Problematic things that are still perfect
Tuesday 28 February 2012 at 09:29 amSorry, not perfume. I'm still not feeling brilliant which isn't fun.
Anyway, I briefly wrote recently about a makeup brand called Ellis Faas. It's one of those obscure (well, sort of -- you can get it at Sephora in the US, which makes it much less obscure) makeup artist brands.
Almost every writeup I'd read was fulsomely positive. Except for the delivery system, which seemed to be seriously hit or miss.
Anyway, I've been on this ongoing search for a good concealer because I'm at that time in my life when some things are better concealed.
The stuff is available online, but you can't (obviously) test it that way. So, I wrote to the EF customer service people. They wrote back. Always a good sign regarding the quality of a company's customer service. Then, a woman named Monique sent me a few samples of concealer. I tried them, found a colour that was dead-on-right for me. So, I procured Ellis Faas concealer and foundation (in the pen, more on that in a minute) from Liberty when I visited London recently.
An aside: I also bought a lip colour online, something labelled L201 which is supposed to mimic the colour of blood. It does -- and it's great. And, I really love it. I can make it look like a red stain on my lips or go a bit stronger.
So, that concealer. The delivery system for EF products is unique. Silver bullet-shaped dispensers that you click from the base. Product then comes out onto the brush or sponge applicator. Problem is sometimes the dispensers work fine (my lip colour); sometimes they don't. The top on the concealer pen stopped clicking shut after two uses; the foundation pen never worked properly.
I wrote to Monique about this. She is sending me replacements. She did say this doesn't happen very often.
The thing is this stuff is so godawfulgood people seem to be willing to overlook any delivery issues. This is expensive makeup. There's no way round it, and I expect it's as pricey as it is because of the packaging. A lot of thought was put into it, but alas there are still some glitches.
The reviews on MUA comment on the hit or miss system. However, reviewers also say they're willing to deconstruct the pens that don't work because there's nothing that comes close to this stuff out there. I can see their point.
The concealer I have, S202, comes out looking like it should be a bit too pinky-orange for me skintone. Instead, it simply disappears into my skin like it was made specifically for me. I don't have real under-eye circles, just discolouration. I've also got some brown spots on my face and tend to go red around my nose. S202 covers all of it without giving me a mask look or looking like I've got anything on at all actually. It doesn't slide into fine lines.
So, something of a miracle worker.
In a way these products, in particular the concealer, are like a holy grail perfume -- something you find that you both love the smell of and feels like it was made just for you and your body chemistry. You don't mind that other people might wear it because it's still going to be fully and wholly unique to you.
While I await my replacement pens (the foundation is also available in a pump bottle, but I don't need that much stuff, which is why I was after the pen in the first place) I've taped the concealer lid shut. I'm going to have a go at the foundation pen with pliers and then decant the stuff into a jar. "Is it really worth all the trouble?" you ask. Yes, it is.