Lime Crime Venus XL 2 eyeshadow palette review

Lime Crime is a brand that really came onto my radar in 2020. After trying their original Venus XL and Immortalis palettes, I soon set my sights on the Venus XL 2. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I seem to be developing a thing for loving eyeshadow palettes that are exceedingly impopular. Where I for instance count the ABH Subculture as one of my top 15 all-time favorite eyeshadow palettes, this particular palette would also join that list, yet many people disliked this when it was released. In this blog post I hope to be able to explain to you why I love this so much.

Review: Lime Crime Venus XL 2 eyeshadow palette

Let’s start off by discussing the price point. Lime Crime palettes do not come cheap. This particular palette retails for €60 depending on where you buy it. Some places sell it for more, others for less. I definitely bought this during last year’s Black Friday sales and got a good 25% off making it even more worth. While I do think this palette is worth the full price, I would still recommend waiting for a sale as there is no way you have to pay this or get this pronto. This is pretty and one of my favorites, but I would not recommend running out to get it.

What does this palette have to offer?

Before we get into the palette itself, I would like to discuss why I think this palette was so underwhelming to so many people. First there is the packaging. The outer lid shows some very vibrant, almost neon colors and those you do not get inside the palette. That had many people disappointed, but I do think that that is selling the palette short. The second reason why people didn’t like this palette was because it ‘looked ashy’ and was ‘bad quality’. Yes I understand why people would say that, but this palette is simply light and more cool toned rather than deep and warm toned. It has nothing to do with the eyeshadow quality.

Finally, and this is not something I have heard people say when trying this palette, but just my own hunch knowing how many people in the beauty space love their mattes. I prefer shimmer over matte and out of a whopping 18 shades this palette gives you just 4 mattes. Obscure looks matte in the pan, but it actually has shimmer when you swatch it. I therefore believe, if we combine all these factors that this palette was just not reviewed at face value, but rather based on people’s make up preferences that it just couldn’t or wouldn’t meet. If like me, you are fair skinned with a cool to neutral undertone, I think you may love this as much as I do.

What is the color story like?

So let’s talk about this palette than and what it features. In an 18 pan palette you get 4 mattes and 14 shimmers. The shimmers range in intensity and density while the mattes are all smooth and buttery. What also stands out is the fact that this is a predominantly cool to neutral palette. You essentially only get 3 real warm tones: Ripe, Forbidden and Phoenix. Everything else consists of cool toned greens, rosy pinks and some borderline coppers and golds that pull in different directions depending on what you pair them with. For instance, West looks like a copper in the pan but has a pink undertone that makes it go well with the rosy tones in the palette. The palette isn’t very deep: the deepest shade here is Classical, but as you will see below that is not the perfect shade for deepening up all the looks.

What does this palette swatch like?

The quality of this palette is excellent. The mattes swatch intensely but are not so pigmented that they become difficult to work with. These blend out beautifully and I like how the shimmers in the palette range from super intense metallics to more glittery topper like shades. There is just a great variety in textures and that is what I apprecatie the most. All the shades swatch intensely in a finger swatch against my fair skin, but also with a brush I had no issue picking any of these up. There is a bit of kick back as with many Lime Crime shadows, but I did not experience any fall out. It is recommended to build up and foil the shimmers to make sure they reach full intensity on the lid.

3 Looks, 1 Palette

You know I like using every shade in the palette for my reviews and today we are doing just that again. Between the three looks I have for you today, I have used all 18 shades. To create these looks I split the palette into three parts: warm tones, green tones, rosy tones.

I decided to stick to similar colors with this palette mainly because I feel the warm tones in this palette do not necessarily complement the greens and pinks this also has. Therefore I felt I would stick to the undertones/ colors this palette has to offer instead. Here I used Ripe in the crease and Forbidden and Phoenix on the lower lash line. I went in with Locust, a stunning duochrome and one of my favorite shades in the palette, all over the lid. I used a little bit of Classical as a liner and a touch of radiant in the inner corner.

Those green tones just begged me to be put together in a look and that’s what I did. The outcome is a stunning neutral green shimmery look, but I would have liked it to have a bit more depth. What I feel this palette lacks is a good deep matte forest green. That I think could have rounded out the palette much more nicely than the random warm tones we now get. To create the look I put Sage in the crease which on me is a perfect shade for doing just that. The intense shimmer on the lid is a combination of Myth and Ivy and I used Laurel, a subtle gold with a green undertone, on my lower lash line. I finished off the look with a bit of Ivy in the inner corner and a touch of Obscure in my top inner corner.

Last but not least, a rosy look and we all know how I feel about pinks and rosy tones: I think they are very flattering on me. On other people this can make it look like you have pink eye, but on me a rosy tone just always works. Again, it’s very neutral and everyday but the touch of sparkle created by putting Eve all over the lid is what makes this look. Other than that I used In Bloom in the crease and a combination of West and Thorn on the lower lash line. I blended things out with Mystic and popped a bit of Stella in my inner corner.

My Final Thoughts

Can you tell I love the Lime Crime Venus XL 2 eyeshadow palette? This instantly made it to my top 15 and for good reason. Is it a perfect palette? No, I wish it was a touch more versatile. If I were to recreate this, I would take out the three warm tones, especially Phoenix as I feel they have no place in the palette. Instead, I would put in a matte forest green, a deep cool toned dark brown and perhaps one deeper green toned shimmer. That way I feel the palette would truly commit to its color story and what it is setting out to do. However, that doesn’t mean this palette isn’t great as it is.

Would I recommend the Lime Crime Venus XL 2 eyeshadow palette?

Yes I most certainly would. This palette is a stunning one that is great if you have fair skin and like to create whimsical, fairytale like looks. I think that’s what this palette does best. I think however, that this palette isn’t perfect for everyone, which is why it caught so much flack early on. This just isn’t made for people with warm undertones and if you are deeper than a medium/ tan skin tone you may struggle with this showing up as nicely as it does on me. Therefore I would recommend this, but buy it on sale if you are lusting after this.

What do you think of the Lime Crime Venus XL 2?