Chocolatey Goodness! Ellis Faas Creamy Eye E104 will not make you fat

A little while ago, I made an Ellis Faas order (overview of my purchase and brand here) and one of the products I broke out to use first was the Creamy Eye Colour in E104.

A word about packaging. The packaging is unique. I have no other word for it. In most cases, I would immediately shy away from anything resembling a twist up pen because experience teaches me that they are a pain to use. However, curiousity got the better of me, hence my foray into Ellis Faas which uses this sort of packaging in most of the products in the range.

The pens are long and they just about fit into a basic makeup case provided it isn’t too small. Otherwise, it slips nicely into the sides of your bag. In a pinch, it probably doubles up as a weapon :P I wonder if I’ll be allowed to carry this on board a flight. Might have some explaining to do – “Its an eyeshadow, I swear!”

This is the Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes formula which is, as the name suggests, a cream eyeshadow with a creamy texture. The colour is opaque and very pigmented.

The brush is pristine white when you first get it, but once used, it will get messy. That is all to be expected. And you will also notice my CSI fingerprints all over the metallic cover. The twisty pen mechanism is a bit of a bother, I will say right here and now. I turned it about 22 times before I saw colour come out (yes I counted) and it took about 3 more turns before there was enough colour to use.

The problem however, is that the colour does tend to gush out when it does come out so it can all get very pricey since this is a pricey product. I’ve learnt to just twist it about 1.5 times then wait to use whatever comes out. This is because I use my fingers to apply, not the brush. The brush, although lovely and firm and not pokey, does not do much except apply colour on your eyelid. You still have to blend it with your fingers.

Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes E104 Swatch Left: From tube Right: Blended out

E104 is a gorgeous Chocolate brown. It is the brown of a bar of 70% dark chocolate – my favourite type, and it is both cool and warm. It actually looks cooler on the back of my hand. On my eyelids, it looks warmer which is a little… odd. The cream texture is lovely. Very smooth, very pigmented. One tiny little drop of colour gives you that rich pigmented colour you see in the picture. Just one tiny drop. It also blends out very easily so you can actually have a very subtle wash of colour if that’s what you prefer. It is also quite budgeproof. That swatch above wouldn’t rub off with just tissue paper. I had to employ the use of a proper makeup remover to get it all off.

In fact, just 1 swipe of colour gives you a lovely gradational colour – dark towards the lashline and lighter when blended out over the lid.

Also featuring: Nars Sheer Matte liquid foundation Mont Blanc, Ellis Faas Glazed Lips L303, Max Factor Soft Cardinal cream blush

As you can see, its subtle. Heck, lets not mince words. You can’t even see it on my eye can you? :P Sorry, poor photography skills. Just take my word for it eh? I’m actually only showing you this because I wanted to show you how lovely the Ellis Faas Glazed Lips look :P

On my eyes (if you care) I wore it on its own where it works decently well but I added a tiny touch of beige shimmer colour towards the inner corner of the eye. It actually works exceptionally well for a very very quick simple neutral eye look. Rushing in the mornings? No problem. Swipe this on, blend it out, line and mascara and you’re ready to go. 30 seconds just about does it.

It also lasts a surprisingly long time – all day long for me – without creasing or fading one bit. I find that very impressive for a cream shadow (do note I do not have oily lids). You can also layer these with other cream shadows in the Ellis Faas range but I prefer using it alone with just a shimmer beige for highlight. And its absolutely perfect for travel because I don’t put on a lot of makeup when I travel, but with this, its effortless to look a little bit polished.

I like the formula and texture and even the colour – I never really like wearing brown on my lids, but this one works. But I do not like the clicky pen mechanism, no matter how revolutionary it is. For this, I’m afraid I will not be getting any more Ellis Faas eyeshadows. They are gorgeous, but I cannot bring myself to love the pen enough because I find there is too much wastage. I only need very little colour for the eyes and the clicky pen pushes out too much product.

I can work with pens for the lips because I can layer it on to use up the colour or reapply. In point of fact, I am in love with the Ellis Faas lip colours (Glazed Lips L303 pictured above) For the cream shadows however, they harden up once it exits the pen, and is no longer easy as creamy to apply. I can work with it still, but I dislike that. It doesn’t happen for the lip formula for which I’m thankful.

I’d say get the Ellis Faas cream eyeshadows if you don’t mind the container they come in. Otherwise, pass. But get the lip products. What say you about the Ellis Faas cream shadows? Own them and like ’em? Have a tip on how I can control the dispenser?

Paris B

Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes eyeshadow retail at €26/$36/£23 at www.ellisfaas.com which ships internationally