Although Ellis Faas Makeup has been available in the UK for some time now, I think it gets overlooked very often. I recently met with Ellis for a catch up and a reminder of the brand, and ended up trying stuff I’ve never tried before, such as the Skin Veil Foundation.
All the Ellis Faas products come in these silver bullet tubes.. I must admit, it drives me crazy. Although Ellis has developed a kind of clip-together system, it’s not particularly consumer friendly. All the bullets look alike, so there’s no separation between eyes, lips and cheeks and the only indication of the colours is a little window at the bottom. If you only have one or two products, all is fine, but as you up the numbers, you up the confusion.
However, the over-rider here is that Ellis has an eye for colour tone that other brands can only dream of. She’s famous for her ‘human tones’ and presenting colours that are present already on the human body, whether in a naturally rosy cheek or a purple bruise, and because they’re human compatible colours, they’re pretty awesome!
The selection above gives you a good idea. Texturally, she has all bases covered – for example, lips fall into four categories – Creamy Lips, Milky Lips, Glazed Lips or Hot Lips to indicate the finish. I have tried today both the Skin Veil Foundation (available both in a pen and a bottle) which is excellent coverage with a slight skin sheen, and the blush which I am immediately in love with. It’s completely a natural fit to my tone. In the swatch above, from bottom to top: Ellis Eyes Lights in E301, Creamy Eyes in E105, Hot Lips in L201 and Blush in S302.
The problem with being too different in the beauty market is that you are easily misunderstood; you sort of have to make it easy for people to buy your product because competition is so strong now. I don’t think this brand makes it easy at all, and although everything about it is absolutely beautiful, if you make the consumer work too hard, they go elsewhere. I think it’s time for a repackage where you can see product properly, time to let go of the clip together system because it’s irrelevant for today’s flighty consumer that mixes and matches between ranges, and time to realise that most beauty lovers don’t think like make up artists; they think like beauty lovers!
If you’re new to the Ellis Faas Makeup range, I’d highly recommend the Blush (£22) and the Milky Lips (£23) that are an absolute joy.
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All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
16 comments
The Ellis Faas Skin Veil foundation, is one of the best foundations out there in my opinion. The shade range goes pink-ish but the consistency and finish is amazingly natural and real. (The one in the bottle is more value for money and less messier than the one in pen-form). Eyeing their blushes at the moment but not so sure about the pen mechanism.
Thanks for your review! Ellis Faas is a very niche market here in the US as well. I tried a few samples of her Skin Veil and loved the match, wear, and coverage. I also sampled her “Glow-Up” some time ago and after spending a month trying to track down a retailer that had her case (required as separate purchase) in stock, I was finally able to actively use the product, I agree with your assessment that her products are high quality with a nice choice of color selection. I think however, unless and until the line is more consumer-friendly (as you pointed out) use may be limited to only die-hard fans who are willing to spend the extra time and effort to obtain and use the line.
It’s the packaging that’s the killer for me. I’ve had problems with every single item I’ve bought from the brand, with the exception of the foundation, which is in a glass pump bottle and the mascara. Those silver pens always end up clogging and drying up. The next time you go to use them, you twist and twist with nothing coming out. Inside the pressure builds up and then all of a sudden the product explodes and oozes out of the brush or sponge tip end. I did this with one of the red lip colours which burst out when I was out of the room. I came back in and found what looked like a massacre all over my dressing table with the pen literally bleeding all over the surface!
The lip glosses, concealers, cream eye shadows and blushers have done this. They’ve all ended up back at the counter for a refund or in the bin as expensive, frustrating, infuriating mistakes . Never again.
I agree totally. I love the texture and quality of the eye products in particular which come in a range of absolutely beautiful shades but I’ve stopped buying because of frustration with clogged up brushes and a mass of consequent rather expensive wastage!
As interesting as the system seems, I find most of the twisty-clicky products to get stuck far too soon (and far too often).Shame, ’cause the products are fab.
Yes, the foundation(I have the bottle shade 102) is fantastic coverage and very natural looking. The concealer I also own but tend to use others more, also has great coverage. BUT and yes there is a but about the concealer, when I first bought I kept getting pure clean oil coming out. I thought it was broken and then after clicking for ages suddenly the colour came out. As I had bought online(no counter anywhere near me), I thought it would be so much hassle returning. In the end I got it to work properly and didn’t have to return.
Great post….. I love reading product reviews. I love reading about this make-up that I must admit that I haven’t heard of. Do you know any stockists in the north of England? We have John Lewis and House of Fraser……is it available there do you know?.
foolsuk.com
I don’t think so.. on-line at Liberty is the only stockist I know of x
beautybay also sell Ellis Faas with free shipping. I found out my shade from the beauty blog beauty professor, she is the best with foundation reviews and swatches. She does a run down comparing to MAC shades so if you know your shade in that you should be able to find the correct shade.
I have never heard of this brand before but I am really intrigued. All the products sound really good quality. Definitely going to check this brand out.
Beth x
http://www.hellobeth.co.uk
I bought the foundation in the bottle and the concealer in the pen format – the foundation looked absolutely wonderful on but caused me to break out in a quite alarming way (I do have stupidly sensitive skin though so I would encourage anybody to try the foundation if they can get a sample from a counter – it’s beautiful!) but the concealer pen drove me insane, like some of the others found it just has no happy medium of delivery, it’s either nothing or enough for the whole street…
If they ditched the pen format I’m sure customers would be happier!
Thanks, Jo
I’ve heard this brand for quite sometime but never tried, nor do I have an urge to try. The packaging (click pens, metallic) and I just don’t click (pun not intended). I remember the times I had to click a zillion times on the Touche Eclat from YSL…thinking I got a dud or something. Of course a handful of empty clicks is expected when the product is new, but click pen eye shadows? No thanks.
I think the mistake is that she is a make up artist, and they’re used to rubbing, smoothing, smudging etc with loose product on the backs of their hands or on mixing palettes… but it’s not right for the consumer.
I personally love the pen packaging. I think Liberty is getting rid of the brand and the only option is Selfridges. A word of warning to those of us over 40…the glazed and milky lipsticks can be incredibly bleeding. I love the colour, but can’t wear it because I start looking like a scary clown after 10 minutes, even when using a liner.
I seem to be the only one who loves the packaging! I find it very user-friendly especially for travel. I don’t use the clips or holder just keep the items I’m using in makeup bag – a quick look at the bottom of each pen tells you immediately what it is. The concealer is my Holy Grail – perfect match, melts in to skin – i’m probably on the 6th or 7th and have never had any problems once the initial pump it out is done. The foundation is great but that is the one item that I can’t stand the packaging on, getting it out and the brush are terrible.
Hi Jane and Jo,
We sell Ellis Faas at our Make-Up Bar in Shoreditch, London and we also sell Ellis Faas on our website at: facebarlondon.com.
It’s an amazing make-up brand that is unlike any other on the market, the dense pigments and textures are incredible. It’s great to read all the reviews and personal experiences of the products here, all invaluable feedback for the brand to make it even better.