Bite Beauty Lip Lab

Bite Lip Lab is a one of a kind beauty boutique and flagship store of the Toronto-based brand Bite Beauty. You may be familiar with Bite Beauty lip products if you shop at Sephora, where they have exclusively sold their products since 2011, but what you might not know is that all of the ingredients found in the products are food-grade. This means they are 100% okay to eat. Manager Stephanie Spence clarified that their products range from 87-99% natural and the majority of the products are organic. Their lipsticks, pencils and glosses are naturally based and made with a variety of ingredients including castor oil, shea butter, beeswax, and a variety of fruit extracts. Founder Susanne Langmuir also discovered a way to incorporate resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant found in red wine. In addition to avoiding harmful chemicals like parabens, sulfates and phthalates, your lips will be naturally hydrated, enjoy anti-aging effects and help your body fight against free radicals. Skeptics question just how natural the product claims it is because the product has achieved such dense and bright hue pigments, which are attained through the use of FDA-approved dyes. While not natural, they are food grade and safe to ingest.

Spence, who has been with the brand since 2011, said it best herself when she admitted she is very cautious about what she puts in her body but will slather anything onto it. Lipstick is especially concerning, since we actually end up ingesting the product throughout the day. By making Bite Beauty lip products food grade, there is less of a threat of harmful chemicals entering the body.

What makes this store unique isn’t just the special brand it carries; make-up artists actually mix custom shades right before your eyes. Pots of lipstick can be found at two mixing stations where one of three employees, Stephanie or make-up artists Brooklyn and Susan, will start a collaborative process that begins with the blending of one or several shades to try on your lips. Once a shade is decided you will move to the actual mixing station. There the different pigment bullets are placed in a small mixing bowl that will be first heated, mixed, cooled to form and placed in a tube. The best part; the whole process takes fifteen minutes at most. After the pigments have been heated, the customer has the option of adding one of four scents: cherry, violet, peppermint or super fruit. While pre-made lipsticks and the majority of their products are $24, to have a custom shade made will cost $28.

In addition to their lipsticks, Beauty Bite’s high pigment matte pencils are a best seller and come in 19 shades. Also carried in the store are their liner products, cinnamon plumping oil, whipped cherry fruit scrub and super fruit butter. The newest product on shelves now is their Lush Fruit Lip Gloss in ten shades selling for $22. Hydrating lip tints and the super shiny Honey Lacquer Gloss can also be found at the store.

The shop has experienced great success with their first and only popup store. They have since announced that the store, situated in SoHo on Prince Street, will close briefly in August to renovate and add new features and open their doors permanently in September 2013.