Duochromes from Looxi

I'm staying at my parents' for a couple of weeks, so no empties post for this month. I think I'll combine them with next month's batch. Instead, I have a short review for two duochrome eyeshadow pans from Looxi Beauty!

Looxi Beauty is an independent brand founded by Jessica D., and it appears to be based in Illinois, USA (or at least their Facebook lists an address in Illinois). I first heard about the brand through Lauren Mae Beauty's YouTube-channel. She swatched some of Looxi's shadows on one of her palette dupe-videos, and they looked so pretty that I wanted to try them too! She also recently did a spotlight/brand review on Looxi, which I recommend checking out.

From the left: Duperstar, Omega.

Looxi Beauty's duochrome shadows, or Auroras, as they call them, are 5 USD a pop. I'm not sure about their domestic shipping, but they charge $10.99 for shipping to Canada and $19.99 for all other international destinations. I think they use USPS First Class for all of their delivery options. Their international shipping price was kind of steep for me, so I asked my best friend, who's an American, to act as my personal shopper in order to save a couple of bucks. Thanks for the favor, Whitney! 

From the left: Omega applied with a damp brush and a finger, Duperstar applied with a damp brush and a finger-

Omega is a green with a gorgeous teal and purple shift. Duperstar, on the other hand, is a light purple that shifts pink and blue. These guys don't swatch all that well, even though the colors themselves are lovely. Or maybe I just don't know how to apply them properly. For the above photo, I applied them on top of Urban Decay's Primer Potion first with a damp flat synthetic brush, and then with my finger. I tapped my brush in the pan once, and swirled my finger in the pan once.

Like Lauren says in her video, the formula is pretty dry. It kind of threw me for a loop, because I was expecting something with a bit of a smoother texture. I also noticed that the shadows seem to crumble a bit in the pan when I pick them up with a brush. Tiny crumbs sometimes come off the surface, and I need to smooth them back in. I feel like I have to put in some work and really pack them on my lids to get them to look opaque. The end result is very nice, though. For me, they work best when I first apply them on with a damp brush and then gently tap the shadow on with my finger tip, focusing on areas that I want to pop out more.

From the left: Omega applied on top of black eye shadow and then just primer, same with Duperstar.

For this picture, I tried applying the colors on top of some black eye shadow and then on just the Primer Potion again, this time really packing on the product. I have hooded eyes, so Omega might be a bit too dark for me to wear all over the lid. I like to wear it on the outer corners of my eyes, though. Duperstar is my favorite of the two. I think it looks beautiful applied on the center of the lid, on top of a matte beige worn in a dome shape or as a contour shade near the crease. I love to combine it with Buon Fresco from the ABH Modern Renaissance Palette!

If you are looking for a super creamy formula that applies super opaquely with just one swipe, these might not be the eye shadows for you. The colors are beautiful, so I don't mind having to play around with them. I think I might want to check out more of Looxi's shades sometime in the future, but I really want to try Makeup Geek's duochromes next.

Do you have a favorite duochrome formula?