Nik the Makeup Junkie

May 11, 2019

Let's Talk About CBD

*Products mentioned were sent for review, opinions are my own*
We're going to talk about something that's become really important to me over the past few months, and that something is CBD oil. I haven't mentioned anything here yet, but you've probably noticed I've been away a lot. That's because I've been so busy and so stressed out, so much so that I wasn't sleeping anymore and I couldn't function like a regular human.

That's where CBD came in. Last summer I stopped all of my medications. I quit all of my depression medications, as well as migraine medications in hopes of taking a more natural approach because the side effects of my medications were no longer worth the benefits to me. For a few months, I was relying solely on myself to get through everything and I reached a point a few months ago where I realized, it's not working. I was so stressed that I stopped sleeping; it would take hours to fall asleep and I'd wake up every 30-ish minutes. After I reached that point I realized, I needed something. So, I started researching and that's when I came across CBD. I've tried a few different kinds, but recently Flora + Bast reached out to see if I'd like to try theirs, and obviously I jumped on the opportunity. They sent over their Age Defying Sleep Tincture and Age Adapting Facial Serum. I've been using both of these every day since, so for around 10 weeks, and I wanted to share my experience.

The Age Defying Sleep Tincture is a CBD oil designed to help you sleep. This help to regulate your sleep cycles which allows you to fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. You take this about 30 minutes before bed. I've been using this nightly and it's made such a huge difference in my sleep schedule. I can actually sleep a full night now! It's such a nice change for me. The Age Adapting Facial Serum was created to balance your endocannabinoid system, which allows your skin to repair itself for optimal aging. This will help to reduce acne and breakouts, reduce redness and puffiness, and enhance firmness and elasticity. What I've noticed from using this is that it makes my skin so soft, hydrated, and glowy. I love it and I use it every night before bed. You can find more info about these products on the Flora + Bast website, and I definitely recommend checking them out. I'll definitely need to repurchase soon and I want to try more of their products. Let me know if you've tried CBD based products before.

April 29, 2019

Urban Decay x Game Of Thrones | Full Collection Review

*products mentioned were sent for review, opinions are my own*

The Urban Decay x Game of Thrones collection is now available in Ulta and Sephora, and since Urban Decay was nice enough to send it over, I wanted to review it for you. This is a fairly large collection with an eyeshadow palette, highlighter palette, lip and cheek stain, four lipsticks, four eyeliners, and two brushes.

I didn't swatch the eyeshadow palette because I've learned that swatches mean nothing, first of all. But aside from that, I have a new tattoo and it's right where I do my swatches, so that's a no-go. I did swatch the highlight palette, lipsticks, and eyeliners though, so I'll post those below.
The eyeshadow palette has 20 shades and these shades are broken up into 4 groups of 5. These colors are somewhat unique I think and the sets of 5 seem cohesive. This palette is severely lacking matte shades but the metallics and glitters are stunning. I really like this as a companion palette. The packaging is bulky and isn't travel friendly, but if you're a fan of the show, I think you'll appreciate the palette.

Next we have the Mother of Dragons highlight palette. This palette includes 3 shades, most of which seem better suited for medium-darker skin tones. The powders are soft but don't kick up much and are very similar to their other highlighters. The Urban Decay highlighter formulas tend to be a bit more glittery than some other highlighters and isn't really a formula that I prefer, but they are pretty and if you like shimmer-y highlights, you'll probably enjoy the palette.

The packaging is super cute and the dragon egg embossed on each shade is an adorable touch.

Next, the lipsticks. There are four shades available.

Cersei is a pretty unique shade as it's a metallic bronze, but the others aren't super unique. Sansa Stark is my personal favorite, as it's a sheer nude-peach, but this fall White Walker is going to be a staple; that deep berry is speaking to me. The red isn't something that I consider to be unique or even new to Urban Decay collections, so I'm less excited about that one.

I'm mostly obsessed with the new 24/7 liners, which are all new gorgeous shades and actually are super unique. Lannister Lion is the most unique gold shade I've seen. It's gold but also taupe and semi-cool toned and just gorgeous. Dragon Smoke is a seriously deep plum with some shimmer. The Night King is the prettiest deep teal shade that I've seen in quite some time, and Winterfell Snow is a super cool white with blue glitter and a blue shift. It actually looks like snow. They're super unique and I absolutely recommend picking them up.
Here are some swatches of the eyeliners, lipsticks, and highlight palette.

The Dracarys lip and cheek stain gives a nice, natural flush to the cheeks and lips that I've been loving. It's not too much but can easily be layered and is so easy to use.

Lastly, we have the brushes. These brushes are totally impractical for actual everyday use because I'm not sure how you'd store them but they're super soft. I think this is one part of the collection that is best suited for collectors.

Overall, I think the collection is cute. This is probably the time to admit that I've never seen the show, so I'm not sure how this collection fairs as far as that goes. What I do know is that this collection is huge and actually really cohesive.

You can find more info on Urban Decay's website. The collection is also available at Ulta and Sephora. Thanks for reading!

April 02, 2019

Is Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Better Than The Original?

*products mentioned were sent for review, opinions are my own*
The Urban Decay Naked Reloaded palette released about a month or so ago, following the "retirement" of the original Naked palette. It's no secret that the Naked palettes haven't been my favorites, with the exception of Naked Heat and Naked Cherry so I wasn't sure what to think when Naked Reloaded was announced.

Let's talk about the packaging and layout of Naked Reloaded because it's the first thing I noticed. The packaging is soft, which is interesting. I didn't expect to pick it up and feel it squish, so that was kind of a surprise. The layout of the palette is different than their other Naked Palettes. The pans are still rectangular, but some are much wider than the others, with varying widths throughout the palette. The biggest pans are for the shadows that will be most often used. The different pan sizes are a bit off-putting to me but I understand the concept behind the design.

The shadows in Naked Reloaded are more similar in formula to the newer Naked palettes, which is good. The mattes are soft and blendable, the shimmers are creamy and apply best onto a sticky base. Urban Decay shimmers aren't always the best and aren't my favorite but they are pretty. So, let's talk about the colors in the palette.

BRIBE : LIGHT WARM BEIGE
BARELY BAKED : LIGHT WARM GOLD
ANGEL FIRE : PEACH GOLD WITH PINK SHIMMER
RETRO : WARM CORAL MATTE
REPUTATION : MEDIUM WARM COPPER
BURN : DEEP RED-BRONZE METALLIC
END GAME : COOL DEEP BROWN
DREAMWEAVER : WARM TAUPE WITH SILVER SHIMMER
DISTILLED : WARM BRONZE SHIMMER
BUCKED : LIGHT WARM BROWN MATTE
BOUNDARIES : LIGHT WARM ORANGE BROWN
BLUR : PEACHY BEIGE MATTE

Naked Reloaded is a bit more warm toned than the original Naked palette and I love the addition of the coral tones. I've seen a lot of comparisons of this palette to the ABH Sultry palette. I don't own Sultry, but I do own the Alter Ego dupe of Sultry, which I'll be reviewing soon.

Overall, I like this palette. I don't reach for it a ton because I tend to wear color more often than neutrals. This is a pretty palette though and a great replacement for the original Naked palette, in my opinion.

Let me know what you think of the palette and if you'll be picking it up.

Thanks for reading!

March 07, 2019

It Cosmetics It's All About You TSV Available Now!

February 06, 2019

Urban Decay Street Style Brows | Review

*Products mentioned were sent for review, opinions are my own*
It's been a while since I've reviewed any brow products, so I apologize for the upcoming influx of brow related posts because today, we're talking about the entire Urban Decay Street Style Brows line, but we're also going to talk about some Colourpop brow products and BH Cosmetics brow products soon.

The Urban Decay Street Style Brows collection contains basically everything you could ask for and we're going to talk about ALL OF THEM.
Let's start with the brow putty:

DOUBLE DOWN BROW : WATERPROOF, SMUDGE PROOF BROW PUTTY. This comes in seven shades and each compact has two complimentary shades and a little brow brush with a spoolie. This is a putty that dries down into a powder finish and can last up to 16 hours. This can be used to give the effect of natural, full brows or super dramatic brows. It's so easy to use, I love it! (Btw, I have 6 of the 7 shades)

Next, we have a brow pencil and ink stain?!

BROW BLADE : INK STAIN AND WATERPROOF PENCIL. This comes in 7 shades and is dual ended. One end is an ink stain for your brows and the other is a waterproof pencil. The ink stain is perfect for defining brows and is so much easier to use than I expected. I love it for filling in the gaps in my brows and defining the shape. The other end is a waterproof pencil that is just as easy to use. It's pigmented and it's so easy to use to shape your brows.

Next, we have a dual ended brow gel...

BROW ENDOWED : EYEBROW PRIMER AND COLOR. This is a dual ended brow "gel" that comes in 7 shades. One end is a primer that fluffs up and volumizes your brows, the other end is a tinted cream that fills and shapes your brows. The brush is so thin and shaped perfectly to comb through the individual brow hairs. It gives them the fluffy look that I love.

Last, we have a waterproof gel:

BROW FINISH : WATERPROOF BROW GEL. This comes in two shades, ozone and Midnight Cowboy. This is lightweight and waterproof and does a great job of holding your brows in place. Ozone is clear and Midnight Cowboy is clear with gold shimmer.

The other brow products aside from the Brow Finish come in seven shades. These shades are:

TAUPE TRAP
GINGERSNAP
BROWN SUGAR
BRUNETTE BETTY
NEUTRAL NANA
CAFE KITTY
DARK DRAPES

The shade range seems pretty good. I've been using Taupe Trap and I think it's perfect and exactly what I was looking for as most brow products tend to pull too warm on my complexion.

Overall, I'm really loving these brow products. I've been using them everyday for the past few weeks and I just can't get enough. If you're looking for some brow products and were interested in these, I totally recommended checking them out! I was terrified of using the Brow Blade but it's so easy to use and looks surprisingly natural considering it's an ink stain!

These are now available at UrbanDecay.com, Sephora, and Ulta.

Let me know what products you're interested in trying!

Thanks for reading!

January 30, 2019

Project Pan 2019

For the past couple of years I've seen this project pan tag floating around and considered participating but never did. This year is different. I'm super busy, I'm trying not to buy more makeup because I have so much not being used right now, and I'm wearing makeup more often than ever, so what better time to participate in Project Pan than now?

I'm not totally sure how often I'll be updating, probably once every couple of months. Alongside this, I'll be doing shop my stash type posts because I really want 2019 to be the year I use up a lot of neglected makeup. I wanted this to be realistic to what I can manage to get through and if I progress more than I thought I would, I'll add more things throughout the year. So, let's get into it! I'll start with skincare products. I didn't choose too many and these are all over half gone as is, so I'll definitely be updated this one and adding more to it as the year progresses.

IT COSMETICS CONFIDENCE IN A CLEANSER
PIXI GLOW TONIC
IT COSMETICS LIP TREATMENT
PIXI GLOWTION DAY DEW
IT COSMETICS SECRET SAUCE MOISTURIZER
UD MOISTURIZER

I want to stress that these products are well-loved. I'm not trying to use up products I hate to get rid of them, no one has that kind of time. If I hate a product, I give it to a friend, donate it, or toss it. All of these products are awesome products!

Okay, the makeup:

PUR BARE IT ALL FOUNDATION
IT COSMETICS CC+ CREAM
NYX HD CONCEALER
NYX LIQUID ILLUMINATOR
UD LIQUID AURA
IT COSMETICS LIP GLOSS
YSL LIPSTICK

IT COSMETICS OMBRE BRONZER
PHYSICIANS FORMULA BUTTER BRONZER
LORAC BLUSH
IT COSMETICS CREAM LUMINIZER
COLOURPOP SUPER SHOCK SHADOW CATNAP

That may seem like a lot, but I'm confident in my abilities, here. I'm slightly worried about the bronzers and blush because those can take quite some time to use up, but I'm going to give it a shot! As I said, as I finish products, I'll update and replace them with a new products.

Let me know how often I should do a shop my stash post, too. I'm thinking maybe once a month. You'll also notice that I didn't include any eyeshadow palettes here because I use such a wide variety, I didn't want to put that kind of pressure on myself, haha!

If you like these posts, I have a whole list of others who are participating in this tag and I totally recommend you checking out their posts below.

Beauty Info Zone

CosmetopiaDigest 💎 Glamorable 💎 Honeygirl's World 💎 Laugh, Love, Contour 💎 Never Say Die Beauty 💎 Polarbelle 💎 Portrait of Mai 💎 Southeast by Midwest

January 17, 2019

Strobe Cosmetics Creepy Cute Palette | Review & Swatches

My goal for 2019 is to try more brands, especially indie brands. Last year I didn't spend much on makeup, but I did pick up the Creepy Cute palette from Strobe Cosmetics. I meant to review this a long time ago but I'm finally getting around to it and it's still available AND they have a newer palette out that I'm dying to try.

The Creepy Cute palette is a palette of pastels that I came across when looking for a dupe for KVD Pastel Goth. I'm definitely pleased that I found this brand because I immediately fell in love with this palette and its gorgeous pastels.
The packaging is adorable. Creepy cute is the literal definition of this palette, so I feel that they totally nailed it aesthetically. The palette is cardboard with a magnetic closure. The first one that I received arrived with the black shade broken, so I'm not sure about traveling with this palette. I'd just be super careful because the shadows are soft. They were sweet enough to send me a replacement, and I'm so grateful for that.

There are 8 beautiful shades in this palette:

TOMBSTONE : TRUE GRAY
PLANCHETTE : LAVENDER
CREEP IT REAL : MINT GREEN
COLD SHOULDER : SKY BLUE
STRAWBERRY MILK : BABY PINK
TAKE A HINT : CHARTREUSE
VOID : BLACK
THIRD EYE : TANGERINE

Strobe Cosmetics Creepy Cute Palette Swatches

Oh, did I mention this entire palette is matte? Yeah. It is and that is AWESOME. As I mentioned, the shadows are pretty soft and will kick up a lot if you push your brush into them. I don't recommend doing that. You barely need to touch your brush to these because they're super pigmented. They're also very easy to work with and blend. I can, without a doubt, say that these are the best pastel shadows I've ever worked with.

Overall, I'm going to recommend this palette. If you love pastel colors, you'll love this palette. These colors are to die for, the formula is amazing, and it's from a cruelty free indie brand. It doesn't get much better than that!

You can find this palette at Strobe Cosmetics website for $35.

What's your favorite cruelty free indie brand and what brands should I try in 2019?

Thanks for reading!

Let's Talk About CBD

Urban Decay x Game Of Thrones | Full Collection Review

Is Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Better Than The Original?

It Cosmetics It's All About You TSV Available Now!

Urban Decay Street Style Brows | Review

Project Pan 2019

Strobe Cosmetics Creepy Cute Palette | Review & Swatches

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