Creamy, edgy and edible? Almost too good to be true.

Bite Beauty’s mission is to be really good at one category: lipstick.

The brand was created by entrepreneur and lipstick lover Susanne Langmuir, who wanted to create lipsticks with a color payoff and performance that rivaled the best prestige brands - all while using safe and beneficial ingredients.

Bite is part indie beauty, part large retail chain. The indie part? The products are all handmade in my hometown of Toronto. The retail chain part? Susanne approached Sephora with her original concept and the retailer soon became her partner. Bite is carried exclusively by Sephora and was one of the first natural/green beauty brands supported by the beauty retailer.

Bite's Matte Creme Lip Crayons (my current fave is Leche, sixth from the left, a dusty pale pink)

Why I love the ingredients

• Manufactured using a low-heat process that preserves the blend of oils, fruit butters,  vitamins and antioxidants.
• Made with 12 edible oils to nourish and moisturize: castor seed oil (a safe alternative to petroleum), jojoba seed oil, argan kernel oil, sesame seed oil, sunflower seed oil, grape seed oil, olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, apricot kernel oil, and pomegranate seed oil.
• Infused with a citrus flavor made from fresh pressed fruit.
• Each product contains 5mg of resveratrol, a potent antioxidant found in grapes and berries. 
• Sourced from organic farming.

Why I love the formulas

• The triple-milled pigments deliver saturated color with weightless coverage.
• A wide color palette to choose from: the latest lipstick range called “Amuse-Bouche” has 34 lip shades.
• The vitamins, fruit butters and omega oils nourish and keep lips looking plump.
• The lip glosses actually last. I use the Lush Fruit Lip Gloss, and let me tell you that, unlike most lip glosses, it doesn't disappear an hour after you've applied it.
• Below are swatches of the Lush Fruit Lip Gloss in (left to right) Honey, Cocoa and, my summer fave, Strawberry:

Bite’s Lip Treatments

In addition to its lipsticks, lip pencils and glosses, Bite has a lip scrub, a lip mask and a lip primer.

• Whipped Cherry Lip Scrub: hydrating but barely exfoliates. Skip it and just use your face scrub on your lips.
• Agave Lip Mask: a treatment you leave on the lips to penetrate and hydrate, just like a hair mask. It comes in 3 shades - Original, Smashed, and Champagne, and a fourth called Maple that's exclusive to Sephora Canada. It work brilliantly, but is a little tacky so best for an overnight treatment rather than daytime use. It’s a godsend during the winter months when lips take a beating from the cold and wind.

Image above: Agave Lip Masks

Line and Define Primer: a transparent twist-up lip pencil that you apply before your lip color. Let me tell you it makes a huge difference. My lipstick goes on more smoothly and stays on longer with this stuff. It’s especially helpful for bright lip colors because it reduces color bleeding and makes for a cleaner application. Just get it, it’s worth it.

Bite isn’t a green beauty brand that performs well; it’s a high-performance brand that happens to be green. The edgy colors and prestige formulations are on par with the best mainstream brands, and the clean ingredients qualify for the green/natural/organic stamps of approval. Talk about having your cake and eating - or biting - it too.

Bite Beauty is available at Sephora, sephora.com, and the Bite Beauty Lip Lab in New York.