ELLIS FAAS

“One of the most influential make-up artists of her time”
-VOGUE PARIS-

http://www.ellisfaas.com/brand/visuals/

Ellis Faas was born and raised in the Netherlands, and from an early age she showed a great interest in fashion.  As she grew up, her inspiration followed the works of photographers such as Yousaf Karsh and Serge Lutens, and so she decided to pursue a career in photography.  During her time on the course, Faas would regularly use herself as her model, each time transforming her looks through the practice of make-up.  Her love for make-up grew the more she discovered about it and its versatility, and she soon decided to leave photography behind, in order to concentrate on a career in make-up.  She attended Christian Chaveau’s Technical School of Artistic Make-up in Paris, where she trained in make-up and special effects.

Faas returned to the Netherlands, where she began her work as a make-up artist through working for various fashion magazines.  Then, with a bit of experience at hand, she moved to London, where her career really began to kick off.  She worked mainly using special effects for medical inserts and on music videos for the stars at the time, through which she became very successful.

Following the birth of her daughter, she moved back to the Netherlands and started up her own, very popular portrait studio called ‘Face Value’.  Here she combined her passion for both make-up and photography; doing her clients make-up and then taking their photographs.  Alongside her new business, Faas also worked with the famous Dutch fashion photographer Inez van Lamsweerde, in order to stay active within the fashion industry as well.

Then in 1999 the photographer Mario Testino shot a series for L’Uomo Vogue in Amsterdam, where he asked Ellis Faas to do the make-up for it.  They liked the collaboration and so began working together worldwide.  Faas then met Emmanuelle Alt, a French fashion editor, who introduced her to Karl Lagerfield.  This led to her managing teams of make-up artists and training them to apply her desgins for Lagerfield’s shows for Fendi and Chanel.

Ellis Faas has worked for various campaigns, shows, magazines and photographers, some of which include Givenchy, Chanel, Vogue and Richard Burbridge.  She has also worked for make-up brands such as MAC and Clinique and in 2007 she created her own make-up brand called ‘Ellis Faas’.