Lipstick is back baby! It’s time to dust off the favorites you set aside for the long COVID hiatus and show them off this summer. For me, that includes Bite Beauty’s Amuse Bouche in Pickled Ginger and Cayenne—two matte lippies that have topped my list for years. However, if you’re also a long-time fan of Amuse Bouche too, were you up in arms when the product was discontinued in 2019? I was shocked when I discovered this fact (and quickly checked my stash to make sure I was stocked), but excited to learn that the brand would soon be relaunching its lipstick category with a new innovation.
Today, the new launch has finally been revealed as Power Move Soft Matte Lipstick ($28), which has been three years in the making and is now available at Sephora. We still get the bold pigment and rich creaminess we loved from Amuse Bouche—thanks to hydrating cocoa butter—but the ingredient lineup has changed, with a focus on vegan, cruelty-free and clean (no lanolin, carmine or beeswax). Tapioca pearls and fatty acid waxes were added to create the velvety-matte finish and soft blurring effect fans love. I swiped on both formulas for a test-drive, and quickly noticed the new version felt lighter on my lips. Still creamy, but not as dense.
Celebrity makeup artist Ash K Holm, whose clients include Ariana Grande and Kim K., is a big fan of the brand and the new formula. “It’s hard to find a clean and vegan makeup line that really performs, and I’m really picky with the brands I associate myself with, but Bite has really nailed it in those categories,” she says. “I usually have a problem with matte lipstick because my lips are always dry living in LA, but this lipstick makes my lips feel so pillowy and soft, and the texture is really lightweight but the color lasts all day. Those are things I look for when choosing products for my kit, and I love that I’m putting ingredients on my lips and skin that are good for me.”
Though only a handful of the OG shades made the cut for the much-anticipated relaunch—RIP Pickled Ginger, you will be missed—the 20-shade assortment is gorgeous, and sure to be just as beloved, with multiple picks to suit all skin tones.
“I feel like we’ve all been there, trying to find the perfect nude that doesn’t show up ashy on our skin, and there really is something for all skin tones from very light to deep dark,” says Holm. “A lot of the shades look different on everybody depending on their skin’s undertones, too, so it’s fun to play around with all ends of the spectrum.”
Holm says Sugar Buns is one of the most diverse shades on the roster, which she also loves to wear personally. “It’s that ‘your lips but better’ shade—that perfect supermodel shade I’m always looking for.” Fig is also a crowd-pleaser and a great everyday shade, and if you’re looking for that perfect red, which Holm recommends everyone keep stocked in their makeup bag, she says Hot Tomato looks good on everyone.
And if you’re a lip liner devotee like me, Holm says you don’t even need it with this lipstick because “it has this awesome tear-drop tip that lets you overdraw the lipstick. If you use a darker shade, you can also overdraw and then buff it out with a lip brush to contour your lips.”
