Ellis Lips

Leigh's comment on my Ellis Red/L201 post piqued my curiosity on the other Ellis Lips formulas and how they compare to each other. A generous introduction later, I was sent one of each formula to review on Messy Wands. This felt like such a monumental responsibility that for the last three weeks I've barely worn any other color on my lips, just so I make sure to write the most accurate review ever. 

If you're unfamiliar with Ellis Lips, here is how it works: The product is housed in a bullet-lookalike pen. When you remove the cap, you'll see the applicator like below (if it's your first use, it should be completely white). To dispense product from the pen, turn the base of the pen clockwise. One "cycle" should be enough for one application (again, if it's your first use, just keep twisting till the color appears).

Ellis Lips comes in three textures: Creamy Lips (L101-109), Milky Lips (L201-209), and Glazed Lips (L301-309). All three boast a lightweight formula and provide as little or as much coverage as you wish. Playing with these made me seriously reconsider my fondness for lipsticks in a bullet form, just because of the freedom of customization I can get. According to the Ellis Faas website, all Ellis Lips products contain Vitamin E and are paraben-free. All textures are also liquid, so they "immediately blend into skin upon application," thus are non-sticky. 

Creamy Lips comes with a spongy applicator while the other two operate on a brush-type applicator. 

L-R: Glazed Lips L301, Milky Lips L205, Creamy Lips L108

Creamy Lips (L101-109)

Creamy Lips provides the most natural looking finish of the three formulas. A minute or two into application, it dries down to a velvet matte finish. The product mimics the texture of the lips while imparting a wash of the color of your choice. This is an admittedly high maintenance formula. It is not flattering when applied on dry lips and does not claim to have moisturizing properties, so while it doesn't sap the moisture from your lips, it wouldn't aid the pesky dryness (PSA: drink more water, self and everyone else!). However, when applied on "good" lips, Creamy Lips may be your best option in the market when you want to fake your natural lip color.

Case in point: In the picture below, would you have guessed I had lipstick on if I didn't point it out?

The shade in question: L108, a light peach

I found the included instructions particularly useful, so here you go:

"Apply Creamy Lips with the spongy applicator first by painting the lips with just a small amount of lipstick, then fully load the applicator to fill inside of the lips... For a more stained effect - just load a tiny bit of the lipstick onto the applicator, apply and blot for a matte stain."

Milky Lips (L201-209)
Milky Lips is the in-between of the Creamy Lips and Glazed Lips formula. While wetter then Creamy Lips, it does not achieve the like-water finish you get with Glazed Lips. The word I'd use to describe the effect is "dewy" or maybe even "glistening." Neither are bad words for one's lips to associate with!

What I found while using Milky Lips (in shade L205, a pink peach) is that upon application, the color seems to be suspended over your lips for a bit. It doesn't look good here, but wait for 1-2 minutes and the lipstick will settle and meld itself to your lips.

Like what I experienced with Creamy Lips, the Milky Lips formula clings to dry bits, and seem to seep into lip lines as well. But again, when applied to "good lips," this looks amazing. True story: I put this on when I left work one day, then went to the mall for some much-needed retail therapy. Halfway through trying on a new outfit, I stopped and went near the mirror to examine my lips. I distinctly remember not having any impression when I was at the office, but in that changing room what I saw were such plump and juicy lips... I'd kiss myself if I could.

Since Milky Lips is wetter in texture, I do feel that it's somewhat moisturizing. After all, it's like applying (dense) liquid on your lips. (Do note that the company does not claim Milky Lips to be moisturizing!)

L205

Official instructions for Milky Lips:

"For a subtle look with just a trace of color, either apply a feather-light layer all over the lips or apply Milky Lips to the middle of the lips and fade it with the fingertips."

Glazed Lips (L301-309)
I saved my favorite for last! If Milky Lips is "dense liquid," Glazed Lips is literally pouring water over your lips, minus the mess that would ensue. It has the unique quality of providing intense color but is translucent at the same time. It goes without saying that Glazed Lips is the most comfortable of all three to wear.

L301

One major plus for Glazed Lips is it fades evenly and dries down to a stain-like quality. I didn't know this will happen when I first put it on, so my mind was promptly blown five hours after. Just take a look at the picture below! I took it 5-6 hours after initial application of L301. 

Such a huge plus! I cannot use lip stains because they've always been too drying for my chronically chapped lips. Now I have a lip stain alternative that gives me two looks in one application. Can you see how I die for this kind of product? I make hand-grabbing motions when I think of the entire Glazed Lips line.

Construction and Beyond

As mentioned, Ellis Lips are lightweight and comfortable, and if this hasn't been made clear, long lasting. I'm inclined to believe they will last on my lips forever if I don't have to eat or drink, and I was sorely tempted to test this theory but sadly, I am human. All formulas come with an applicator so precision wouldn't be an issue, and with them you save time rummaging for and cleaning your lip brush before each use.

That said, my biggest peeve with the products is the design. No doubt it's unique and definitely makes a statement. I have no problem locating them among my admittedly vast collection of lip products (big plus). However, they might not be the best for bringing out. I have no problem because my bags are usually large enough to hold a small child, but I can see how plenty of women would have to struggle to fit these in their tiny purses.

Also, because the amount of product I get for each application depends on how much I twist the base of the pen, quite often I get too much product because I become impatient while waiting for the color to appear. Earlier into testing these, I must have wasted a few applications' worth because I'd twist and nothing would come out, then I'll twist again thinking I didn't do enough, then I see the color and stop but it's too late because 2-3 applications worth would have oozed out. It really doesn't take long (think 5 seconds) for the color to appear, but compared to a regular lipstick where it's twist and go... Anyway, I'm quite proud to say that I've since mastered the technique.

Finally, I wanted to address what I said earlier about Creamy Lips and Milky Lips not looking good on dry lips. It is true that those two formulas do cling to dry bits and seep into lines, but I forget that I look at myself two inches away from the mirror, whereas other people are probably already too close to me when they're just two feet away. Unless your lips are so dry as to be flaking as you speak (to which I say what are you even doing with lipstick?!), they'll look perfectly fine to everyone but the person you kiss (who um, shouldn't bother what lipstick you've got on).

If the paragraphs above were too long, the takeaway is Ellis Faas products in general come with a learning curve, but they're so worth your time. 

Ellis Lips retail for $35 apiece and are available at ellisfaas.com, Space NK, and sephora.com (!!). If you are a Sephora VIB, you have till November 14 to enjoy 20 percent off your entire purchase with code VIBDREAM. I suggest slipping a couple of these into your cart. Like um, what I did just now.

Update: While I don't have swatches of all the colors (if only!), here's a snapshot from the pamphlet I received from PR that I hope are color accurate (I haven't seen most of these colors so...). I hope it helps those of you who want to place a blind order:

The products in this post were sent to me from the company for review.

Beauty PSA: Chanel Rouge Allure Laque shades to be discontinued

... including THE Rouge Allure Laque Dragon.

I realized I posted this on my Twitter account but not on the blog, and it's quite imperative that everyone knows before it's too late. Temptalia tweeted this news some time ago and while there was some misinformation flying around after, she finally confirmed it:

Needless to say, the beauty community was devastated. When news broke, Nordstrom was immediately backordered on Dragon. The Boston Neiman Marcus was already out of stock of it when I checked yesterday. Currently, you can still get all shades from the Chanel website, but do know Dragon, at least, is going fast. Everyone is scrambling around to stock up on their favorite shades. I'm not the "backup" kind of girl, but I did purchase two, and have immediate plans to try out the rest to make sure I won't be missing anything when they're gone.

I have no words for why Chanel would choose to discontinue (in my opinion) their best lip formula.

Le Métier de Beauté Holiday 2011: Antiquité Poupée

What's nice about friends who visit? Friends who visit with the most anticipated Holiday makeup item  in their travel bags. Listen closely and you'll hear a really faint but persistent high-pitched "eeee" in your ears, that's the sound I made when he laid this out before me.

Le Métier de Beauté Antiquité Poupée consists of a light champagne pink, a silver taupe with hints of khaki, a terracotta red, and a midnight blue silver.  I can already envision hordes of people going crazy over the taupe and the blue.

Clockwise: Antiquité Poupée from top to bottom

L-R: Swatched from bottom to top

This monolid shot is for you, Isla!

Utilizing this kaleidoscope with the couches de couleurs (if that term doesn't make sense to you, let me direct you to my Penelope tutorial!) method delivers a soft sterling pink on the lids. Dustin was extensive in his application but I had my eyes closed and wasn't allowed a mirror till it was done, so I can't really say what went on. I know he used the Dualistic Pencil in Champagne as a base. From the pictures, I'm guessing he layered the pink, taupe, and terracotta red over each other, and used the blue-silver shade a little closer to the lashline (already lined with Noir liquid liner) to smoke out the eye. He dipped a liner brush into all four shades to shade the lower lash line, and used the pink shade to highlight the inner corners. For lashes, he used a coat of Anamorphic Mascara in Aubergine.

For lips, he specifically mentioned he wanted a sort of stained look, as if one just finished eating a popsicle, and delivered this vision through a touch of Colour Core Moisture Stain Lipstick in Bali in the center of the lips with a layer of Clearly Brilliant Lip Gloss. My lips are naturally pigmented so he had to apply concealer to the outer edges to tone down the color. Lastly, he used Rumor blush and some intense dabbing specifically on the apples of the cheeks. The result is a very doll-like countenance, which makes perfect sense considering antiquité poupée means "ancient doll" in English.

We took half a dozen of photos where I looked like a fail ninja geisha person until I was told not to smile and the photo finally turned out decent. I was completely overshadowed, of course. 

The pictures below were taken after I got home. The lip he created for the look had already faded and in my attempt to recreate it I realized in total dismay that I did not own a clear lip gloss. Some appropriate adjectives to describe this situation: appalled, incredulous, uh... (the writer has short-circuited).

Anyway, concentrate on the eyes!

Le Métier de Beauté Antiquité Poupée is the stuff of dreams. The shadows are not only quadruple-milled but also pearl-based, so imagine Le Métier shadows but even softer. When he applied them on me it felt like he was sweeping clouds on my eyes (perhaps important to note: he used the brand's eye shadow brush). I'm sure all this sounds like hyperbole and the skeptic in you have your (perfectly tweezed/threaded/waxed) eyebrows raised. But only a hundred of these will be produced, so do you really want to take the chance?

Antiquité Poupée will retail for $95 and will be exclusively available at Bergdorf Goodman on December 1. I bet half of you already know Dustin's number by heart, but in case you don't, call 212-872-8612 to pre-order yours now. Historically speaking, clichés like "flying off the shelves" and "selling like hot cakes" apply to every single one of Dustin's creations. How I ever got my hands on them (before I knew him) is a complete mystery to me. 

Don't say I didn't warn you!

For more coverage on Antiquité Poupée, visit The Black Panties and Product Doctor.

Butter London Holiday 2011: Tart With A Heart, Fairy Lights, and The Black Knight

Holy sparkle! Butter London dishes up holiday cheer with oodles of glitter. I grew up in a tropical climate, so we never had four seasons, much less snow, and my family does not celebrate Christmas. Thus, year-end festivities were relegated to tacky mall decorations and monthlong blaring Christmas carols (which I secretly enjoyed - I used to be part of a caroling troupe singing at malls), snow globes and glitter sparkles on every corner. 

But really, you don't need my dose of nostalgia to enjoy the new Butter London Holiday collection polishes. Here are some pictures to illustrate my point.

The Black Knight

Tart With A Heart

Fairy Lights

L-R: Tart With A Heart, Fairy Lights, The Black Knight

The collection consists of three nail lacquers. Tart With A Heart contains pink and blue reflecting glitters suspended in a pale gray-pink base, Fairy Lights is a "liquid metal" rose pink, whereas The Black Knight is pink, silver, and blue glitters in a black base. 

The naming of the polishes confused me. I thought Tart With A Heart should have been called Fairy Lights considering the explosion of reflecting glitter that comes with the polish. It's like a Christmas party on your nails. 

While it doesn't bother me, I thought you should know that like all glitter polishes, Tart With A Heart and The Black Knight comes with serious grit, even after smoothing a top coat over it. These two are easy to apply, and the glitter spreads evenly as you pull your brush along. They also seem to dry a lot quicker than usual polishes. While Tart With A Heart only requires one for sparkle aplenty (I did two, as you might expect of me), The Black Knight requires at least two coats to achieve the above opacity. 

Fairy Lights proves to be the only one out of the trio to give cause for concern. The age-old problem with metallic polishes is visible brush strokes, as in you'll most likely have them. I found that the best way to tackle that issue with Fairy Lights is to not scrimp on polish. Thick is the keyword for success. Compare the application on my middle and index fingers above, where the middle finger was painted with two thin coats, whereas I oozed polish onto the index finger. While one coat was enough to achieve opacity, I definitely suggest two coats for this. 

More pictures for your viewing pleasure:

I know glitter polishes are done by every brand under the sun for holiday, but I think The Black Knight can be a huge contender in that massive field. I personally am partial to Tart With A Heart because it reminds me of swirling snow globes and looking at it saved me from biting a (very disrespectful) person's head off. Something about pretty polish distracts me and calms me down.

One last note about these polishes: I keep hearing people groan about the torture of removing glitter polish but I didn't find it all that difficult. I soaked a cotton in nail polish remover and pressed it onto my nail and waited for 5-10 seconds, then proceeded to wipe it off like how I would any other polish. Worked like a charm. 

Butter London Holiday 2011 retails for $14 each and is available at butterlondon.com and select other retailers. I usually purchase Butter London from ulta.com (though it doesn't seem like this collection has arrived on the website yet). 

The products in this post were sent to me for review purposes.

Le Métier de Beauté Flawless Kaleidoscope Face Kit

I'm brimming with happiness while writing this review. It has been too long since a kaleidoscope graced this page, and not only is this kaleidoscope great, it's not limited edition. It's still available on counters so I know all of you can go out and grab it if you wish. 

This review is long overdue, as is my acquirement of this kaleidoscope. By all logic and common sense this should be one of the first few kaleidoscopes to own from the brand, but I managed to accumulate around thirteen of the lip and eye kits before getting to it. When I confessed this to Dustin he just shook his head in disbelief.

Le Métier de Beauté Flawless Kaleidoscope Face Kit contains four basic shades to set, highlight, and contour your face. I'd consider you fully armed on the face front if all you have in your makeup drawer is Flawless. The few Le Métier makeup artists I've met all swear by this kaleidoscope. Shawn from the Boston counter shared a story of how this kit was a lifesaver when he needed to prep all the models for FNO Boston in a pinch. He just whipped it out and used it on all of them as needed. It's a no brainer, as you'll see why.

From top to bottom, Flawless contains the Classic Flawless Face Finish Translucent Setting Powder, Highlighter in Whisper, Radiance Powder Rouge in Echo, and a bronzer. I will talk more extensively about the bottom three in this review, but first, the setting powder. It is imperative that you know I don't use much setting powder. I usually forgo that step because I like the finish my foundations give me. That said, this setting powder is finely milled and blends well into the skin when applied on the face. It is a beige yellow that is a smidge lighter than my skintone, but it is not apparent when I wear it. I think most women would find it very useful to have in this kit. 

However, if you don't find it as useful, there is a hole under each of the swivel-out compacts that allows you to pop the shade out and replace it with any other shade you might prefer (you'll have to provide the shade yourself, unfortunately). This is a good tip to remember about all your kaleidoscopes!

The three bottom shades are what makes Flawless a no-brainer. I used the word "basic" before in the best possible way. Whisper is an opal pink highlighter while Echo is a coral blush with understated shimmer. The bronzer looks like it contains shimmer in the pan, but swatches decidedly matte. Without a doubt, these are universal shades that will complement everyone within the light to medium range of skintone.

Dear reader Katie was the one who gave me the inspiration for the structure of this review (thank you for your patience, Katie!). She wanted to know how Le Métier de Beauté blushes performed and was also concerned about the bronzer being too dark for her skintone. In true Messy Wands spirit, I'll show you how it works the "right" (though I believe there is no correct way to apply anything) way, and how it'll look if you overdo it. 

If you are new to face contouring, I suggest visiting my previous tutorial on contouring before reading ahead. While that tutorial is written using NARS Multiples, the concepts applied are the same.

Here's a picture of me before applying any of the face powders. Note that my cheeks are colorless to a fault. 

Here is how my cheek looks with just one swipe of bronzer below the cheekbone (I used a MAC 109 brush). Note that if this is still too dark for you, you can always blend it out.

Here is how it looks with about four or five stabs of the bronzer piled on top of each other. 

Here is a soft swipe of Echo placed above the bronzer, and Whisper placed above Echo.

Here is how a couple of punches of Echo would look, and a hard swipe of Whisper above it.

Another picture to show you the luminescence that Whisper creates. Sometimes I don't know why I bother using anything else.

A portrait picture to show you how ridiculous I looked when all this was happening.

However! Let's say you made a mistake and came out like above, with one side of the cheek much more pigmented than the other, just take a fluffy brush and blend - you'll see the color diffuse on your face. The opposite to that works as well. If you want more color on the face, all you have to do is add another swipe. As demonstrated above, these powders are buildable. You really cannot make mistakes with this thing.

When worn above Chantecaille Future Skin, the powders last all day. Sure, by the end of the night the intensity would lessen, but it was still visible on me. This doesn't happen to many of my blushes (and in case the distinction is crucial: it also does not happen with many of my blushes over Future Skin).

(On a side note, yes I realize the Future Skin review is also long overdue. I just want to make sure I've got everything covered before writing it. Thank you for your patience!)

One last picture from a different photoshoot session:

Flawless Kaleidoscope Face Kit retails for $95 and is available wherever you find Le Métier de Beauté counters. This includes Neiman Marcus in-stores and online, select Nordstroms, and Bergdorf Goodman. I know Dustin has plenty lying around at his place so you can also give him a call at 212-872-8612 to get your very own. If you do call him, please let him know you came from Messy Wands!

I hope you enjoyed this review. I certainly had fun writing it! Let me know if you have Flawless and cannot live without it, or suddenly have an urge to run to a counter to procure it. You know I love friends to gush makeup with!

Some Upcoming Beauty Collections

Even before I began writing Messy Wands I used to collect information on upcoming collections way before their release dates, just so I could get down to the counter and be the first one to play with new stuff come launch day. Now, I actually have an outlet to share my madness! *cue maniacal laughter

Below are links to some collection previews that crossed my way this bright Friday morning:

Chanel Spring 2012 product images available on Beauty Crazed. I'm not terribly excited about this, but the palette looks like it could be a killer basic. I suppose we'll find out in two months (or less).

Karl Lagerfeld x Sephora collection (was I living under a rock? I did not know this was even happening) product images via be.com. However, according to fashionista.com, it will only be available in Europe and Singapore.

Le Métier de Beauté Holiday kaleidoscope preview and swatches (!!) via The Black Panties. You don't even need to ask if I will be getting this.

Le Métier de Beauté Holiday Stoc-Ken Stuffers nail collection press info and swatches of All That Glitters via Pink Sith and Best Things in Beauty.


I will be attending a Guerlain Master Class later in the evening and I expect to come home with at least one new Great Red. How will you be spending your weekend?


Updates: British Beauty Blogger has details on Lancome Spring 2012: Roseraie Des Delices. In case you wanted to know, mint green/green will be the "it" color for spring. You only need to take a peek at Dior Spring 2012 to know it's true.

Yes, we're skipping seasons.

Sneak Peek: Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet Swatches

Hooray! The Chanel counter at Neiman Marcus Boston came through and I was able to get swatches of the new Chanel Rouge Allure Velvets. I took these after I got home so I probably smeared half of it on the inside of my coat. Picture more vibrancy to the colors below for accuracy.

Clockwise: 40, 41, 34, 39, 32, 37, 38, 36

Here's what the numbers correspond to:

32 - La Ravissante

34 - La Raffinée

36 - La Caline

37 - L'Exuberante

38 - La Fascinante

39 - La Somptueuse

40 - La Sensuelle

41 - L'Exquise

My fleeting impressions after wearing La Caline for an hour (do note that these are first thoughts based on brief experience and are subject to change):

• Formula is smooth. Does not tug during application - a novelty when it comes to matte formulas.
• It is not moisturizing, but I don't think it's necessarily drying. When I applied La Caline my bottom lip was chapped, and the lipstick picked up on the dryness and emphasized it. But my top lip was fine and the lipstick looks a-okay on it. This is a potentially high maintenance lipstick because you'll have to exfoliate beforehand.
• Very pigmented.
• Doesn't seem to be completely matte. There is the slightest sheen/glistening when you apply the lipstick. An hour in, that glistening has faded somewhat. The lipstick settles to a very very natural-looking finish (after all, our lips are naturally matte).
  

Quick update: Rae from The RAEviewer posted a review of La Ravissante and it looks ravishing on her. Take a peek at her post to see how the Rouge Allure Velvets perform in action.

Released in conjunction with the new lipsticks are three new limited edition nail colors and one limited edition matte top coat. The nail colors are a red-fuchsia Pirate, fuchsia Rose Exubérant, and rose beige Rose Caché. I was unimpressed by Pirate till I placed the Mat Top Coat over it, where the color deepened into what we see in the promo ad. I purchased all four of these polishes and will review it in full soon.

The photos below are terrible, but I hope it gives you at least some inkling of how the polishes look. 

L-R: Pirate (layered with Mat Top Coat), Rose Exubérant

Rose Caché

As mentioned yesterday, the Rouge Allure Velvet lipsticks ($32 each) and new nail polishes ($25 each)  are already available on the Chanel website. I purchased mine from Neiman Marcus Boston. It should arrive at all other Chanel counters soon, if not already. What do you think? Will you be picking any of these up?