If there’s ever an eyeshadow palette which I seen and instantly needed, it was this one. I had seen so many pictures of the Venus XL eyeshadow palette circling around social media before it was even released and knew I had to add it to my ever growing collection of eyeshadow palettes. I ‘needed‘ it that much I bought it from America, to find out a couple of days later after making the purchase that Cult Beauty had started stocking it. Damn. But nevertheless it arrived safely and I couldn’t unbox it quick enough. I rarely get to buy expensive makeup products but I had a little bit of money left over and thought ‘treat yourself‘, which I think it was high time I did.
I love the Lime Crime Velvetines Liquid Lipsticks (full review with swatches of the colours I picked up here) but had never tried their eyeshadow palettes before, however I’ve heard a few people around me rave about them. I’d been meaning to order myself the other 2 when I had money but could never really justify the price tag. But everyone deserves a luxury purchase every once in a while.
Firstly, the packaging. Its absolutely stunning! Pink and gold is such a good colour combo in my opinion. The front design is basically a work of art, with Venus herself in all her Goddess glory. Its so aesthetically pleasing to the eye which made it such a stand out palette to me. It feels a lot heavier than other palettes I own and has the thickness of a standard paged book (pretty much the only way I could describe it). It has a magnetic flip lid with a decent sized mirror on the inside. You get your standard plastic clear cover to stop product getting onto the mirror and the pan sizes are a decent size. I love how they are nicely spaced out so there’s less chance of different colours getting into the other colours.
The Venus XL is bursting with 18 shades which are a mixture of 4 different finishes; mattes, matte sparkles, metallics and glow shades. As you can see the main theme of this palette is pinks, purples and berry colours which I am living for! These are definitely my go to colours when it comes to eyeshadows. Each shade has a name
Here are some swatches from the top row to bottom:
Each shade is super pigmented and feel buttery to the touch apart from Ethereal (bottom left) and Celestial (middle row far right). They feel a little bit on the chalky side which is a shame, but apart from that they feel super nice. I tried out an eye look with them, nothing special but was just playing around with the colours a little bit. I used Blank Canvas as my base, Idolized as my transition shade, Triumph to deepen up the crease a little bit, Boticelli for the outer V of my eye and Ethereal on my lid. Each of the shades blended nicely into each other and they have a lot of pigment! I did go in with a heavy hand when I really shouldn’t of. I advise starting off light and building the colour up.
Sorry for the terrible quality, it was shot on the front camera of my IPhone however you get a rough idea. This was done in about 5 minutes so isn’t perfect. I just wanted to mess around with some of the colours a little bit. Better picture coming soon.
^^^ I have such wrinkly eyelids! ^^^
The Venus XL eyeshadow palette is a whopping £45, available on the Cult Beauty website. If you compare the Venus XL to Venus I and Venus II I think the price tag is totally justifiable. With 18 shades, 10 more than the others, you definitely get a lot more for your money. If you’re in the market for an eyeshadow palette based around pinks and berry shades then I highly recommend making the splurge and getting yourself this palette. I cannot wait to play around with this palette more and see what else I can create with it!
Which one of the Venus Eyeshadow Palettes is your favourite?
Until next time,
Heather xo
