Category: Ellis Red

Today’s makeup #Beauty

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Today I went to the office. I want to save my vacation for Christmas.

Because there were so few people in the office, I decided to dress down. I’m wearing the same brass studded jeans as I did on Tuesday, and topped it off with a cotton jersey knit pullover of substantial weight. The pullover is overdyed (olive over orange) and features a patchwork front. My husband says that it looks “peasantish,” although he picked it out.

My makeup today is similar to what is was on Tuesday. Today, however, all my eye shadows come from NYX. I used Nude from the Nude-Taupe-Dark Brown eye shadow trio and Taupe from the same palette for contouring. This is one of the few palettes that I’ve used to the bottom of the pan!

I used a fluffy eye shadow brush with a domed head for applying shadow to the crease. A makeup artist at the Trish McEvoy counter at Nordstrom told me to sweep the brush back and forth across the crease, like a windshield wiper. I find that application with this brush is not as precise as I would like it: the contour eye shadow extended beyond the outer corner of my eye.

For the outer corner, I used NYX single eyeshadow in golden bronze: alas, I found it pulverized. Time to get a sifter jar to salvage the eyeshadow! I used Sue Devitt Beauty Eye Intensifier Pencil in Pointe-Noire for the eyeliner.

Ellis Red liquid lipcolor

I used the same foundation and cheek color as I did on Tuesday. Today, I’m wearing Ellis Faas liquid lip color in her signature Ellis Red, but only as a light stain. The saturated blood-red color shown above is NSFW (not safe for work)!

You may shop NYX, Sue Devitt Beauty, and Ellis Faas through their web sites. Be advised that Ellis Faas ships from The Netherlands. Sue Devitt Beauty may also be found at Ulta.com.

The fine print: Representatives for Sue Devitt Beauty provided me the Eye Intensifier Pencil. I paid for all other items out of my pocket.

An interview with makeup artist and entrepreneur Ellis Faas – Part 1

Cold Cream 'n' Roses2 Comments
Ellis Faas is a makeup artist who has worked with leading photographers and stylists on shows, ad campaigns, and editorial work in magazines. In February 2009, she launched her cosmetics line in Europe with Ellis Lips, liquid lip colors in three different formulas: Creamy Lips, Milky Lips, and Glazed lips.

Ellis Faas – image from http://www.ellisfaas.com

I wanted to interview Faas as I believe that Ellis Faas is on the cusp of something new and different in cosmetics. She bases her line on colors that exist in every human body, a concept that she realized when she did special effects makeup (simulating wounds, bruises, and blood). She’s launched her cosmetics line with lip colors that suit all skin tones. Her signature shade is Ellis Red, a true blood-red: after all, we all bleed the same color. The line has distinctive packaging, created in collaboration with industrial designer Arnout Visser.


From concept to finished product: the bullet-shaped pens for Ellis Lips
All images from www.ellisfaas.com

1. Your biography states that you wanted to pursue a career as a photographer, but that you were too shy to approach others to model for you. You were your own model. How did you develop the courage to get others to model for you?

Besides myself, I also used friends and family to pose for me more and more, but I have only started working with professional models, since we started our own brand – I shoot all our visuals. I guess that I dare doing that, because over the past years I have been on so many numerous sets of the world’s best photographers. Combined with the knowledge I already had, that has taught me lot. Yet, I still keep things terribly small: just the model, someone to hold the lights, and me for makeup and photography.

2. Which type of makeup do you like doing best? Fantasy, special effects, or “real life”?

My origins are in special effects, so that is still a passion and I also use it a lot in the beauty and fashion shoots I work on. But to be honest, I enjoy doing any kind of makeup if I have fun with the team (especially model and hairstylist) and the story is nice – even if it means just making a gorgeously beautiful model even more beautiful.

3. Of all the items in your online portfolio, the one that most readers will recognize is the ad campaign for Lancôme’s Trésor. This is one of the most approachable (that is, real life) looks in your portfolio. How did you create this look?

Well, if your canvas is the face of someone like in this case Kate Winslet, it is primarily a matter of choosing the tones of foundation and the colours that suit the face and theme of the concept. This ad was supposed to be quite dreamy, so I kept it all rather subdued.

Kate Winslet for Lancôme’s Trésor. Photography: Peter Lindberg. Makeup: Ellis Faas

4. What was the biggest challenge you faced when you started your cosmetics line? Other entrepreneurs have told me that their biggest challenges were financing and finding suppliers.

Finding suppliers was not so difficult because over the years I have met quite a few helpful people. Financing was difficult indeed, but since we started to do everything with a team of just three (now four), the amount we needed was still small enough to get a wonderful, private investor on board. But the biggest challenge by far is the production process and what happens to deadlines if only one of the productional steps has a delay. Phew!

Continued in Part 2.