More adventures in drug store shopping

I can honestly say that as soon as I could afford more high end up make up I never turned back to drugstore stuff. I don't know what it was, maybe I had this unfounded belief that drugstore make up would never live up to the new stuff from Sephora. Boy was I wrong!

I think I've had a drugstore Renaissance this week. I've come to realize that there really is a lot of great make-up to be had in the drugstore. Not only are the prices more reasonable, but you can find items that compare to high end brands. Of course, this is not to say that all things in the drugstore are great. Sometimes you may buy something that really sucks, and that is why drugstore return policies are awesome. All drugstores in my area accept returns on used make-up, from what I can tell most do across the US. Now that I've added that disclaimer I can tell you about the one brand that has very much surprised me with the quality of their make-up. Wet N Wild. I remember being a high schooler and buying this brand, back then it was aimed towards teens and so it was all crazy colors and glitter, the quality was subpar as well. However, the brand has come a long way and this has caused me to take a second look. I already did a review of one of their palettes, Comfort Zone. I ended up liking it so much I decided to pick up another palette and a couple of other things.

Hopefully you know that purple eyeshadow really brings out brown eyes, I feel like I've heard it my whole life. Most Olive skinned women with brown eyes can really pull off a beautiful purple eye look. I love doing purple eye shadow looks, but usually fail at picking the right shades to pair together. Luckily Wet N Wild had me covered with one of their Color Icon palettes, Petal Pusher.

Petal Pusher

Left side of palette, colors left to right: brow-bone, eyelid, define, crease.

Right side of palette, colors left to right: brow-bone, eyelid, define, crease.

This palette has some really great colors that are anything but boring. Some of them have a bit of shimmer to them, which some people may not like, but I can honestly say it is pretty muted. This palette is on par with Comfort Zone on how pigmented it is. I love how easily they go on, I suppose that both eyelid shades in this palette could stand to be a smidge more pigmented but for the price this palette is more than my money's worth. I also really loved the color combinations and how they paired so beatuifully together. This palette is really great for people trying to get into more complicated eye looks because it walks you through it in the back of the palette and, as you may have noticed, labels all their eyeshadows so you know where they go. Take a look at the swatches, I feel like they look pretty great on my NC35 skin, I can see creating some flattering looks with this palette.

After liking their palette so much I decided to also try a couple of their other items. I ended up getting a navy eyeliner, a taupe eyeshadow and a two creme shadow pencils. I can say that I was pretty impressed with their prices and, more importantly, their performance.

I love navy eyeliners with certain eye looks, and I'd been looking for a good shade/formula and saw that the Wet N Wild brand had them on sale for $.69 so I decided to grab it. I really loved the color, how creamy and nicely it applied, no tugging and it smudged well. This is definitely not a long wearing eyeliner though, so maybe setting it with eyeshadow would help, but nonetheless, it's wear is not terrible, I'd say about 4-6 hours. Even when it had run its course it didn't look like I had raccoon eyes or anything, just faded.

Color Icon eyeliner in Deep Blue

Swatch of Deep Blue

Someone on MakeupAlley suggested that I try the eyeshadow single called "Nutty." When I saw it in store I realized why they'd suggested, it's a beautiful taupey brown color. When I got it home to swatch it I was even more pleasantly surprised. At $2.49 this eyeshadow single is more than worth it's price, it is like butter when you use it, blends nicely and a little goes a long way even on my Olive skin. This is a color that would great on all people, and I can truly recommend it for its application and performance (especially with a primer first).

Wet N Wild Color Icon "Nutty"

Swatch of Nutty, no primer.

Before walking away from the Wet N Wild display I noticed that they had eyeshadow pencils. I like to use these as bases for eyeshadow and sometimes for highlighting or a smudgey smokey eye look. I decided to get the only two colors that jumped out as flattering and good for everyday. Once I swatched them I realized that they are very very close to Nyx Jumbo pencils. These are a little smaller and a little cheaper at $2.49. I really loved the colors I picked, and the formula and colors were as expected. These will serve well for the purposes I bought them for, as eyeshadow bases, I can't speak of their performance as eyeshadows alone.

Pixie

Graphite

Graphite

Pixie

Pixie (would be good as a highlighter too right?) and Graphite (would also serve well as a smokey eye pencil)

Well kids, I'm done boring you with my over analytical review. Hopefully if any of you guys were on the fence about any of these items I've helped you make a decision one way or the other. I am very happy with my purchases. I'm looking forward to exploring the brand a little further and seeing if I find any other diamonds in the rough. So, will you be trying Wet N Wild? Are you already a fan of the brand?