Ellana Minerals was one of the first Filipino makeup brands ever to impress me in terms of value for money and not at the expense of quality either. I don’t even use powder all the time but their powder formulas never fail to impress me in terms of coverage and smoothness. They rose in popularity for the wide range of mineral makeup shades they offered that suited varied Asian complexions (especially for powder foundation). I just made a friend last Christmas (a fellow “Inglesera” painter friend who studied in I.S.) and she got surprised that I had Ellana loose foundation in my “kikay kit” during dinner. She said “You have it, too! You know that’s the only one I’ve found locally that works for me. I don’t even know much about makeup but I put it on and I like it.”
Ellana Minerals’ beautiful new packaging illustrations are by talented artist, Soleil Ignacio
ELLANA MINERAL POWDER FOUNDATION Php460.00 – This powder product put Ellana Minerals on the map. I still prefer the loose foundation over their new pressed versions, but I feel that their pressed powder compacts serve a new vital purpose for me. You can apply your loose Ellana mineral powder at home using a kabuki or dense buffing brush at a level of coverage that you can control, then bring the matching pressed powder along with you for easy day-to-night touch ups and less mess on the go. My MAC cosmetic shade is NC30 (a yellow medium/fair). My spot on shade in Ellana’s range would be right in-between Hazelnut Latte and its lighter step-up French Vanilla Latte.
Hazelnut Latte is the closest to my skintone but just a bit too dark, it’s actually my summer shade. French Vanilla is a tad bit too light naman but still okay for evening looks and can suit NC25-NC30 girls (mac shades). There’s a bit of a jump between shades but what’s awesome about Ellana’s range is there’s a warm range and also a cool range of light to deep tones we can choose from, which is mainly why I love them. I’m considering getting Chai Latte to see because its tone looks like it could sit between Hazelnut and French Vanilla even if it’s slightly cooler.
Ellana mineral powder foundations provide moderate to heavy coverage, are fragrance-free, suitable for sensitive skin, and provide intensive oil control. The powders also, apart from covering a multitude of flaws, really photograph immaculately well with no flashback. I actually blogged about the brand a couple of years ago here. I felt Ellana ease out of the limelight for just awhile, but I figured they would never totally leave the beauty biz since such a huge market (myself included) loved their range (comparable to Bare Minerals in the U.S.).
The brand got a pretty makeover and while they still have their loose powder available they’ve finally bravely put out pressed compact versions of their well loved mineral powder foundation, it provides the same product but in an easier to apply compact that allows you to control sheer to moderate coverage, primarily for touchups. BUT WAIT (that tone), there’s more! They came out with eyeshadow and blush compacts, too. Read “more” to get the full post, more photos (with and without flash) and see me wearing Ellana Mineral loose powder makeup in a more or less complete look.
Here are quick before and after shots of Ellana Mineral Makeup loose powder foundation applied on me using flash photography, no concealer applied.
Ellana mineral powder foundations are great to use during special occasions like weddings because a lot of flash photography takes place and you won’t get reflective flashback with these base powders. This also makes a good base for smooth powder contouring. There is honestly a slightly heavy feel of powder over the skin after application and it strongly adheres to the surface (indicative of oil control and great longevity). Initially the finish is completely matte but as hours pass the powder blends with the skin’s natural oils to create a truly beautiful natural, fresh finish in photos (as you’ll see at the end of this post in the finished look). In person, at an extremely close distance, the powder is of course still detectable and visible to the naked eye, but in photos you’ll almost always get, as the brand tagline states “poreless perfection”, especially in natural light as you can see here below, where after the powder foundation I try on their blush compact.
ELLANA BLUSH DUO “Kitten/Peach Passion” Php450.00 - These are Ellana’s Pressed blushes in a satin shimmer finish. I’m so happy with the color duo I got, simply because the nude peach shade on the right, seriously, is a close dupe for my fave Bobbi Brown Nude Glow Shimmer brick which I kept raving about last Christmas, and the gilded pink is pretty as well if you want an English rose sort of fresh makeup look, in the above photo I’m wearing the shade on the right.
One of the new things that excited me most was Ellana’s new pressed eyeshadow quads. The one I have is their new spring neutral quad which I’m not too sure yet about availability online, but this February it should eventually appear on the site, I’ll double check with them. It has a dusky rose, olive, copper, and vanilla shade. The rose and copper have a satin sheen. Okay, an update have stock on hand but are currently putting it on the website. I’ll edit the link here as soon as it’s up.
EYESHADOW QUAD Php350.00 – These shades are so silky and pigmented with minimal fallout. When I swatched this, I smiled in satisfaction because it impressed me more than I expected. They look matte in the pan and they almost are but two of the shades (the dusky rose and copper shade) have that understated sheen that makes them a satin finish. Serious eyeshadow delight.
For my final look though I didn’t use the eyeshadow. I figured this summer it’s all going to be about the base, blush, and gorgeous brows and lashes (compare my brows & lashes in the blush photo and final photo) , so that’s what I went for and here’s how it turned out. The light in my room changed after a few hours, but this is still natural light.
THE LOOK 1.) Ellana Loose Mineral Powder Foundation <Hazelnut Latte/French Vanilla Latte>, 2.) Ellana Kitten/Peach Passion Blush Duo (used the nude peach) 3.) K-palette Brow Pen 4.) Benefit Bad Gal Waterproof Mascara 5.) Guerlain Rouge Automatique #100 lipstick (Disclosure: All affiliate links within this post will provide click through readers with a 5% discount off any related Ellana purchase)
While ordering from Ellana Minerals’ online store here is quick and easy you may want to toss them an email [email protected], or for those who’ve never tried Ellana’s wonderful products you may want to check out their actual store branches at the following locations:
Glorietta 3
The Ramp, 2nd Floor Glorietta 3, Makati City
Shangri-la Plaza
2nd Floor The Ramp, Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City
Trinoma Mall
The Ramp, 1st Floor Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
