VENUS XL II RELEASE THOUGHTS

The best thing about doing up to date make up blogging is that you get to write about new and upcoming releases and general thoughts. 

Honestly, with the amount of stuff that comes out almost every day, it's pretty much impossible to keep track of everything that's being released so you might as well give up on trying to follow everything - unless of course, it's your job and you get paid to 'release' secret information like trendmood1 on Instagram does. 

Anyway, here it is, the grand unveiling of Venus 2 XL  - and while it's stylized as II on the package, apparently the official instagram account calls it Venus XL 2, so we'll go with 2 out of convenience.  

The official description is as follows: 

"Boldly unearth 18 all-new shades in four rich, buttery-smooth formulas: matte, metallic, foil, and sheer iridescent. "

"Enter the Garden of Earthly Delights with NEW VENUS XL 2 ＋ New Wet Cherry Lip Glosses!

The Ultimate Earthly Grunge Shadow Palette comes complete with 18 shades, 4 different finishes..."

Taken from https://www.instagram.com/p/BsJRbsMndS7/

Taken from https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGKTy9Hay-/

Recently it's been brought to my attention that it is indeed promoted as the Venus XL II, rather than the Venus 2, XL. The importance of that ordering, I assume, is pretty much the key to unlocking the reason for this palette's color scheme- that is, that it is seen as a sister palette to Venus XL, rather than Venus 2. 

With that in mind, I am inclined to forgive it a little more, just because there isn't too much of an expectation from that first XL palette anyway. 

I haven't done a review on the XL yet, but I can tell you, if you like the same repetitive color schemes over and over again from one palette with 16 shades, it does not let you down. 

In light of that palette, this is a smidge more interesting even if it is a muted version of the palette's cover art. 

Had this been based off the original Venus 2 though, here's my long winded opinion. 

Here's a comparison offical site picture of Venus 2 (if you've not seen my review and high quality pictures) in comparison to the Venus 2 XL 

I've mentioned in my review that I think the Venus 2 is one of the more original and interesting color stories that have been offered in the makeup market since the market decided they were obsessed with red/pink tones from the Venus I/Modern Renaissance obsession (which is arguably, somewhat nearly as boring as the Naked by Urban Decay craze, but that's a very subjective and contentious opinion. All I will say is that, the same brand formulas and color themes don't work for everyone.) Some people on r/makeupaddiction are also of the opinion that maybe Anatasia Beverly Hill's Subculture palette was inspired by this color theme. I can see that, though I don't necessarily agree. 

The second photo that was the first released one as well, was so bizarrely edited that a majority of the colors really did not come through at all and looked exactly like the Venus XL from the color scheme - so much so that all the comments on the original post were 'this looks exactly the same as the original XL' (the comments amused me a lot.) 

Being the awful reddit basement dweller that I am, I've been lurking real hard on some of the threads on r/makeupaddiction, and there is a lot of discussion around Lime Crime's Venus 2 palette and the praise around how interesting and well performing it is. Someone in the threads mentioned - wouldn't it be interesting to see them release an XL version of this grungy, colorful, dirty city vibes. 

When they first released this, we were thinking, oh yeah Venus XL 2= means a sequel and larger version of Venus 1, like the XL was to 1. XL2, is to 2.

What, I thought with so much of my brain, were they going to put out? I've got some ideas for eyeshadow palettes for sure (I've got some sick ideas for a Hokkaido themed eyeshadow palette just @ me because it's hella inventive and cool), but I admit, I never really liked Venus II because they weren't colors that I could work/I generally liked to see on myself - even though they are nice colors. 

What I also imagine is happening with the direction under the new CEO, the brand image is being cleansed a little more, other colorful shades are being discontinued due to the more 'girly' and 'vegan' cute image. The Birthday release was definitely made to distance themselves from the original releases, and the new color themes and products were made to appeal more to the general public which don't have information about Lime Crime's more controversial past. The phasing out of old products, and even stock, with all the insane sales lately, seem to be pointing towards something, but I'd be lying if I said I knew or had an idea what they were doing. 

The facts are as goes: New CEO, discontinuing more colorful products, lots of sales for older products. 

You make of that what you will. 

I've showed a picture of the swatched colors from the XL2  first, as like with the original XL, because it is weirdly not accurate to pan color. None of the colors in the original XL look anywhere as drastically varied as they do in the pan, which was itself, surprising but not too bad as I didn't own any colors similar to that (Botticelli and Blank Canvas are nowhere as dark, and light respectively, as they seem to be in pan.) I guess this is just continuing the trend. 

From my experience with the original XL palette, it's highly likely that these don't look quite the same as they do in pan. I don't own this myself, so I can't say for sure. 

I think, like much of the r/makeupaddiction comments say insightfully, it looks a bit like a toned down less saturated version of the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette - less neutrals and a lot more green tones. 

Liberally taken from https://www.toofaced.com/eye-makeup/eye-shadow-palettes/sweet-peach-eye-palette/41025.html

I'm a little disappointed, I feel like more mustard/orange shades which were in the Venus 2 seem a lot more interesting and better performing. I'm also deeply offended that there isn't a deep cerulean blue in there at all. 

I've pulled a picture of street graffiti, and posted it into a palette generator to show and example of a infinitely more exciting color scheme. 

I imagine, maybe turn the lighter grey into an interesting green duochrome, add in a stark white, some browns and maybe a bright yellow- this reads way more as a grungy, and earthy color scheme to me. 

As you can probably tell, super disappointed with this release and won't be reaching for the same four similar olive shades and the million neutrals and warm tones. I also, really dislike darker shimmery shades, so I won't be buying this. 

I still maintain my stance that this was a real let down of a palette. Make a diversity of products that interest people, you can do neutral and also a plethora of color and offer a huge range of products to people. If you manage to hit gold with these ideas, you literally have nothing to lose, and people might start ripping off your ideas as well again.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing these reviews that are coming up. I won't buy this and this doesn't make me feel like it's anything special or new, but tracking Lime Crime's brand image and trajectory has been interesting to see.