Hello, everyone. Welcome back.
Thank you so, so much for joining me here today.
So today I am taking a look at another brand,
and it's kind of downfall, question mark, in this case.
And this is a brand that very closely
relates to a topic that currently has the
beauty community kind of questioning itself.
You know, how all useful are we?
Is there an end to influencers?
You know what I mean? That kind of thing.
We're going to be discussing the decline
of yet another influencer brand, Dragun Beauty.
Now, I'm also going to do my makeup throughout.
I'm not going to talk about what I'm using.
As I talk, it'll be listed down below.
It's too distracting.
It's too much for my mind.
Now, just like my last video I
did about the brand Lime Crime.
I asked you over on Instagram, what
brands you think no one's buying anymore,
what brands you don't buy anymore.
And Dragun Beauty was another one that came back consistently
and you all had a lot of opinions about it.
So let's dive in.
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a brand that you think has kind of
gone out of style, let's say, recently.
So a lot of you may know Dragun
Beauty, a lot of you may not.
Who, what, and why is Dragun Beauty?
But for those who don't, let
me fill you in very quickly.
So Dragun Beauty is a makeup brand founded by Nikita Dragun,
who is or was, should I say, a beauty YouTuber.
And she kind of got popular kind of at the
time when all the original beauty influencers were becoming popular.
She shared a lot about her personal life, beauty
tips, makeup, the usual kind of like YouTuber thing.
And she also shared her
experiences as a transgender woman.
She was very open about everything, very informative.
And of course, as her online presence grew and
her popularity, so did the dramas, so did all
the influencer mistakes, all this kind of stuff.
"I don't think I can sit back and just let
the black community and just everyone on the Internet just
say, like, oh, how are you friends with this person
When she blackfishes?
I see you in person almost all the time.
You don't look like those pictures on the Internet.
Sometimes people just really be trolling.
Sometimes it's just the lighting
and sometimes it's a filter, I get that.
I get that people are genuinely offended by it.
You probably don't feel like you're in the
wrong, but you come off as ignorant."
"Nikita Dragon has a history of taking hairstyles and
enhancing her features to make herself seem like a
whole different race from what she actually is.
What Nikita is doing is known as blackfishing.
Nikita has been accused of blackfishing
for quite some time now."
"Whether or not the wig is attractive
on Nikita is not the issue here.
The issue, as it always is,
is cultural appropriating, black culture."
This is what happens when you
become a YouTuber so young.
You make stupid choices.
I mean, so do old YouTubers, but, you know.
So Dragun Beauty launched back in 2019,
which seems like forever ago now, right?
This is one of the teasers that
was released as part of the launch.
I want to take a look at this with
you because it's...
"Nikita Dragun is probably the most
extra b*tch you'll ever meet in your whole life.
She is full fantasy.
She's a little extra, she's a little crazy,
but she's also very down to earth.
I became well known after I
uploaded my 'I am Transgender' video.
I had never even said I am transgender out loud to
anybody, and I just spoke it aloud to the camera.
And I guess the rest is history.
Makeup is so important to me because I feel
like I was able to find myself through it.
I was able to transform myself at the time from
a little boy into this glam diva, and it really
helped me figure out who Dragun truly was.
I wanted to create a trans
owned brand for trans people.
I think that is so important and
something that we really haven't seen.
I feel like for me, when I was going through
my transition, I was always looking and studying the face
and how beauty was, and it was always how the
light hit a woman or how the light hit someone.
And with all this glam and with everything, I've
always been able to kind of transform myself.
And I feel like we're all
transforming in one way or another.
Whether you're going to be a businessman or
a businesswoman, whether you're going to get that
job, honey, whether it's physical, whether it's mental.
I think whoever is living their most
authentic life, to me, that is beautiful.
I just want to say the biggest thank you to everyone.
Without you guys, I would have
never made this dream a reality.
And I could not believe I'm at the point in
my life where I get to be able to create
my own fantasy and just live my fantasy.
And I truly want to offer that to absolutely everyone.
Of course, as always, don't forget,
breathe fire, my dragons."
My favorite part of that has to be the
down to earth while throwing money everywhere.
And there are some quite exciting... not promises.
But like things said in that video, like a
trans-owned brand, beautiful. Products that work for everyone.
She spoke to how lighting hits the face
and how it can feminize or... masculinize?
Sounds right.
A face. Great.
That's a great perspective to have on makeup,
because it does, and we contour and highlight to
change our features in certain ways.
So it sounds like quite an exciting release, something
that's never been done before.
And she teased on her socials right, she said this, I quote,
"If y'all think I'm dropping a basic as f*ck
eyeshadow palette or lipstick, think again. Wait on it.
All will be revealed very soon."
That sounds super exciting, right?
This wasn't exactly a time when influencer brands
were being released one by one and celebrity
brands were being released every single week.
So it was almost kind of expected
that your favorite influencer or an influencer
would release a brand or a collaboration.
And a lot of people come out with the
same thing, palettes, which I actually quite like.
I don't think there's any wrong...
I would have rather have a palette over anything else.
So very exciting, very
different, very something different.
The first product Dragun Beauty released was
the Dragun Fire Color Corrector, right? One of them.
And it came in Lavender, like this
bright, bright lavender, green, and
orange, so color correctors.
Three color correctors.
Which, to be honest, isn't very exciting.
This was very much the time period when
a lot of brands were releasing color correctors.
Because a lot of people's knowledge of makeup was
becoming more, more than it had ever been before.
Thanks to, let's be real, online makeup trends
and beauty influencers, because they were kind of,
like, giving us their secrets and makeup artists
made their way online and also started giving,
like, makeup artistry secrets.
So what wasn't basic knowledge before, now
very much had become basic makeup
knowledge for a lot of people.
But with that, a lot of misinformation came along.
Also, for example, not everyone needs to color correct.
Not everyone needs those exact color correctors.
I can count, right, on probably two hands,
not including any of my transgender clients, how
often I had used an orange, pure orange
color corrector in any depth of the orange.
Not very often.
However, when Nikita was talking about this color
corrector, especially the orange, she did say that
it was kind of created to help neutralize
the appearance of beard shadows for transgender women.
And that's a very common
concern amongst transgender women also.
And, touching on that, you may be
thinking, what's the need to create a separate
product in terms of color corrector for transgender
people versus just a regular color corrector?
And I think it's an amazing opportunity and reason
to create something unique in terms of formula.
From my personal point of view, from my experience as
a professional makeup artist, myself as someone who had many
regular transgender clients, color correcting for trans women, in terms
of their makeup, for a lot of them, is a
key part of the makeup process.
And I have to be honest with you,
some of the color correcting formulas in terms of heavier creams
or quite light fluids didn't work as well as they should
have done or could have done, in terms of how smooth
they were, in terms of how well they blended, but also
in terms of how much product you had to use.
A lot of the time, you would color correct,
neutralize that color correction, apply your foundation, and then
do a little bit more work on the surface.
And that leads to a lot of makeup and in
some cases, a lot of obvious texture on the skin.
So I would have said back then, and even...
maybe not even some now, there's a few better
options now, but back then, there's definitely a gap
in the market for a color correcting formula that
worked well with a majority of skin textures.
So I never actually tried the color corrector.
I never have the need for
a color corrector personally on myself.
And I'm going to be real with you, Nikita
Dragun wasn't a person I want to support with my money.
But from watching people's reviews on these color
correctors, the color corrector itself was quite matte
and it dried down very, very quickly.
Now, listen, yes, you want a color corrector to dry
down and be matte, and you don't want it sliding
everywhere, but you do need time to work with it.
And it being dry, as we spoke about
before on certain skin textures, isn't so good,
especially under the eyes as well.
You don't want anything too dry under the eyes.
The key to not creasing under the eyes
most of the time is actually hydration.
I will say, though, the good thing about this
color correct is the shade of the orange did lean
towards more of a red orange rather than that
yellow orange that some brands do.
So we have this promise of, oh,
it's not a basic eyeshadow palette.
It's not something basic. It's something this.
It's not necessarily exciting, right? It's a color corrector.
Lots of brands are doing that at the time.
Was it basic AF?
Yes, to be honest, yes, it was.
However, that wasn't the only
kind of, like questionable release.
At the time I was like, I...
And this product kind of had everyone
divided in terms of some people are like, wow, revolutionary.
And others were like, no.
And that was the DragunHeart Face Transforming Powder.
Now, listen, here's the deal.
This was basically a powder duo, right?
And it was in a very, I have to be honest,
cheap looking thing.
That was unnecessary to say, personal opinion.
And they were two, like, heart-shaped heart powder.
And one was leaning more towards pink,
and one was like a light yellow.
At first glance, the powders look very dusty.
I think I described them as dusty in
a video years and years and years ago, and
too light and in general, not universal.
And yes, I may have described them as
dusty and a little bit crusty, but that
was an opinion amongst a lot of people also.
We're allowed to have opinions, right?
That's how come there's loads of makeup.
Sometimes, though,
it did look a bit ashy and dusty on some people.
There also seemed to be some confusion
on how to use this product.
Let me just say, right, when I was
researching a few things for this, I could
not find anywhere, not in one place.
I don't know if they've been
deleted or something like that.
The launch videos of these products from Nikita or
the brand, I don't know where they are.
There must be some.
There has to be some, right?
And I saw people using it around their eyes
and on the top of the cheekbones, which makes
sense because you're using it to lift.
But then I've also seen people using it
on their whole face as a setting powder.
And that will absolutely lead to some ashiness,
especially if a product is just intended to
be like a lifting brightening powder.
Even on my skin tone, the pink or the
yellow is going to give me an ashy finish,
if I was to use it everywhere.
In terms of being innovative as a product, perhaps five, six
universal shades could have worked really, really well.
Two shades in the compacts.
Despite the kind of like, rocky beginning, Dragun Beauty did
go on to launch a good few more products.
They had lip products, eyeshadows,
highlighters in like, palettes.
Oh, wait, we have to talk about the egg.
We'll touch on the egg later.
But you actually can't buy anything anymore.
The only place I found some Dragun Beauty products
still available was Beauty Bay here in the UK.
And I think it's in the US as well.
But everything everywhere else is sold
out, unavailable, currently sold out.
You just can't buy it anywhere.
Although this video is about the downfall of the brand,
it was quite a successful brand in terms of money.
The brand made millions.
I want to read you this quote.
This is from Glossy.Co, and it says, "According to
a source familiar with the brand, its revenue skyrocketed in
the first three years, rising from 2 million in its
first year to 5 million in its second, and then
at 25 million in its third.
But in 2021, that number shrank to 1 million.
Draguns representative disputed these numbers,
but declined to share any
additional details, citing confidentiality."
The same website then goes on to quote,
"Ultimately, Dragun Beauty was driving sales not from
the Nikita, but in spite of her, through
traditional marketing strategies and omnichannel approaches, she kept
pummeling the brand with crisis PR around her
antics, which ultimately hurt our ability to scale
with partners like Ulta Beauty and Urban Outfitters."
So I've called this video Dragun
Beauty Doomed From The Start. Something like that.
I haven't decided yet.
Here's why I say that right. And let's go on,
this is all my personal opinion now.
Dragun Beauty, to me, is merchandise.
It is Nikita Draguns merchandise.
Here's why I say that, right.
We have quite literally, products
with Nikita's face on.
We have a Dragun Egg,
which looks kind of playtime-esque.
And that egg was filled with,
let's be real, pretty unexciting products.
So to look at these items visually and want
to purchase them as somebody who isn't familiar with
Nikita Dragun, the YouTube beauty influencer space.
You have to either really... well, like eggs, or
really have the needs to want to color correct.
A concept that isn't necessarily for everyone and isn't
necessary for everyone and not everyone wants or has
the time to do every day.
Or you'll be looking at these powders with no knowledge of
what they are, what they do, and have to figure out,
oh, is that going to be okay on my skin tone?
Why are there two?
And what does it do?
I don't believe the quote that says, "Ultimately Dragun
Beauty was driving sales not from Nikita, but in
spite of her", because then they later go on
to say how Nikita's actions ultimately stop them from
partnering up with brands like Ulta and Urban Outfitters.
Now, when I describe her makeup as merchandise, it
means this is a direct product of Nikita.
Therefore, she loses fans, she loses sales, she
makes poor decisions that affect her reputation,
the brand's reputation goes down with her.
Going into this brand, people wanting to sell it.
She already had some drama under her belt.
And it wasn't like drama, like, oh,
she wasn't friends with this person.
It was quite bad.
The likelihood that something else
bad was going to happen.
It's not a crazy assumption to then think that
something bad may happen during the process of having
this brand or after launching this brand.
Why would it suddenly stop?
You'll see from her socials as well that she
hasn't posted on YouTube, mostly where her main audience
came from originally, in almost two years.
That's where a lot of her original fans would be.
A lot of you may know, you may
follow me here on YouTube, but you don't
follow me on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch.
That's fine because this is your chosen platform.
But if this is where I originated and I had a
brand, this is where I would be, on YouTube talking to
you, talking about the brand, talking about the new products.
But also you can't just start
a brand and then disappear.
Especially again, it's your merchandise, pretty much.
You need to be on it.
Who's going to buy merch or makeup from
somebody who pretty much no longer exists online
and they aren't there to support anymore?
So, thinking about that though, talking about online presence,
recently, Nikita has spoken out about her struggles with
her mental health and how she was taking a
step back from social media to kind of work
on that, which is extremely important no matter what
situation you are in.
And according to sources, and just from looking online, Dragun
Beauty does seem to be on a bit of a hiatus
for now, although there has been no kind of official,
yeah, we're not doing business anymore from anyone.
And she also recently started Only
Fans, which good for her. I support that.
That's fine if you've got what it takes,
and you want to, do it.
I do have a lot of opinions on influencer brands,
and I don't categorize them all as the same thing.
I think some are different from others.
Some do really well, some don't.
And I have opinions as to why.
So if you would like me to do a video on
that, then I would love to do that for you.
Let me know below.
So this wraps up today's video on Dragun Beauty.
I hope you found that a little bit insightful.
I would love to know your opinions, whether you agree or
disagree with some things I had to say down below.
Did you try Dragun Beauty?
That's what I'll be interested to know.
I would love to know your opinions.
Do give this video a thumbs up.
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Thank you so much for being here,
I really do appreciate it.
And I'll see you very, very soon. Bye.