Santa approved: The Venus XL eyeshadow palette by Lime Crime.

For Lime Crime's bigger-sized palette in their best-selling Venus range, they've gone for the "ultimate grunge palette" and have chosen a "renaissance remix" theme, using romantic and feminine colours used in period artwork 0their shade selection.

I'm being a bit different in this review, by saying straight away that I love it the most out of every new-to-me cosmetic product I've tried this year, so think that it would make a stunning gift. I got it as soon as it launched on the Lime Crime website way back in March (or was it in late February?), so have been using it enough for a valid viewpoint. So if you are looking for a good gift idea for a makeup lover, then read on...

Eden (Rusty rose metallic), Love (Bronzed peach metallic), Passion (Bright raspberry matte), Fresca (Taupe with pink sparkle sparkle matte), Inspire (berry metallic), Idolízed (Toasted caramel glow)

Aphrodite (Rich red-brown glow), Nu Classic (Bronzed brown metallic), Burnt Gold (Dark terracotta glow), Flora (Deep coral matte), Scallop (Softest warm pink matte), Celestial (Brick with gold sparkle sparkle matte)

Ethereal (Dusty blush metallic), Triumph (Muted cranberry matte), Supreme (Deep mauve glow), Blank Canvas (Cool beige matte), Boticelli (Midnight wine glow), Goddess (Dusty rose glow)

All of the shades in Venus XL blend the same and wear the same on me; a few shades [Passion, Aphrodite, Triumph & Boticelli] feel drier in comparison to the creaminess of all of the other shades, but they still apply very smoothly and evenly, and all of the shades blend out easily and I've had zero creasing or colour fade. I have deepset eyes and have had very little transfer from the metallic shades. There is some kick-up when I dip my brushes into the pans, but that is something that never really bothers me as long as the shadows apply and perform well, which these do.

This is something where I can confidently say that I'll get around to using every single shade that is in the palette [in fact I believe I have done by now, as well as mixing most  of the shades to create new ones] - there's not a single shade that makes me sigh or go 'eww'. If having a one-and-done palette is a dealbreaker for you, then it's good news; you can make a variety of complete-look-in-one-palette looks with Venus Xl, that go all the way from desk to party.

[All of the shades in the left demo are mixed with Blank Canvas]

I adore this palette and can't fault the quality and as a Christmas gift it is a fantastic option, but as someone who is a collector of the Venus palettes I have some niggles; I do think that this palette has some similar shades to the ones in Venus I, rather then new ones - Venus XL is the continuation of a eyeshadow palette series, so I think that they shouldn't be looking behind them at the past Venus entries for the colour-story and be concentrating on introducing new shades into the line.

 You can buy the Venus XL eyeshadow palette from Feel Unique, Cult Beauty and Selfridges for £50.

You can also order the palette directly from Lime Crime, but it ships from America, so will not arrive in time for Christmas.