Look what came in my Bashara Care monthly box this month… the Lime Crime Venus 2 palette! If you’ve been following my beauty posts for a while now, you already know how much I love Lime Crime. I’ve been ordering in their crazy cool shades of Velvetines lipsticks well before they hit the UAE market (click here for a recap), and I did a complete review with swatches on the original Lime Crime Venus palette here before.

I absolutely LOVE my original Lime Crime Venus eye-shadow palette, and will surely keep the gorgeous box well after all the product has been used up. I am a sucker for great packaging, and love the pop-art take on the renaissance inspired Venus.

So imagine my delight to find the funkier, nose-ringed bad ass twin palette on none other than BasharaCare.com ! Retailing at a very affordable AED 155 and with no shipping fee within the UAE, and speedy delivery within 24 hours, buying this brand new beauty was a piece of cake. 

 

The Packaging

Identical to the original, the Lime Crime Venus 2 palette comes in a sturdy cardboard packaging with a magnetic closure, a generously large mirror and 8 full-sized eye-shadows.

 

The Shades of Venus 2

Like the Venus on the front, the colors here are more grungier, more punk than the original. Where the original featured mainly rusts and earth tones, this palette has an unconventional mix of grays, blacks, earthy tones and a sky blue.

 

PIGEON: A shimmery, duo-chrome shade that looks like a deep shiny green on sight, but has this gorgeous earthy brown dimension when swatched. The texture is buttery smooth, and is one of those unusually beautiful, bold shades you can wear on its own for a special night out.

FILTER: A beautiful shade of sky blue, that is not as pigmented as the rest but has a buildable color. Probably my least favorite from the lot, but still wearable when paired with another shade (think white, shimmery golds, or even a hint of smokey brown).

MARSH: An olive green shade with a hint of gold, this earthy, playful color is one I can see myself wearing from day to night. The color is deeply pigmented and creamy, and very easy to blend out.

MUSTARD: What a gorgeous, unusual shade! Why didn’t anyone think of this before? Mustard, as the name suggests, imitates the exact same shade of mustard you’d squeeze over your hot dogs, and also reminds me of the very 70’s corduory pants we saw Susie Salmon wearing in The Beautiful Bones. What I love about this shade is its versatility. I can see this working on a wide range of skin tones, and although it is not as pigmented as some of the other shades, the color is very buildable and would work great for the eye crease or as a transition shade.

FLY: A very buttery, smooth pale yellow with specks of gold. Works great as a base, and can even be worn on its own to channel in the 60’s vibe with a cat-eye flick of black liner.  So fly!

JAM: An earthy brick red-brown. A little chalkier than the rest, but the color is easily buildable and looks like an extension of the original Venus palette.

MUD: I love this shade! This deep brownish-red shade is extremely pigmented, and has a smooth, buttery finish. Works wonderfully well as a crease shade, and can even be worn on its own for an earhty take on the smokey eye.

BOOT: At first glance, Boot appears to be a black shadow with specks of purple glitter. Very petty indeed! But unfortunately when swatched, the color payoff isn’t as dramatic. You really have to build on the color, and there really isn’t enough of the purple specks. It does come on smooth and creamy, just wish it had more oomph with its color transfer.

 

Lime Crime Venus 2 Swatches

 

Lime Crime Venus 1 or 2?

Apart from the gorgeous goddess of love that adorns the covers of both palettes, the Lime Crime Venus original and Lime Crime Venus 2 palettes are so unlike one another. The original featured more renaissance shades of earthy browns and bold rusts, whereas the Venus 2 has a mix of quite a number of different shades.

Venus 2 is more bold and ‘out there’, and great for creating looks that stand out. With more deeper colors, I feel this palette is more for nights out than an everyday look.

On a daily basis, I find myself reaching out more often for the original sister.

Both are beautiful, both as keepsakes for the packaging and the high-quality product. If you are stuck on which one to get, it really isn’t a ‘this or that’. Both palettes are radically different.

A safer bet would be the original, but if you want to invest in colors you probably won’t have in any other palette in your collection, the Venus 2 is for you.

 

Why I LOVE the Lime Crime Venus 2

• Awesome packaging! Now I have a collection of both Venuses 🙂
• The colors are so unconventionally different. Usually when I buy a palette, there are a few shades I already own. Not so in this case.
• The colors are beautifully pigmented, and blend well.

 

Product Pricing & Availability

The Lime Crime Venus 2 palette retails for AED 155, and can be bought online from BasharaCare.com Delivery is free and within 24 hours in the UAE, and you can opt to pay once received.