I’ve heard a great deal about Ellis Faas makeup on the blogosphere and YouTube-land. I’ve read about how some people found the packaging crummy but the makeup is good. I’ve also heard people raving about how high-tech and awesome the packaging is, plus the makeup is good. Wayne Goss from Gossmakeupartist highly recommends the Eliis Faas foundation (which I’m now so tempted to try). However the reviews go on the packaging, the consensus is that the makeup is still fantastic.

When a couple of the Ellis Faas Hot Lips landed on my desk for review, I thought “cool bananas, time for me to finally try out stuff from Ellis Faas!“. And then I remembered the long bullet packaging, which to be honest, I’m not a fan of. Bugger. Gingerly, I took them out of the box and decided to give them a go.

Oh boy. I am in love. And this love also means “screw the packaging, gimme more!“.

The Hot Lips I had the opportunity to try out came in L402 (a bright tangerine) and L406 (a berry pink). These colours are absolutely stunning. When I first saw the tangerine, I thought “oh no! Bright orange! Would I be able to pull it off?” It’s actually a very beautiful tangerine, which is a colour so on trend and it would be perfect to wear even during autumn and winter amidst all the dark colours I always wear.

The Hot Lips leaves a matte finish on the skin. I haven’t worn matte lipsticks in a long time (not really a fan of them because they tend to make my lips look dry) but these look really good. They don’t feel dry on the lips and leave a beautiful stain. The colours look mighty intense when it’s first applied but as the hours go by, with meals and so on, it ends up leaving a lovely stain on the lips. In fact, you’ll need a makeup remover to fully remove the stain because just rubbing it with tissues won’t do.

Hot Lips in L402

Hot Lips in L406

What I love about the Hot Lips is that they make the lips look very polished. Even when it’s left as a stain on the lips, it still looks good. The slanted sponge applicator also makes it easy to apply.

Right, let’s go back to the packaging since that was what made me go a bit “meh” in the first place. I’m still not a fan of the packaging. The unnecessarily long bullets take up space in a makeup bag. I had to twist the bottom over 10 tens before the product started to appear on the sponge applicator. When I hold the two Hot Lips together, they remind me of big, fat chopsticks. 😛

Having said that, the colour intensity of the lippie, the non-drying texture despite it being matte and so on makes the Hot Lips gorgeous lippies to begin with and is enough for me to overlook the packaging. I’ve waxed lyrical enough about these lippies; I say the next time you head to Mecca Cosmetica for a bit of a nosey about, try out the Ellis Faas Hot Lips. Have the makeup artist apply it on you. You’ll be blown away by the gorgeous colours. I know I am. Even if I have suck it up with the long bullets. 😛

Ellis Faas Hot Lips retails at AU$49.00 and is available at Mecca Cosmetica.

What I like about it: The colour intensity is amazing, looks really good on the lips, very polished even when it’s left as a stain on the lips.

What I do not like about it: The long bullet packaging is unnecessary and wasteful. It’s just big packaging for a small amount of lip product.

Have you tried any makeup from Ellis Faas? What are your thoughts about the makeup? What about the packaging? Yay or nay?

Disclaimer: These products were provided for editorial consideration.