so for 50% more dollars, you get patchy, streaky, uneven, feathering, pulls into lip lines, no staining, no special packaging, missing label, AND a yucky taste and smell. What were they thinking???? For $36, you could buy great lippies from Guerlain, YSL, NARS, and a Tom Ford Mini. Such a shame because I totally love the color, it would look great on me. At least I have MAC Hearts Aflame, which is close enough. And no need to get mad if I don’t get emails for the other 11 releases!
Yep! Talk about really, really disappointing, in general, and then the extra $$ towards it, no thank you!
Such a disappointment. I was excited for this release, with my birthday being this month. What a great garnet lip color, like my birthstone (so I hoped). But at the price point and how difficult it would be to get my hands on it, this is an unfortunate pass.
You didn’t miss anything, Lacey!!
Well this is just disappointing… what happened Bite???
I wish I knew!
This was a skip due to the price but I regretted skipping since Bite is a favorite for lip products, but after seeing this… I’m very happy I passed. Thanks, Christine! 🙂
No problem! 🙂
I usually really like Bite Beauty products, and have been wanting to get my hands on this. What a beautiful color! How disappointing about the performance and the cost!
Total miss!
I’ve noticed that when you do dupes you list a lot of LE MAC lipsticks, but you seldom list permanent MAC lipsticks. Is that something you do on purpose? I would like to see more permanent listed because I could still get the. Whereas I can’t get the LE ones.
Hi Staci,
I list all the dupes I can think of, based on what I’ve reviewed and swatched. Unfortunately, I do not have all of MAC’s permanent lipsticks. So sorry!
This is why I don’t often purchase HE/”Luxury Brand” lip products… If I pay $5-10, I have lower expectations, but anything higher, it’d better be flawless, LOL!
For $36, it definitely should be near perfection.
Aww…this hurts me. I was actually ready to bite the bullet and get this site-unseen because it looks gorgeous. I’ll pay the money for the luxury product IF IT PERFORMS LIKE A LUXURY PRODUCT. Doesn’t sound like this one does. Thank you for reviewing it! I’ll be checking out those dupes instead….
Bite’s regular formula is really quite good, so it was always curious how much more they could improve on it (to justify the price hike), but I didn’t expect such performance issues!
welp **removes from love list on Sephora** good thing its out of stock becuz I looooove me some BITE and would’ve definitely gotten it. I think its a good idea to sice our heads up to fight for a limited edition and ooooh n aaaah “better formula” tactic (but really they’re already amazin so how much better can u get) tsk tsk BB >:<
Here’s hoping February is better… but so far, not impressed!
I loved this color when I saw it, but I’m on low buy and didn’t want to spend $36 on a lipstick. Now I don’t feel like I missed out. A lipstick that costs that much should not be that bad.
I still love that color, though.
The color is gorgeous for sure!
Oh wow! What is up with these companies trying to upcharge for subpar products?! So glad we have you Christine! Very pretty color. But, very dupable in better formulas.
I wish I knew!
Damn. I guess I’ll skip this and get Charlotte, Liv, or Bette from NARS and call it a day!
Exactly!
I have Charlotte.It was the first Nars Audcious I purchased. I could only get one when they first came out and I picked it because 1) it’s my daughter’s middle name and 2) I have a secret crush on the incredibly hadsome, but very openly and honestly gay gentleman that works the Nars counter at Nordstrom and he said it was his favorite.,lol. Erin..By you phto,it would look lovely on you. It’s deep without being over the top.I wore it to Christmas and it stayed on through Christmas dinner and drinks, and a lot of talking and relative kissing on the cheek type stuff with minimal wear. I did not touch up at all. I did wear a liner with it too.It goes on smooth.I have another,Brigette i think it is, that gets dry on me for some reason. I have been thinking about saving up for a Rouge G. I’ll tell you..it’s going to have to blow Charlotte outta the water. Best I have ever owned in my life.Just my 2 cents . 🙂
that would be photo..not phto* ..Also,just by thes pics here,I think Charlotte may be very,very slightly lighter. I was looking at Bette to find one darker.Always can adjust a bit with a liner if you wear them. If you can, may want to swatch or try on. Best of luck:)
Wow! Shockingly disappointing
Me too! 🙁
I just got this in the mail Friday night. I put it on my lips, but only for a few minutes. I noticed the slip (but not so much the patchiness, my vanity doesn’t have the best lighting), I like the colour, but is it worth the $40 Canadian I paid for it?… 🙁 I don’t think so, but I’m gonna wear it again today & see what happens (it’s a Sunday after all). I’m really disappointed by this rating. I might get February’s as a keepsake depending on the colour (my birthday is next month) but after that – I’ll be passing on the rest of this LE collection from Bite Beauty. It’s such a shame because I’ve been collecting and loving Bite Beauty’s great products. It’s so disappointing that Bite Beauty has such a well-deserved rise in popularity, and then totally falls through with a ‘luxury’ marked-up LE collection. Obviously people are still going to fall for this & the price tag, but this really sullies their reputation for me.
So sorry to hear that you aren’t loving yours, Meghan 🙁 Especially at $40 Canadian.
T_T Bite! Why?! You make such lovely lipsticks? How do you suddenly manage to trip up on the *one* lipstick that should be amazeballs?
If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to put Palomino on to make myself feel better…
It was gonna be hard for Bite to do better than their standard formula, IMO, to truly justify the price difference, but I thought they’d at least put out a good quality product.
First Hourglass’s shadows and now this. I don’t know – you would think that a smaller, “luxury” brand that prides itself on its unerring quality would really be protective of that reputation. I mean, we’re not talking the whole huge Lauder or L’Oreal type conglomerates that have oodles of brands and products but more niche companies that aren’t available in every drug and department store and that really have built a reputation. It isn’t easy to establish a really good reputation but I think it’s every bit as hard or maybe even harder to regain that once you start releasing lesser quality stuff. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Especially, as you said, Christine, with something like this, which is LE and supposed to be a big deal…at least make the first one a product that totally knocks it out of the park!
Shades like this are NOTORIOUSLY! difficult to get right if they have any slip at all, so it was a bold move… but I don’t think it was the right move if they wanted to really impress customers.
I think if I were going to splurge I’d rather go all the way for one of the Tom Ford lipsticks. This is very disappointing. It’s not the higher price, I think a company can charge whatever they want if they manage to get the formula right. Maybe the next ones will be better made, it does seem like darker reds and purples are harder to get one-swipe pigmentation on.
I will say, though, the shade looks lovely on you.
Here’s hoping February’s is better!
I got this…and promptly returned it. Aside from the sheerness and patchiness, it was brown on me (like a bruise on an apple or old banana), not even remotely red as it appears on you and as they described it. My lips are pale, they could not have turned it brown. I was so sad as I do really like Bite lipsticks, like the Rose ones earlier this year.
I wonder if there were any color variation issues in it or how it was manufactured.
Glad you were able to get your money back!
I’ve yet to try a Bite lippie but I’m shocked. You always give their products such good reviews so it’s weird to see a review like this. Definitely disappointing too. I’m so over these companies releasing the same products and randomly jacking up the price while downgrading the quality. It’s like a slap in the face
Such a divine colour too. What a shame.
Sounds like a pretty awful one! Kind of bummed out but here’s more money for other things!
I really don’t get it! Why charge more if the product looks no different to their usual lipsticks. I mean usually “luxury” prices should come with luxury packaging. Thank you for the review, I will definitely pass on this one.
B.
I didn’t know this existed until now, did Sephora send an email about it? From your description the smell & taste would’ve really been a problem-the performance of it is disappointing. It really looks good on you. Is there a color in the Luminous Creme that is close? I have Tannin & Vib Rouge colors & I really enjoy them. Although, have you noticed the black paint peels off of the tube?
This is so disappointing from Bite Beauty when they have so many great formulas. I didn’t find out about this LE line until after it sold out but to be honest, I think I’d rather pay the same amount at the Lip Lab and get a custom instead. There’s little appeal when there’s nothing special about it other than the colour (and it’s a colour that we can’t see in person first!). I agree that they should have changed the packaging or something to justify the extra $10! Personally I like enough colours from their core lines that I can’t bring myself to spend more for a custom.
You said it right.. It has been a trend among brand to release even expensive products every time.. but 50% increase and an actual decrease in quality was least expected..
Surely skippable, with so many cons.. 😛
Yes thank you for this review. Saved me, as well. I am a huge Bite fan, but that doesn’t mean I need it all from them. Especially when they are trying to sell their name vs. quality. Still love them but I’ll save my money for one that is worth it, like the NARS Audacious line. THANK YOU
Wow, like others, I’m really surprised that they would mess up like this. I didn’t bother picking it up as I too have a hard time with all the LE malarkey. I’m actually not that familiar with the Bite formula. But I did recently pick up a few of their regular formula so I’ll form an opinion soon. 🙂
Oh, I lolled when I read your last sentence “…so you might want to mark it!” You’re right, it did just get worse. Not only is this a bad formula for the color LE, no special packaging LE, but it doesn’t even have a little LE sticker. Why, what, why? 🙁
everyone was so furious that Sephora didn’t send an email for the release of this lipstick to VIB Rouge! the reviews were bombed with complaints…I too was disappointed that it was sold out when I visited the site…you’d think Sephora would give a heads up for vib rouges who spend $1000 a year to be where they are.. ppl said it bleeds and is not as luxurious as its name claims and is very patchy. it doesn’t look like it on you tho!