Hello dear readers!
This is actually the fourth palette with the gorgeous Venus on top by the Lime Crime cosmetic brand. I’ve read and heard so many rave reviews of those palettes by the brand, that I’ve been dreaming of giving a shot to one of them myself one day as well. But the color selection of the previous Venus palettes didn’t actually make my heart beat faster, until the moment I saw the Venus III.
This spring I became really on a roll with mauve, lavender and pink shades. And of course the new Venus III eyeshadow palette by Lime Crime was absolutely the place for my mood. I couldn’t resist the desire to try it out and quickly added it to the cart.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Price: $38.00
It took the palette 13 long days to be delivered to my place and now, here it is, this is my precious.
Palette design
Well, the design of the product is something I actually want to draw your attention to. It looks so cute and stylish.
On the back there’s all the product info like the list of ingredients and manufacturer.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Inside, the palette has a good and big mirror. It was sealed with a protective wrap. Also there’s a protective plastic liner to the pans themselves. The palette was delivered with a see-through plastic box, which I keep to store the palette to make it look its best as long as possible.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
The palette houses 8 shades of beige-ish, lilac and mauve colors.
Lime Crime VENUS III
The weight of the palette is 16 g which means 2 g for each refill pan. That’s a lot, isn’t it? Especially in comparison with the refill pans from some other brands.
Let’s move onto the swatches and products description:
As far as I can see, the palette offers three textures of the products. There are matte, satin and shimmer shades, which have a pretty big grain, though. However, on the official website they confirm that the palette offers 5 finishes:
Matte: Buttery smooth and totally matte.
Shimmer Matte: Matte with a flash of shimmer.
Iridescent Shimmer: Pearly with a high-beam rainbow effect.
Glow: Soft, luminous finish. Glowy, not glittery.
Metallic: Extreme shimmer!
Beam:
Lit lilac with pink shift (iridescent shimmer)
Beloved:
Minky lavender brown (metallic)
Bliss: Rosewood (matte)
Dreamy:
Mauve (matte)
Ecstasy:
Dried fig (matte)
Heavenly:
Rich rose gold (iridescent shimmer)
Paradise:
Bright fuchsia with blue glow (glow)
Rapture:Soft blush with blue flash (shimmer matte)
I reeled the swatches in two rows on my hand, where the upper swatches are applied with my fingertips and the lower swatches are applied with a synthetic brush. As you can see, the products have got a massive color payoff and they apply well with a brush too.
The shades of the upper row:
Dreamy, Beam, Heavenly, Rapture
Lime Crime VENUS III from the left to the right Dreamy, Beam, Heavenly, Rapture
Dreamy: it’s a matte ash-rose shade. On pan it looks beige, though on the skin it blossoms with a pretty vibrant and detectable pink color.
Beam: one of the first shiny shades. The manufacturer named its finish as Iridescent Shimmer. This mauve shade with pink shimmer particles is one of the most interesting shades from the palette to my liking.
Heavenly: sparkling rose gold shade which has rather big shimmer specks which later fall out under my eyes during the day. The finish of this shade is on par with the previous and is called the Iridescent Shimmer.
Rapture: well, here, I don't actually agree with the manufacturer in terms of the finish description. They say that it’s a Shimmer Matte shade. But, to me it looks more satin with an apparent glow effect. In the pan it looks light and beige but on the skin it shines with a tender pink color.
And the two shimmer shades Beam and Heavenly closer for you to see the shine of their particles.
Lime Crime VENUS III from the left to the right Beam, Heavenly
Swatches of the lower row: Ecstasy, Bliss, Paradise, Beloved
Lime Crime VENUS III from the left to the right Ecstasy, Bliss, Paradise, Beloved
Ecstasy: matte dark-toned purple hue, which looks almost brown in the palette, but it’s an absolutely deceptive impression.
Bliss: matte and rather warm-toned almost orange shade which is described as Rosewood on the official site.
Paradise: one more standalone of the palette. This one is a very heavy shade of dark fuchsia. The finish of the product is officially called Glow.
Beloved: one more satin shade, which is said to be metallic by the manufacturer. It looks cool-toned and lavender-like. Since I’m used to the metallic shades by ColourPop, I just can’t call this shade metallic at all. It doesn’t have anything in common with the metallic shades. Yes, it does shine beautifully, but you’ll never get a lot of extreme shine with it for sure.
The texture of the products:
All the shades are rough and dry to the touch. There’s only one shade that I can highlight from the others and it’s the Ecstasy, which is more silky and soft to the touch.
The pigmentation of the shades is very good. All the colors are easy to translate to my skin as well as blend out. They don’t show any dusting indeed.
Pictures of the shades on my eyes:
I applied the Dreamy shade to the crease, then darkened the crease with the Bliss shade and applied the Ecstasy color to darken the outer corner. The Beloved shade is applied to the inner corners and all over my mobile lid. Heavenly was applied with a damp brush to the mobile lid and Rapture is in the inner corners.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
The Dreamy shade is here in the crease. Bliss is used to darken the crease and with the Ecstasy color I darkened the outer V-s. The Beam is applied wet over the mobile lid and Rapture is in the inner corners.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
The Beloved hue is used all over my lids, which I first applied over some beige eyeshadows of mine. The blending of the edges is done with the Dreamy color and Rapture is in the inner corners.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
The Dreamy is in the crease, and I darkened the crease with the Bliss. Ecstasy is to darken the outer Vs. Paradise is used all over my mobile lid. Beam is in the middle of my mobile lid as an accent shade and to the inner corners I applied it with a damp brush.
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
Lime Crime VENUS III
And now I have to tell you about a con of this palette. It’s the wear time, guys.
The staying power is actually the reason why I became upset about this Venus III eyeshadow palette very much. From “my precious palette” the product has quickly moved onto “my venereal palette”.
At first I applied the eyeshadows over my non-primed skin to see how they would behave on my eyes that way.
And I can say that they behaved very badly. Within 3 or 4 hours, the products almost vanished from my eyes, and not that much that was left was terribly creased.
I thought that it was okay, because a lot of eyeshadows crease and don’t stay on well when they aren’t applied over a primer. Later I was more thoughtful and applied them over a primer.
I was so disappointed when I found out that even when applied over a primer this eyeshadows still creased and vanished from my eyes. It was absolutely frustrating for me.
For a few days more I kept on experimenting and applying the products over different eyeshadow primers that I had. But the result was always hurtful - the products creased and disappeared from my eyes. It’s noteworthy that they could crease only on one of my eyes and look their best on the other at the same time.
I was already desperate when I tried to wear them over the No Filter Concealer by ColourPop and out of nowhere, the eyeshadows stayed on the entire day! From now on, I don’t have any problems with the staying power of these eyeshadows. But I can still remember how disappointing and difficult it was for me to find this way out. This experience really made me treat the palette worse, you know.
But still I want to assess this product with 4 stars, even though at first I was ready to give it only 3 stars. So 4 stars for the beauty of the colors and their color payoff.
I still can say that I recommend you this palette for purchasing. But you have to be ready to face the music and be aware that the staying power can be disappointing for some.
Is the Venus III eyeshadow palette unique color-wise? No, it isn’t. There are many other similar eyeshadow colors from other brands.
Thanks for your attention!
