Bulletproof Organization

Thinking outside the cosmetics bag results in a sleek, metal-like shell that keeps makeup fired up and ready to go.

By Jamie Matusow, Editor

Every once in a while, a cosmetics packaging idea comes along that’s so clever—and logical—you can’t help wondering, why wasn’t this done before? Such is the case with a newly launched private label line from The Netherlands, created by internationally renowned makeup artist Ellis Faas with award-winning industrial designer Arnout Visser. The revolutionary concept, an attractive holder that contains foundation, powder, eye and lip products, blush and concealer all in one canister, and ready for instant use—arose from Faas’s own frustration with putting her hands on just the right cosmetics when she needed them.

“What I missed as a woman who uses makeup in daily life [as opposed to as a makeup artist] was a practical way to carry it around,” says Faas. While her professional tools were always kept neat and organized, she says, “My handbag was always one big mess, with tons of products in various shapes and sizes. So I came up with a solution that provides me with what I wanted: a canister [the Ellis Holder] in which you can put a maximum of eight of our products that you may want to carry around that day.”

Even better is that on the following day, you can easily make a different color selection to vary with your mood. Aside from developing an organization method, the makeup artist, who is favored by designers and photographers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Mario Testino, also created it as an alternative to palettes, in which “you only use one color and throw away the others,” she says. “I believe in complete freedom in product types, colors and textures, so you buy the holder empty and fit in whatever you like. And of course,” she adds, “you don’t have to buy the holder.”

Faas says humbly of her design: “I just made what I wanted,” but adds that she is not alone in her thinking. “I once read a survey that women usually spend more time looking for a certain product in their handbag than it takes to apply it!”

Several Years in the Making

Faas says the project took several years to unfold, because a contract with L’Oréal’s Biotherm prevented her from moving forward with it. “Then,” she says, “we had to find the money to realize the plan.”Faas says that as soon as the funding became available, development went rather quickly. “Within 15 months or so, our 27 lipsticks hit the market,” she says, “and the holder and the other products arrived half a year later.”

“For the packaging aspect of things,” Faas says she worked with Cosmopak, “who already had good contacts with the various factories that produce it.” She says it is made of several types of synthetic materials, because she wanted it to be as lightweight as possible, for ease in taking it along. And while many brands might want to ensure a scratch-free finish, Faas’s holder features a metallic finish that will scratch over time with use. ”I like that,” she says, “we call it ‘positive aging.’ ”

Like any prescribed makeup application, all of the components were customized. Faas says none of the products or the holder “was something standard lying on a shelf somewhere.”

Literally everything had to be modified. Molds had to be made for every piece in the holder, and also for the pens’ “standard” brushes and applicators. Faas says it was “very expensive and painstaking, but luckily, we have also been able to protect it all legally because it is so unique.”

The makeup pro says she relied on her personal habits in developing the line of products as well as the holder. “I simply looked at myself and counted how many products I wanted to take with me when I left the house, and that was a maximum of eight,” she says.

Nearly all products are available in the same-size, silver bullet-like pens. The exception is the foundation, which, because of the volume, needed to be larger. So the foundation is placed in the middle, and there is room for six other products to be placed around it. And because they have the same shape and size, you can choose exactly which ones you want; if you don’t use eyeliner, just put in something that you do use. The compact powder is the only formulation that doesn’t come in a pen, but there is a space in the lid underneath the mirror to fit it in. Indicators on the tops of the pens identify the products, and by turning the base of the holder, the pens move up and down individually, making it easy to select them for use.

Liquid Color

As innovative as the packaging is, so are the color cosmetics, themselves. The textures of the makeup rely on Faas’s Human Colors concept that makes the colors suitable for any age or skin tone. The shades are all inspired by colors of the human body, from blood to freckles. As further association with the body, all products are fluids, to reflect the body’s watery nature—and thus blend more evenly with skin—as well as to fit within the same applicator pens.

Innovation Ahead

Faas says she’s still developing more ideas for the system, but always linked to the brand as it is now. “The holder, as it is now,” she says, “will be our ‘classic’ that we will keep available. But we are also planning to introduce other materials, other appearances, maybe limited editions with artists or designers.”

The brand, which ranges in price from $25 for the powder to $65 for the foundation (the empty holder is $35), launched early this year in the U.S., exclusively at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman, with its own counter at the Beauty Level. It is also available at www.ellisfaas.com.