Beauty Box 5

Yet another AMAZING product has landed on my sample-filled desk and I’m so excited to give you a little preview of Ellis Faas, one of the wonderful brands being showcased in our upcoming August Beauty Box 5!

A little history:

Touted as “one of the most influential makeup artists of her time” by Vogue Paris, Netherlands native Ellis Faas has worked with names like Fendi, Chanel, Miss Sixty and YSL…just to mention a few…a VERY few. Originally a photographer, Ellis’ love of makeup lead her to Paris where she trained in make-up and special effects at Christian Chauveau’s Technical School of Artistic Make-up. In 2007, after finishing her contract with L’Oreal’s Biotherm (for whom she created a makeup line), she began Ellis Faas Cosmetics, a truly innovative and cutting-edge line of cosmetics inspired by the colors of the human body.

My experience:

What initially caught my eye was the bullet-inspired, pen-like silver packaging. It’s so unique and interesting that I kept wanting to re-apply my lip color just to make my girlfriends jealous! Ellis also offers the Ellis Holder to carry your products…it’s like a bright, shiny sliver beauty test tube! And yes, all of the Ellis Faas products will fit in this holder (with the exception of their Foundation Bottle) since even the eye and face products come in the same pen-shaped applicator as the lip products.

The Ellis Holder

The products I’ve been testing over the past few weeks are Creamy Lips and Milky Lips, two of the three Ellis Lips offerings.

Creamy Lips:

As promised by the Ellis website, Creamy Lips gives classic lipstick definition and long-wearing coverage. If you’re a true lipstick wearer, then this is the product for you! Despite a relatively matte finish, it never felt dry on my lips and the only time I had to reapply was after a meal. The applicator for Creamy Lips is one of those slanted sponges that the color “bubbles” up from. The idea is that you twist up a minimal amount of product to line the outside of the lips and then twist up a heavier application to fill in with. Given that the color I was testing was Ellis Red (L101), the signature lip color that can be found in every Ellis Lips texture, I found it a bit difficult to get the precise outline necessary for red lipstick with just the sponge. But no worries, the easy solution was to line my lips using a lip brush and then fill in with the sponge applicator.

Ellis Faas Creamy Lips in Ellis Red

Milky Lips:

The perfect answer for those who don’t like feel of lipstick, Milky Lips is just as pigmented as its Creamy sibling but with the texture of a glossy lipstick. What I liked most about this gloss was the texture, it wasn’t sticky like a lot of the glosses I’ve worn with this much shine. The applicator is a brush instead of the sponge and you load in the product by twisting the bottom of the applicator…just like you do with Creamy Lips. The color I tested was L204, Burnt Orange. While I would traditionally not wear a color this orange given my pink undertones and blue eyes, a very light application of the gloss looked amazing and almost like an orange-ish stain. I also live in Austin, Texas so you know I’ll be wearing my Burnt Orange to the first University of Texas football game this fall!

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in Burnt Orange

Color swatches of both of the Ellis Lip products.

Another impressive aspect of Ellis Faas is their involvement with War Child, an international non-profit organization that exists to create conditions that will fulfill the protection, development and survival rights for children and young people who are living or recovering from the effects of armed conflict. As a part of their Make Up Not War initiative, Ellis Faas asks their fans to send back their empty makeup pens. The applicators are given to various artists across the world and their finished works of art are auctioned off to raise money for War Child.

Overall, I’m just in love with this line and so excited that each of the lip products delivered on their promises. They wore beautifully, felt great and caught the attention of more than one of the ladies who saw me putting them on powder room. You should definately check out the Ellis Faas website too! The images are absolutely amazing and I have no doubt you’ll enjoy looking through the other unique offerings from this one-of-a-kind cosmetics line!

For those of you that haven’t yet become BB5 Beauties, you’ll have until the middle of August to sign up. After all, you don’t want to miss out on Ellis Faas!

Peace, Love & Samples,

Felicity