I’ve been rediscovering my Ellis Faas products recently (I adore them, but always forget about them because I have to store them off to the side of my drawer, what with the pen-style size), and I put this confection together this morning out of curiosity.

I always turn up too much product when working with the Milky Lips L201 (Ellis Red) lipstick, so I keep the overflow in a basic five-gram jar, then use it up over the course of the next week or two. Today, though, I tried L201 on my cheeks – heck, why not, right?

Long story short, I loved the finished result so much that I ended up blending a dab of 201 with a great, lightweight, also ‘cone-free Clarins moisturizer so that I can recreate the look without too much trouble in the future. The photos are significantly darker than usual (sorry!) as the sun seems reluctant to come out from the clouds, but I figured slightly darker photos are better than nothing!

(Plus, darker photos are a bit of a guilty pleasure. Shh, don’t tell.)

Why those products?

I love a sheer, red cheek, which isn’t hard to find if you’re okay with using lip products on your cheeks. However, while a surprising number of lipsticks contain silicones (betcha didn’t see that one coming!) Ellis lipsticks don’t. I already knew that I could get a really natural-looking red lip stain by using a bit of 201, so a similar flush on the cheeks wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

Swatched really, really sparingly, then just… sparingly.

To sheer it out, I picked Vital Light Day because I knew it would give a lightweight “slip” to the bespoke blusher, but then sink into the skin and leave a hydrated glow (rather than a heavy, sticky moisturizer sheen). Honestly, though? You could make your own cream blusher with anything you have on hand, whether that’s a tube of your favourite MAC lipstick and a dollop of primer, or a basic Revlon SL blended with a bit of Vaseline.

Anyhow. That’s my ramble of the day… now go be a pseudo-chemist and play with some makeup!

(Full-face swatches…)