Violette FR’s New Jelly Balms Give Me “Bitten Lips” With a Side of Shine

If you want glittering, Euphoria-inspired eyes, you go to Half Magic. If you want effortless cool-girl staples, Glossier is for you. And if you want classic French girl beauty with an artistic twist, the only option is Violette FR. Started by makeup artist Violette, the brand blends French classics—glowing skin, perfect red lips, a certain je ne sais quoi—with her art school background—think Renaissance painting-inspired blush and a liquid eye paint in the perfect Yves Klein blue.

The brand’s latest launch, Bisou Jelly, is the perfect encapsulation of Violette’s duality. It builds on the brand’s beloved Bisou Balm—a go-to for just bitten lips or “bouche mordue”—with a new hydrating jelly base and sheer shine. As a lover of both popsicle-stained lips and hydrating formulas, my attention was piqued the second I saw the new balms, and they quickly became an obsession. Ahead, all the details on the Bisou Jelly, plus my honest review.

The Inspiration

The Bisou Jelly is the next evolution of one of Violette FR’s most beloved products, the Bisou Balm, a sheer but matte balm-lipstick hybrid. “Behind a bold red lipstick, in Paris, we love a ‘Bouche Mordue’ look, which translates in English to ‘bitten lips,'” Violette previously told Byrdie. “The idea is to have a hint of color—like you’ve been kissing all night. It’s meant to look like your own lip color, not like lipstick. That’s why I created Bisou Balm.”

Bisou Jelly still delivers this soft, just-kissed finish, just with some extra shine and hydration. “I always envisioned the Bisou franchise to include a blush and two lipsticks—one matte and one shiny,” Violette shared on Instagram. “Bisou Jelly perfectly complements the collection—an engineering feat, hand-filled and assembled with meticulous care.” She added that each of the four shades is inspired by French sweets or “gourmandise,” including caramel, candy apples, rose pastilles, and fresh berries.

The Formula

Bisou Jelly’s innovative formula took Violette and her team five years to get just right. The lipstick has a pigmented core surrounded by a hydrating jelly layer enriched with vitamin E. The lipstick’s design is not only to deliver both a blurred tint and hydrating shine, but to actually make lips subtly look more voluminous—the jelly layer is meant to deposit color ever-so-slightly outside your natural lip line.

Violette FR’s Bisou Jelly comes in four shades: Aïssa, a deep berry; Bonbon Caramel, a soft beige; Pomme D’amour, a candy apple red; and Bonbon à la Rose, a baby rose pink.

My Review

For me, this was love at first swipe. I’m already a fan of the OG Bisou Balm as a bitten lip is one of my favorite looks of all time, but in my opinion, the Bisou Jelly just has something special that made it an immediate favorite. First of all, the formula is so comfortable, it glides right on and leaves behind a hydrating sheen thats not sticky or glossy feeling. It somehow has both a blurring and shiny effect that is so flattering and amps up my pout in the best way. It’s so easy to apply that you could swipe it on without a mirror and be fine.

What makes Bisou Balm really special, in my opinion, is the range of shades. Usually I fall in love with one or two colors of a lipstick, but each of these is so perfect, and feels different enough from each other to justify owning all four. If I had to pick, my favorite would be Aïssa (the shade I’m wearing here), a pretty burnt berry shade that always gets me compliments. It’s just enough of a statement to pull my face together and add a little something, but doesn’t feel stuffy or too done. I’m also partial to Bonbon à la Rose, which I thought would just be a nearly-clear pink based on the swatch, but is the perfect just-kissed shade of pink on my lips.