Yes, in -webkit- browsers you can achieve the same effect with this CSS:

        &::-webkit-input-placeholder {
            -webkit-transition: text-indent 200ms ease-in-out;
            visibility: visible !important;
        }

        &:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder {
            text-indent: 115px; /* Change to width of input */
        }

If only you could do the same for Firefox...

I had looked into doing this with pure CSS, but I hit a roadblock. I can't remember what it was, but it may have been the Firefox thing mentioned. Would be cool to add a css file that does the same to the project when the support is there though.