Review: Bite Beauty Cashmere Lip Cream Sancerre

Talk about loving from afar! I started eyeing these waaaaay back when they first came out last fall, after I tried on Sancerre at Sephora and got an immediate case of the want-its. Unfortunately at the time I was on accutane and my lips were protesting anything other than the most gentle, moisturizing lipsticks. A cream-to-powder matte formula sounded like recipe for disappointment, so I (somehow) resisted the urge to get it anyway – it would be a little silly to set myself up for failure. I finally ended up getting it a couple months ago once I was able to give it a fair chance. Considering it’s already shown up in one of my favorites videos, obviously it was worth the wait.

Packaging

The Lip Creams come in a square acrylic tube that’s just a little longer than a regular lipstick, with a wand applicator. The cap is the same grey soft-touch plastic that their regular lipstick tubes are made from, with the Bite text logo printed on one side. Let me just gush for a minute – I love love love the aesthetics of this packaging. I love minimal design, and the clear tube/grey cap gives it a nice color-blocking effect. Not to mention the tube is totally functional; I realized recently that I grab for Sancerre over similar shades from other brands because I can immediately see what’s in it.

The wand, admittedly, took a little bit of getting used to. Instead of a doefoot applicator, it’s sort of a long paddle shape. It looks like it doesn’t pull up nearly enough product, but one dunk in the tube per lip is plenty. After a tiny bit of practice, I found that if I drag the long side of the applicator along my lip line, it makes a perfect, crisp line – no brush or cleanup needed (unless my hands are just feeling particularly unsteady).

Color

Sancerre is definitely my power color – berry pink with a hint of red. It’s a bold color for sure, and has drawn compliments from total strangers. A statement lipstick, if you will. It’s totally opaque in one layer, so there’s not a whole lot of toning it down. I guess what I’m saying is, if you like your lipstick to be understated and unassuming, this is definitely not the color for you! But if bright pink lipstick makes you feel fabulous, this shade would be one of my top recommendations.

Texture, application & wear

As much as I love the color, I was a little worried about whether the formula would play well with my lips – they still get a little flaky sometimes, and some matte lipsticks just suck all the moisture out of them, making them flake or crack.

This is not one of them.

The texture of the product is really smooth and creamy, and it glides on evenly. Even if my lips aren’t perfectly exfoliated, it still looks flawless. The finish right out of the tube is matte with just a little bit of a sheen, which turns into a total matte if I blot it (which I usually do). Occasionally I’ll overdraw my upper lip to fill it out (it’s a bit thin), and this type of matte finish is perfect for that. It feels lighter than I expected, and even though it isn’t moisturizing, it doesn’t dry my lips out either – I can wear it comfortably all day. There’s not really any slip to it, so if you have an unconcious habit of rubbing your lips together, you’ll find out it doesn’t really work anymore! It’s not sticky or tacky though – it’s more of a feeling like rubbing two pieces of felt against each other, they just don’t slide against each other.

The wear time is pretty nice on this. It’s definitely not transfer-proof, but it still looks good by lunchtime with just a little bit of fading at the corners of my mouth. If I don’t reapply, it will fade evenly otherwise and leave a nice stain. Fair warning though – eating oily/greasy foods will make it move around, and a couple times it’s left its nice little stain outside my lip line when I didn’t clean it up soon enough. This has resulted in a strict no-burgers rule when I wear it – fork food only.

In Short: Cashmere is a totally appropriate name.

Bite Beauty Cashmere Lip Cream ($28) is available at sephora.com