Crank Up The Heat With The BITE Beauty Spice Things Up Lipstick Collection

Inspired by the captivating warmth and the alluring colors of spices like turmeric, saffron, and cardamom — all of which you’d find on display in outdoor bazaars in places like Istanbul, Marrakesh and Barcelona — BITE Beauty recently rolled out a new collection of its beloved Amuse Bouche lipsticks aptly called Spice Things Up. The BITE Beauty Spice Things Up collection ($26 each at Sephora.com) consists of lipstick eight shades designed to help you bring the heat this summer — all while keeping your lips hydrated and nourished.

Those of you who are familiar with BITE Beauty’s lipsticks know that they’re extraordinary in that they’re packed with resveratrol, a polyphenol that’s naturally found in red and white wine as well dark chocolate, lingonberries, cranberries, and bilberries. Now found in many an anti-aging serum and cream, resveratrol is known to protect the skin from photo-aging and to maintain collagen levels so that skin doesn’t lose its elasticity and instead remains supple and firm. The resveratrol in BITE’s lipsticks, then, helps to keep pouts looking perky and voluminous, preventing lips from appearing deflated and prune-like (everyone’s nightmare!). But that’s not all: BITE Beauty’s Amuse Bouche lipsticks are formulated with 12 edible oils that hydrate, soften, soothe, and protect lips — among them jojoba oil, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, sunflower seed oil, pomegranate seed oil, olive oil, argan oil, shea butter, coconut oil, castor seed oil, and sesame seed oil. These oils and combined with triple milled pigments, yielding a formula that’s creamy but weightless, and which feels like the ultimate treat for your pout while also coating lips in luminous color.

The Spice Things Up collection, then, has all the attributes that we’ve come to expect from BITE Beauty’s Amuse Bouche lipsticks, and the colors are incredibly versatile and wearable, consisting primarily of toasted neutral shades and fiery red and orange hues.

I had the chance to try seven of the eight shades in the collection: Star Anise, Toasted Cardamom, Saffron Fire, Hot Harissa, Pink Salt, Smoked Za’atar, and Crushed Chili. In keeping wth the brand’s good-enough-to-eat clean beauty ethos,  the shades are formulated primarily with plant-based ingredients. For instance, Hot Harissa and Crushed Chili are both comprised of 79% natural ingredients, while Saffron Fire features 80% natural ingredients, and Smoked Za’atar boasts 84% natural ingredients. The shades Star Anise, Toasted Cardamom, and Pink Salt feature 85%, 86%, and 87% natural ingredients respectively.

Ready for some hotter-than-fire shades to spice up your summer lip game? Check out some lipstick swatches below!

First, below you’ll find swatches of Star Anise, Toasted Cardamom, Saffron Fire, and Hot Harissa. As you can see, Star Anise is the only shade with cooler undertones, so that it’s a fleshy, beige-like neutral color with lavender undertones. Toasted Cardamom, meanwhile, is a rosy nude shade that glistens demurely, and one of my go-to neutral colors nowadays since it’s understated but has a bit of a kick. Saffron Fire, my favorite shade in the collection, is an audacious vermilion shade that you’ll want to wear poolside as you sip on Piña Coladas and show off your oversize shades and floppy straw hat. If you prefer a deeper red that’s earthier, then you can check out Hot Harissa, a deep brick-red hue.

Here’s another look at Hot Harissa, Saffron Fire, and Toasted Cardamom:

Next up on our spice safari, you can check out swatches of Smoked Za’atar, Pink Salt, and Crushed Chili. The Smoked Za’atar shade was probably the only one I couldn’t fathom wearing (simply because of my coloring), but I can imagine it looking fantastic on women with bronzed and olive skin tones. It’s a chocolate shade with plum undertones that reminds me of delicious fig jam. Pink Salt, meanwhile, is a medium-intensity mauve color, while the Crushed Chili shade will remind you of a tangy Sriracha sauce.

Time to crank up the heat!