Makeup artist and hairdresser Nikki DeRoest popped up on my YouTube feed about 3 years ago and from the get-go I enjoyed her laid back, cool personality and approach to makeup. I have always felt that her videos were relatable and she seemed incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of the beauty world. It seems that in the past few years, since watching her very first video, her career has just skyrocketed and it has been really awesome to watch her evolution. Nikki gets to work on some beautiful faces such as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Emma Roberts and Hailey Baldwin. She is the Global Makeup Artist for Bare Minerals and if that doesn’t impress she also recently launched her own brand, RÓEN Beauty. I don’t know how she has the time to do all of this with the insane amount of travel that she does, but it’s clear that her work ethic is solid and something to be admired.
Now that I have gushed about Nikki, you can imagine my excitement when she messaged me on Instagram asking if I would like to try the new RÓEN Beauty products. I tried to keep my composure and be like “uh yeah sure whatever” but in reality I was fangirling, big time. It wasn’t long before the beautiful treasures arrived, packaged up in a branded draw string bag, with a little note from Nikki. She launched 4 products which are the eyeshadow palettes in 75º Warm and 52º Cool, a single eyeshadow in Disco and the Everything Eye Brush. Eyeshadows have never been my thing, I have hooded eyes and I just tend to swipe on a bit of colour and not bother too much with creating a complex look with multiple shades. To top it off, the focus on this range is sparkle, glitter & shimmer. You know, the stuff I always avoid? I knew that this range would push me out of my comfort zone but I trusted Nikki’s creativity and vision and threw myself head first into her shiny world.
I love the minimalist look and the fact that the packaging oozes understated luxury. The compacts have an expensive, solid feel to them and a satisfying magnetic closure. They’re wrapped up in white, velvety branded pockets that really add to the whole un-packaging experience. I felt like I was unwrapping fine jewellery. Inside the beautiful compacts are glistening eyeshadows which, despite the sparkle, are coloured in sophisticated and cool shades.
52º Cool palette has four colours – Bask (rose gold), Rendezvous (purple), Yep (taupe-grey) and Meow (silver). This palette definitely challenged my perception of eyeshadow and eye colour compatibility which, to be fair, was Nikki’s aim. She assures us that these cool colours can work on blue eyes too and yes, she is right. All of the shades work with my complexion and blue eyes. Below is a snap of me wearing Rendezvous and Bask. I have never in my life worn purple eyeshadow but as you can see, it’s very subtle when mixed with Bask.
75º Warm palette also has four colours – Obviously (gold), Nikki Dust (warm-taupe), Facetime (shimmering dark brown) and J’Adore (terracotta). This is my favourite of the quad palettes and it’s because I always gravitate towards the warmer shades. It’s my safe place. The shade that got me really excited was the terracotta hue, J’Adore. I’ve layered it in the photo below with all of the other colours in the palette and I really like the wet effect it achieved.
Finally, there is the solo eyeshadow in Disco which has some serious shine. It has different sized sparkles of gold and silver pearl so it will look different every time you apply it which is pretty cool. This product is something that you would expect to see being used in an editorial shoot and it looks cute on it’s own or worn over the top of other eyeshadows. This is definitely not an every day kind of eyeshadow for me, but I like it for nights out to add a bit of extra bling to my peepers.
All of these formulas are very unique, to me at least, and at first glance you might be fooled into thinking they are powders. They are, in fact, creamy! I love that I can swirl them with my finger and just apply directly to my eyelids. That’s the kind of application I’m most comfortable with but Nikki also kindly sent me the double ended Everything Eye Brush which I use to blend the edges and line my eyes with some of the darker shades. I think it’s a great quality brush and it has been designed specifically with this eyeshadow formula in mind so it works a treat.
My eyelids are notorious for making eyeshadows crease and that is certainly the case with these products too. I absolutely have to use an eye primer if I want them to last otherwise I do find that the base colour disappears and I am left with only sparkle. My tip is, make sure you pat your eyelid with a tissue to remove any residual skincare, apply an eye primer and you’ll be all good.
Currently these products are available only on the RÓEN Beauty website, so if you’re in Australia you will be paying a little bit of a premium because of the postage costs. The product website is fantastic and there are high quality photographs of each and every shade so that you can get up close and personal and see how they look. These are probably the most “fun” makeup pieces that I own, and I am really pleased that they took me out of my comfort zone of matte, brown eyeshadows. It has been a delight playing with them and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Nikki and RÓEN Beauty.
Are you a glitter fan? Let me know in the comments below or email me and connect with me on Instagram. To listen to the latest Fluke podcast, please visit iTunes.
Next week: Orgaid brand review and giveaway
Some of the products mentioned in this blog post were PR gifts. Opinions are my own.