News You Need to Know: YSL and BITE

One's history, one's new: sheer lip colors...

YSL is discontinuing its Gloss Volupté Sheer Sensual Gloss Stick SPF 9 - very soon. I would guess that production stopped long ago, since its replacement is going to hit the counters in April. The replacement sounds divine, but...if you are as addicted as I am to the Gloss Stick, hoard now!

Yesterday, I asked my favorite Neiman Marcus sales associate to pull every color they had left except Tangy Orange. Today, I found that Sephora has only one shade left to sell. Why don't companies warn us? If you like these fabulous Gloss Sticks, it's time to search and buy. The replacement may be stunning - and probably is. The gals in the stores have been trained, and they think it's going to wow us. I just like what I like, and I hate to lose favorites.

Not long ago, I got a very nice sample from Sephora. BITE Lip Rouge ($22) is a multitasking lip color and blush, rich with buildable layers of color and a satin texture. This lip color delivers the super-antioxidant resveratrol, which fights free radicals with potent long-term anti-aging benefits. Each Lip Rouge contains the amount of resveratrol found in five glasses of red wine (so do we or don't we ingest our liptick?). For weeks, Sephora has had an offer of a free sample with the promotion code BITE.

The Geranium sample shade comes in a pot that's generous for a free sample and well worth your selection. The sample was still available last night. Now that I have a few of the samples (perfect for my purse for lip and cheek color on the go), I plan to order another shade. This is a nice tinted balm - worthy of a look-see.

Here's a swatch of Geranium, the shade Sephora sent. It's very pretty. On my lips, it's light pink. I applied the Lip Rouge with my finger and took my photo in outdoor sunlight. When I order one, I will select a shade that is slightly darker - maybe Raisin.

BITE is new to Sephora. In addition to featuring beauty's hottest antioxidant, resveratrol, the all-natural ingredient list of their many lip products includes organic shea butter, superfoods, and food-grade colors, making them good enough to eat. "It's beauty that's better for you."

While I am telling you about Sephora, the company just started a sample promotion. You can select five samples of skin-care products until April 5. No special code is needed. While the samples are the typical packet samples, it's a nice offer. You'll get five samples, and you can still get your BITE sample. You won't even have to look at smelly perfume samples.

I'm toying with making News You Need to Know a periodic feature - appearing when I have news bytes to share ("half-posts" to combine) - so please let me know what you think.

Photos courtesy of Sephora