I was inspired to pull out my Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes in E105 after watching this video by Sam of Pixiwoo. The lights eye colour that Sam used is one that I have often admired but I thought it would be useful to remind myself of the struggle I've had with E105 before I made another purchase. So, on Sunday night I got out my E105 pen and prepared to get it back into working order!
When I took the pen out I found the brush tip had gone stiff. Knowing how tricky it can be to prime, I thought it would be worthwhile cleaning the brush beforehand. I used an eye makeup remover wipe to remove all the dried on product. As I'd anticipated, priming took a long time. I only like to do a few twists at a time as there's a delay as it comes out. If you continue to twist without pausing you're likely to waste a lot of product. I twisted and waited and twisted and waited in cycle for about half an hour before anything came out. I did end up with a little squiggle from overdoing it but after that length of time I just felt relieved that it hadn't dried up altogether!
As well as being tricky to prime, the creamy eyes are also a little tricky apply. I don't have any issue applying to the lid and getting opaque coverage. The tricky part is blending out at the crease. Often I will end up taking the colour further above the crease than intended. The method that I currently use is to wipe off the excess from the brush, roll the brush on the back of my hand to ensure product is evenly distributed on the bristles and then use the pen to apply directly to the lid. I then use a clean finger to blend. I do this very gently particularly as my finger quickly gets loaded with product and you can run the risk of transferring more product rather than sheering out. You could use a cotton bud or MAC 217 brush to blend as an alternative.
This is how my E105 looked today as I got it ready to use. It still took a while to prime (I swatched and photographed three Stila palettes in the time to took) but as I said, I'm quite cautious when twisting. The swatch below is a single layer of colour. E105 is a medium brown with no shimmer, it's probably warmer than I'd go for ordinarily but once my eyes are lined I feel ok about the colour.
The swatch above is with more product added. It looks wet as the top layer has not yet set. This is probably something else important to point out. The cream does set and won't budge once it has dried. It is extremely long lasting and I don't experience creasing. I find I need a good eye makeup remover to take it off.
My overall thoughts about E105 is that it is a nice colour but it is tricky to apply and the packaging means that if you don't use it everyday, there's likely to be wastage. I don't have as many problems with the milky lip colour pens and I imagine the foundation and concealer are also easier to use because they are thinner in consistency and would be used on a more regular basis. I'm hesitant to buy any more of the eye colours for now. I think you need to be quite a patient person not to get frustrated by the priming, I freely admit to having little patience when it comes to such things!
In the picture above I am also wearing:
Face
What remains of my Max Factor Second Skin from this morning
My usual concealers - RMK & BECCA
Shu brow pencil
Pacific coast highway bronzer from the Stila 'Living the Life in Laguna' palette used as a blusher
RBR Sea of Showers Highlighting liquid on cheek bone and cupids bow
Eyes
TFSI primer
Ellis Faas E105
A tiny bit of Stila Sand Dollar from the 'Living the Life in Laguna' just above the crease
Kevyn Aucoin Basic Black pencil
Max Factor Xperience Volume mascara
Lips
Ellis Faas L207 Milky Lips
Disclosure: Both Ellis Faas products, the TFSI, Shu brow pencil and RMK concealer are items that I bought myself. All the other items listed were PR samples.
I have the one Pixiwoo used in her video. it's horrible, it's patchy and if you blend it, it becomes red, the duochrome effect goes away. So what I do is to put a thin layer with a brush, blend the socket, wait it dries, put onother layer. But it's really a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteEeeeeh....not nearly patient enough for this.
ReplyDeleteI just can't recommend these any more (I did a video showing the problems with them). The dispensing mechanism is not good and wastes far too much product. Who has half an hour waiting for a blob to appear in the morning?! Shame, because I do like the colours and general concept.
ReplyDeleteLovely formulations with the world's worst applicator. I would never recommend any of these click pens to anyone, regardless of how nice the actual product inside them is. They're too expensive, too wasteful, and hard to use. Such a shame!
ReplyDeleteThe colour looks really great on you imo, but the packaging sounds like a complete and utter nightmare! :(
ReplyDeleteI think I'm intimidated by all the blending/priming issues.
ReplyDeleteI tried one of these shadows in Liberty when I was up in London on the Illamasqua course last year. With hygiene hygiene the message on the course I just couldn't warm to a shadow dispensed like this. I do seem to struggle with any form of wet eyeshadow application though! x
ReplyDelete@Claire: This is less oozing and more like a spot squiggling out! I think it's tricky getting something so thick to run freely in this sort of system. It's a shame as I do like the look of the bullets.
ReplyDelete@Anon: Sadly, I think this is generally true of duochromes. I know when blending MAC Club you have to beware of the reddy brown outer edge. It sounds like you definitely have more patience than me!
@Eden-Avalon: LOL!
@Grace: I think the half an hours wait makes it impractical for morning makeup. I like the concept too but I think I will better off avoiding any more of the eye colours. How do you get on with the blushers? Do they suffer with the priming issue too?
@Joey: I think these comments are going to be just as useful as the post itself for someone looking for a review. It really is hard to recommend them, especially if someone is buying online. I agree that it's a shame as the colours are so tempting.
@SilhouetteScreams: Thank you. The packaging is tricky that's for sure. It looks stylish and the colours are great but I prefer my makeup to be less frustrating.
@BelleBelle: I think maybe if you can go along to a counter and have a play and possibly have a lesson in how to apply these, you'd be able to see if they were for you. I seem to recall that you don't have a counter though?
@Sparklz and Shine: I don't worry too much about the hygiene aspect as a non-makeup artist (I'm pretty cavalier when it comes to that kind of thing, as you know). It's the fiddle factor that bothers me. I do love the idea that the shades are based on colours that naturally occur in the body and they do look stylish. I just think that the eye creams are too thick for the click system to work efficiently.
Jane x
The blushers are better, as they are more liquid in texture. Still takes a while to prime if you've not used for a week or more though.
ReplyDeleteSadly, no counter :( Bergdorfs used to carry it, but no longer. I would love a chance to play with some. Maybe one day!
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame this is tricky to apply as it looks really lovely on you! x
ReplyDeleteI love this product. I'm a bit of an amateur where make-up application is concerned but I found this very easy to use. I just primed the brush and applied directly to my lids with a little bit of blending with my finger. Easy as, but, I used E119 which is a fairly forgiving color.
ReplyDelete