Venus is the original warm-toned palette from Lime Crime that started a trend.
It costs £34 from UK Suppliers or $38 from Lime Crime direct. It has 16 g of product and has a 24-month shelf life once opened. It’s vegan and cruelty-free.
Described by Lime Crime as
In a sea of nude palettes, the VENUS vegan eyeshadow palette emerges with 8 game-changing shades: rust red, brick brown, burgundy and unconventional neutrals. Recklessly pigmented eyeshadows can be worn alone or mesh flawlessly for a nu-grunge look with a soft, painterly finish. Beautiful mirrored box with kitschy artwork makes VENUS the ultimate collectible artifact.
It was a game-changing palette. It was the palette that launched a trend.
The packaging is cardboard with a lovely large mirror in the lid. The mirror does not stand up on its own, as xSparkage would say it needs palette viagra. The outside is pretty and based on the Venus the Roman Goddess of love. There are 8 shadows in rusty tones for the perfect ‘grunge’ eye. If you’re like me and grew up with ‘grunge’ this is nothing like the original grunge. It’s the updated version, 2.0 if you will.
Lime Crime’s description of the colours is a little fanciful. So let’s not use those, bruised fruit anyone?
- Venus is a burgundy red, while it’s quite matte it is not perfectly so. You won’t notice it not being a matte on the eye though.
- Shell is a light coral shade with a shimmery finish.
- Aura is a creamy pearl shade, beautiful on the brow bone or for halo eyes.
- Creation is a rusty brown, it’s almost matte but not quite
- Icon is a cool chocolate brown that’s got a little bit of gold shimmer but this is lost on the eyes (and my swatch!)
- Rebirth is a bright matte coral colour. This really pops on the eye.
- Divine is a taupe grey-brown. A great transition shade.
- Muse is a burnt red, it’s the deeper sister of Venus.
The colours work really really well together. They are soft, pigmented and buttery. I know people hate that word but it’s to imply the smoothness with which they go on the skin and these do.
There’s almost no fallout with these shadows and I’ve seen little fading with the colours when they’re worn on the eye. There is a little kickback in the pan but it’s tiny because these have been well pressed. They’re not quite as finely milled as I’d expect from a palette of this price but it never affects the performance.
I’ve been using this palette for a while now and the formula is great, it hasn’t changed even though it’s long past the ‘expiry’ date. The colours are still on trend today, so unless you’re fairly new to makeup you’ll probably have all these tones. It’s an iconic palette for a reason and it’s well worth having in your collection.
If you’d like one you can get yours from UK Suppliers for £34 or $38 from Lime Crime direct.
AURA/CREATION/DIVINE/ICON/SHELL/VENUS (Eye): Mica (CI 77019), Triethylhexanoin, Zinc Stearate, Silica, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain/Peut Contenir [+/-]: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Red 40 Lake (CI 16035). MUSE/REBIRTH (Face): Mica (CI 77019), Triethylhexanoin, Zinc Stearate, Silica, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain/Peut Contenir [+/-]: Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Red 40 Lake (CI 16035), Red 27 Lake (CI 45410).
Great post 🙂