Blossom and bloom with Venus XL 2, the earthly rebirth of the ultimate grunge eyeshadow palette! Boldly unearth 18 all-new shades in four rich, buttery-smooth formulas: matte, metallic, foil, and sheer iridescent.
- Our iconic Venus gets a modern revamp! She has all the edge of grunge with a soft acoustic side.
- Venus XL 2 reigns supreme with all-new foil and sheer iridescent finishes that transform mattes and metallics to expand your garden of looks.
- Foil shades are high def and ultra reflective
- Lightly layer or boldly blend out, our new sheer iridescents cast an otherworldly wash of opalescent pigment all over lids.
- Discover browns that deepen, poetic pinks that pop, mythic mid-tone neutrals, and lush sage greens.
- Venus XL 2 captures all the edge of grunge with a soft acoustic side that redefines the classics and reinvents nudes.
Today I thought that I'd celebrate the beginning of spring and review something themed for the season; this eyeshadow palette was launched last spring, so yeah, I've had plenty of testing time and have also been able to see if this is only good for the one season, or if it can be carried through to other seasons...
STELLA: Pink champagne (metallic), MYTH: Silvery green (foil), EVE: Mauve rose with multi color sparkle (foil), LAUREL: Olive gold (metallic), RADIANT: Peach pearl (sheer iridescent), IVY: Glazed green with pink sparkle (metallic)
WEST: Warm brown (metallic), OBSCURE: Soft neon green (sheer iridescent), MYSTIC: Soft blush (metallic), PHOENIX: Rust (metallic), LOCUST: Green-brown shift (metallic), CLASSICAL: Plummy brown (matte)
I think that this is another great entry in Lime Crime's Venus series and is something that can be used both for 'everyday' and for special occasions; XL2 has a cohesive & unique colour story, paired with great easy-to-apply & all-day-wear formulas.
Not only are the shades pretty alone, buy like with the first XL palette, you can mix the matte ones together to create many more options (that's why there's only one deep (ish) shade - there's no real point in putting the same basic shades into palettes over & over, when you have what you need to customize your own perfect tones).
If you want a quick & easy one-and-done palette, then you may not enjoy XL2 as much as someone like me does, as you need to be a bit more creative with mixing shades due to the tiny matte shade selection.
I do think that at least one of the shimmer shades could have been swapped for a matte formula - there just aren't many matte shades in this palette and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for mixing the existing shades together.
I do think that at least one of the shimmer shades could have been swapped for a matte formula - there just aren't many matte shades in this palette and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for mixing the existing shades together.
I personally can't see any major faults with this palette - like I mentioned above, maybe one more mid/deep matte shade could been included for more versatility? I admit that the first XL is still my favourite eyeshadow palette by Lime Crime as there is more versatility, but this is still a lovely, fresher, colour story.
The formulas are excellent and I'm not paying for a sprinkling of shades that I already own elsewhere. I first thought of the fresh and lighter colour story as being something that I'd only wear over the spring and summer months, but I was reaching for it over the autumn and as we transitioned into the winter last year, so whilst the colour story is targeted to the spring months, it can actually can carry you throughout most of the year.
This palette was one of my favourite purchases for 2019 for sure and I was regularly reaching for it earlier this year too - if the world hadn't gone to shit, I would have been rocking it most days this spring.
The Venus XL2 palette is £56, and is available at Boots, Feel Unique and Cult Beauty.
I couldn't find this on the Selfridges site, but I have seen it in the stores.
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