One of my undeniable makeup loves as of late has been Addiction. I remember seeing a brown cheek/lipstick and a mustard eyeshadow on Xiao of Messy Wands and I was so intrigued by it. After a fateful visit to Japanese counters (or several), it was pretty much love at first sight.

Addiction has similar aesthetic sensibilities with NARS, another favorite cosmetics brand, both with the products, the overall makeup philosophy (at least, it seems like), and the look and feel of the brand. They are like sisters. I’ve mentioned this before, but it doesn’t hurt to mention again: Addiction was created by Ayako, a former makeup artist and “student” of François Nars. It explains the influences and the similarities, but I do think that Addiction isn’t necessarily derivative; it just grew and developed from a foundation in NARS.

I find Addiction to be a bit more careful in terms of production and collections than NARS, which is understandable since Addiction is a way smaller brand with a smaller market. A common critique with NARS is inconsistency. When NARS makes a good product, it hits it way out of the ballpark. However, there are some minor errors sometimes, especially with quality. It’s weird. But another issue altogether.

So, the eyeshadows. I currently have eight singles and three quads.

Swatched, L-R: Rigoletto, Sandbar, Midnight Drive, Deep Forest, Sand Dune, Safari Mode, Fudge, Truffle

I think the most disappointing thing about these singles is that they only have 1.2g of product each. That is unheard of. (Not really, but wow.) It’s not far off from MAC eyeshadows, which contain 1.5g of product, but Addiction sells each eyeshadow single for ¥2000 or about $20 whereas MAC eyeshadows go for $15 or $10 for the refill pans.

It’s funny, but now that I survey my collection, I find that I don’t have a very… varied collection. I think I pass on reds and rubies and burgundies (usually), because I don’t think I’d wear them, but I think that they actually make for more interesting looks. In any case, I have those colors in palettes or from other brands, so it’s alright.

Here are a few looks:

Using Midnight Drive on the lid and Fudge on the crease

Using Midnight Drive on the lid, other shadows for everything else

Using Deep Forest on the outer corners

Using Sandbar as a light wash over the lids

Using Rigoletto on the lid, Sand Dune on the outer corner, and Truffle on the lower lash line

Using Rigoletto on the lid, inner corners, inner third of lower lash line, Safari Mode on the crease, and Deep Forest on the lower lash line

Then I have three quads from the permanent range, two of which are housed in the limited edition Jean-Michel Basquiat casing. 🙂

Clockwise from top: Mudd Club, Tuxedo Moon, Sugar Rusk

Swatched, L-R: Tuxedo Moon, Mudd Club, Sugar Rusk

Addiction eyeshadow quality varies, as you can see from the swatches. You definitely need to work a bit harder with some shades, but I feel like this is intentional. In Tuxedo Moon, the textural story is more matte and satin—a quad for grown-ups. Mudd Club is “fun grown-up,” with pearly black and white pans and iridescent aqua and violet. Sugar Rusk is a bling-y neutral quad with a glitter shade, and two frost shades anchored by a midtone matte. That one is my favorite among the three quads.

Here are some super old looks using the quads:

Using Tuxedo Moon and Mudd Club

Using Sugar Rusk

I don’t take these out to play as often as I probably should, because these are really pretty and my neanderthal handiwork doesn’t give them justice. So my goal for the following weeks is to play with these. 🙂

Anyway, that’s it! Because of these inventory posts, I realized that… I don’t love these quite as much as I led myself to believe. Haha. I like them well enough, but they are definitely not my favorite textures. They’re great over primer, though, but I suppose you must really suck as an eyeshadow if you can’t even work properly over a primer.

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