There's just something about the smell of coffee in the morning that can turn a dreary early morning wake-up call into a small moment of delight. But what if the coffee scent came from your lip gloss instead? Bite Beauty's latest lip gloss collection does just that! The French Press Lip Gloss Collection is a set of six coffee-inspired glosses that range from the barely there with Flat White, to the deepest of mocha hues with Black Coffee. I was lucky enough to win a set of these beauties in the summer and have been meaning to do this post for months! Come find out which of these glosses became my favourites.
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - Flat White
On first glance, this doesn't seem like such a bad lip gloss, but it wasn't one of my favourites. In close-up it doesn't look so pale, but in the full-face shot (which was blurry so none for you!) the colour didn't do much for me. Flat White is very pale on me, and I did find the colour seemed to stick in my lip lines up close. It's not that noticable from afar, or even from a foot away, but I am conscious of it nonetheless. I'll still wear this at home since it's such a comfortable gloss, but I probably wouldn't wear it out.
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - Vanilla Latte
NOW, Vanilla Latte is only a PINCH more pigmented than Flat white, adding a hint of a warmer beige colour, so it's almost a version of "My Lips But Better". It does suffer from the similar issue of Flat White where the colour does stick to your lip lines, but it was practically impossible to notice except in this close up. I do like the hint of colour this gloss adds, it's perfect for days when you just want to just add a touch of gloss and run out the door.
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - Salted Caramel
When I first saw the French Press Lip Gloss tubes, I was a little underwhelmed by the differentiation in the colours. Because when you look at the tubes, there's something about the design that doesn't really showcase their pigmentation properly. It wasn't until I saw other blogger's swatches coming out that I realized I absolutely had to have this shade. Salted Caramel is a nice warm, peachy colour that is so flattering on a variety of skintones. It's truly a genuine peach colour, something I would've liked to see in Too Faced's Creamy Peach Oil Lip Gloss line, but I guess I got from Bite instead!
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - Dirty Chai
Now, I would be basic if I said Dirty Chai was my favourite of the bunch, but I would also be lying if I said it wasn't. There's just something so rosy and gorgeous about this shade, and it is so easily wearable and versatile too. I regularly have this in my purse when I'm stepping out and don't want a heavy lipstick on, because the gloss dries down nicely and this colour leaves the perfect pink pout. C'est fantastique.
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - French Press
Oh HELLO THERE you gorgeous lip gloss you. French Press was the sleeper in this set. I didn't pay too much attention to it at first, as I naturally gravitated to Salted Caramel and Dirty Chai at first, but as I slowly started to try out all the shades, I super fell in love with this one. It's so interesting, but in the tube alone it just looks like a medium brown gloss, while in reality it looks significantly more reddish and vibrant. It's a good choice to name the collection after this one, it's so captivating!
Bite Beauty French Press Lip Gloss - Black Coffee
While I do love a dark, plummy lip colour, I've had consistent trouble with how patchy Black Coffee is when I've applied it to my lips. I wear it at home when I am in "A MOOD" (yeah, I often put on my gothy or dark lipstick when I'm working at home, I'm not sure why? It just became a habit and I roll with it) but I've been unable to wear this one outside the house because it's SO PATCHY. This is the best I could do and if you look close you can see some staining where I got it around my lips and had to clean it off. Despite how BOOTIFUL it looks, I'm not sure it's reliable enough on me.
Final thoughts
I have to say, when I first saw this collection I wondered why anyone would buy the full set, because I thought the Flat White/Vanilla Latte, and French Press/Black Coffee pairs both looked very similar. But after trying out all the shades I can truly say that is NOT the case, and as the pics above show, they are definitely different colours. While I do think Flat White is just too pale for me, and I've had application issues with Black Coffee, I have seen other people loving those colours so it may just depend on your skintone and lips. I saw The Beauty Lookbook suggested using a lip pencil underneath those shades, so that could be something to assist with the settling problem I was having. That said, my favourites of the collection are Dirty Chai, French Press and Salted Caramel in no specific order, I've been wearing these three quite regularly and don't see them leaving my makeup bag anytime soon!
You can buy all of the Bite Beauty French Press lip glosses at Bite Beauty or Sephora, but I might recommend Sephora if you're Canadian because despite being a Canadian brand, the Bite Beauty site is transacted in USD and returns are different than at a Sephora location. All of the glosses are $22USD or $26CAD.