Astral Venusian Orchid

Astral Venusian Orchid has a translucent, darker pink base that shifted slightly to plum at more extreme angles paired with chartreuse-to-gold shifting sparkle throughout. It was very sparkly, shiny, and noticeably textured, and the formula itself seemed drier, a little chunkier, and did not seem to have as much adhesion on its own compared to other Astral shades that have been released previously.

The brand recommended to apply the shade with a dampened brush, which worked to deposit more medium coverage that had some fallout and decent initial adhesion, but the fallout for the first few hours was noticeable (and irritating to my eyes), even though there was plenty of product still intact after nine hours of wear. The effect is pretty without using a tackier base, but the continuous fallout made it much harder to get away with using the product more "as is."

I tested the shade for longevity applied wet (with just water), wet with MAC Fix+, and over the brand's new IntensifEYES Artistry Wand. I found that the wear was similar with MAC Fix+ and the Artistry Wand with the wand giving slightly less initial fallout as it was a bit tackier. I did not feel like there was a big difference in opacity or how shiny/sparkly the end result was, so long as the product was used wet in some fashion (water or otherwise).

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview, which is a detailed review of the range as a whole.

• Brand Description
• Ingredients