Ellis Faas Creamy Lips L104 and Light Eyes E301

Recently, I picked up two Ellis Faas Creamy Lips L104 (£22) and Light Eyes E301 (£26) at SpaceNK in London.

Ellis Faas's products come in sleek bullet-inspired metal packaging that looks futuristic and ultra-modern, with the products dispensed by rotating the dial at the end of the holder. Ellis Faas gets quite a bit of love on the beauty blogs for its product quality and shades although there are a number of complaints about the packaging, as chic as it looks.

The shade numbers are housed in see-through compartment at the end of the applicator. Ellis Faas makes a fancy cylinder that holds 6 pens and a Skin Veil foundation pen, as well as a pressed powder in the end cap.

The Light Eyes has a brush applicator while Creamy Lips has a sponge applicator. Usually, I make it a point to open up the products in the store to check the condition, but I forgot to do that in SpaceNK that day to my regret. When I opened up the Light Eyes at home, almost half of the bristles had been bent at a sharp angle and could not be fixed back.

Although I already had misgivings about the packaging before making the purchase, Light E301 looked like a unique silvery shade with a hint of olive. It took about 60 clicks to get the product flowing through the brush. The drawback of such a dispensing mechanism is that too much product can come gushing out of the brush if you rotate the dial too many times. Also, after each usage, the cream dries on the brushes and falls off in unappealing bits the next time you use it. The Light Eyes holds only a puny 2.5ml of product, so any wastage is going to be expensive.

E301 applies as a shimmery wash of pale gold-tinted silver on my lids. In the look below, I used it as a base all over the upper lid and along the lower lashline. The cream is not emollient enough to spread in one smooth wash over the entire lid and it dries down quickly, which does not allow much time for blending. It does work quite nicely as an eyeshadow base that does not crease and for adding an illuminating effect.

As for the Creamy Lips, I was drawn naturally to one of the most vibrant shades in the range, L104 which is a bright raspberry pink. See a very pretty look with L104 on Joey'space and more swatches on Kraseybeauty. This took over 100 clicks before the product emerged through the sponge applicator.

Again with the Creamy Lips, I felt that it lacked sufficient slip for a smooth application. While I liked the shade, it felt a tad dry on the lips. A tiny amount of product produces an superbly intense finish so even though the Creamy Lips contains only 2.8ml, I doubt it will be used up in a jiffy even with daily usage. When blotted with a tissue, it leaves a very pretty pink stain on the lips.

Overall, I don't think that I will be making any more purchases from Ellis Faas, primarily because the packaging has too many flaws and inconveniences. At such a high price point, it's just not worth it. A simple squeeze tube like Becca Beach Tints would have been much more practical.

Below are the lists of ingredients. The Light Eyes is made in France with a shelf life of 12 months while Creamy Lips is made in Italy with a shelf life of 24 months.