Makeup Geek is a company that was started up by a U.S beauty blogger & I absolutely love their eyeshadows! I use the shade 'creme brûlée' pretty much every single day as a transition shade. They pack a punch with their pigmentation (often compared to mac) & with their $6/£3.88 price tag they really do rival high end makeup brands. I've made two previous orders and both came within good time & international p&p was fairly reasonable (Makeup Geek products are sent from the U.S) & I had never been stung with a customs fee.
So I was really excited to hear of the release of their new 'Duochrome shadows'. Swatches on their site looked stunning & with the same $6 price as their original shadows, I was eager to try some new shades out for myself. There are 12 shades in the pressed duochrome shadows and 8 loose duochrome pigments. I didn’t get any loose pigments because I don’t tend to reach for them as much as a pressed shadow.I ordered three & here are Makeup Geeks shade descriptions of them -Ritzy - Ritzy has a warm red-brown base with green and gold reflects.
Havoc - Havoc has a warm red-brown base with teal reflects.
Blacklight - Blacklight has a lilac purple base with icy blue reflects.
Havoc has to be my favorite with its deep red under tone. In the pan Havoc & Ritzy do look very similar but swatched Ritzy has more of a caramel brown base than Havocs red brown base. I tend to stay away from lilacy purple shadows like 'Blacklight' as they take me back to my young pre teens when I would layer on lilac eyeshadow like it was going out of style *CRINGE* #90schildproblems. The sound of teal reflects lured me in & it is actually very pretty. Athough it's not a shade I will often reach for, but it's nice to have a bit of variety in my eyeshadow stash.
When wearing these shadows I do get complements, but for me they don't pack a punch like I was hoping for. Applying the shadow with your finger or dampening a shadow brush with Macs Fix+ does help to bring out the shadows reflect colour, but the staying power just isn't there. The duochrome effect only lasts an hour or so on my eyes & thats with wearing a base & wetting the shadow. I have only heard others say brilliant things about them, so maybe it's just me, but the wow factor just isn't there. The pigmentation is nice when it's layered but they simply don't last long enough on me.Sadly for me the Duochrome shadows aren't a hit. Although I can not say enough good things about Makeup Geeks original eyeshadows & highly suggest you try them IF you live in the U.S. With that being said I must add that not through the fault of the company or their products, I will not be purchasing from them again. My total order of five little eyeshadow pans got me hit with a nasty £27 customs charge *OUCH* They do rival Mac eyeshadows but with international P&P and custom charges I'll be safer to stick with Mac in the future.
Eyeshadow pan weight is 1.8G / 0.064 oz
$6/£3.88 each.
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