Rant & Rave: Wet 'n' Wild
Tell us what you love and hate about...
Wet 'n' Wild
I like that they do some color and non-traditional hues and finishes because this isn’t as readily present in more mass/drugstore brands (you can certainly find it at a lower price point, but you’re looking at indie and niche brands or ones that are online-only!). I wish I enjoyed their updated eyeshadow formula more (mattes are better but shimmers seem rather inconsistent) as they used to be such a go-to rec for budget-friendly eyeshadow palettes.
— Christine
I love their color products like shadows, blush and lipsticks. They create shade ranges with good to great formulas at very affordable price points. I think their collections are more interesting and more consistant than other brands in that same price point. I want them to expand their shades ranges for face items like concealer and powder. I want to see the foundation shades expanded and more formulas like a radiant or sheer finish.
Wet n Wild has quickly become one of my favorite beauty brands, if not my favorite. Essentially it’s affordable vegan beauty; I love how WnW has more vegan products than not. I love their Photofocus foundation and consider it a holy grail. I love their eyeshadow singles – especially in Brulee. I love their highlighters because they give you a wet, can-be-seen-from-space finish.
I just wish their products were easier to find in drugstores. That’s my only rant. You can go to several and you can’t find a product or a shade of foundation that you can find readily on the website. Shell Ivory is my perfect match in their foundation but I can only seem to buy it online, and same goes for the Megalength waterproof mascara. Just stock it all!
Hilariously enough, I just placed an order with WnW last night for several of their GoT themed pieces!
Rave: When they do a special, thematic collection, they are really quite excellent about capturing its mood and essence. In those collections, the quality does seem better than their permanent items very recently. Which leads to….
Rant: Why did you do this, WnW? Why did you go and mess with your FABULOUS eyeshadow formula? This decision has me stumped. And NOT a happy camper!
Rave: they used to have some really amazing eyeshadows at unbelievable prices and certainly proved that contrary to what a lot of people think, price is not always an indication of quality.
Rant: that they messed with that success. They got rid of those really good 6 pan palettes (I think they were 6-pan) – Vanity, Lust, etc. and a lot of their newer releases aren’t as good as the old ones. But my biggest rant has to be how limited a selection of WnW products is available here in Canada.
I think the only thing I own from Wet N Wild is the recent dragons box. I haven’t tried everything in it, but I like everything I’ve tried (with the one caveat that I wish the two bronzers that came in the box weren’t so identical on the skin). So … hard for me to judge the brand as a whole.
Wait, I do have a rant, about the dragons set specifically … the decision to put the shade/set names on the portion of the label that wraps around the packaging to the front was not thought through. They put dotted “rip me here” areas that invite one to peel the tab off and rip it at the point where it meets the bottom label, except then the shade names have been removed from the packaging. That’s part of my annoyance with the bronzers — because I peeled off the tabs and ripped them cleanly where they met the larger label, I now have no idea which is which and literally can’t tell them apart. :-/ I decided to avoid that issue with the quads by cutting through the tabs at the point where the lid meets the base, but it’s not as clean a solution as just removing the tabs entirely, so now it annoys me to handle them. Bah!
Love: Brulee single eyeshadow – has been my go to for years! The price point is affordable and they come out with a mix of great staples and some trendy stuff (usually LE, but eh) and it’s usually pretty accessible for most folks. I really like the Hello Halo highlighters too!
Hate: I’m not a big fan of the eyeshadow palette reformulations and I don’t like the lipsticks much either. I would also like to see them expand their basic foundation and concealer shades.
Rave : I like the three products I have from them : Reserve You Cabana Bronzer, Blusing Bali – lipstick (a beautiful luminous warm peachy-pink) and the Dual-Ended Contour Stick in Light-Medium (it’s a bit thick as coverage for summer but I love it in winter). This brand is proof that you can come up with good quality products without necessarily copying other brands, at very affordable prices.
Rant: The offer in Canada is very limited. I don’t find their products anywhere in the stores near me. They used to be sold at the local Walmart until two years ago. Now I find a few of their products at a Canadian retailer online but the stock is very limited and does not include any new releases. Also, with respect to the lipstick (Wet n Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in Blushing Bali) I know it’s very affordable (1.99CAD) but the cap comes off very easily and basically you can’t carry it in your purse. Hopefully they will improve the packaging if not already done.
Judging by the four products I own (two highlighters and two eyeshadow palettes), I really don’t have anything negative to say, especially given the super cheap prices.
I’m going to add a rant: The selection of WnW products at drugstores, Target, Ulta, etc. is always very disappointing. It’s usually just a small column of select products and, more often than not, many products are sold out and they rarely have the product I’m looking for. I won’t order a $5 item online, so that’s a sale lost for the company.
RAVES: I’ve used them since they debuted, and I’ve always appreciated that they’ve done alternative colors. That and their affordability attracted me to them as an 80s teen. They still have a great price point. They’re cruelty free. They have great lip color products, blushes, and highlighters. The CoverAll powder is fantastic. The recent LE collections such as Midnight Mermaid, Goth-o-Graphic, Zodiac, and Fire & Ice have been really fun and (mostly) good quality. I like that they sell the products in boxes or sets, and separately. The Halloween collections/ Fantasy Makers are tons of fun. Fantasy Makers black lipsticks and the old Fergie Pagan Angel are still some of the best black lipsticks I’ve ever used, regardless of price point. (Though UD Perversion has beaten out Pagan Angel as the best for me.) They seem to be improving their terrible, cheap plastic packaging.
RANTS: I don’t think they changed their eyeshadow formula for the better. They used to have one of the best DS eyeshadow formulas on the market. Now, it’s more hit-and-miss. I think between formula change and color changes, they ruined the once-amazing Comfort Zone palette. I also think it was stupid to change the eye primer formula. They should have just taken the Fergie name off that formula, because it was really good. It can be hard to find their LE collections in stores, and they tend to sell out fast. They need to expand their foundation shades and formulas.
Rave: The brand’s original Comfort Zone and three pans were sensational and great value as a budget option. They also offer lots of different blushes, highlighters and lipsticks too.
Being cruelty free is a plus as well
Rant: Can only get them online in Aus at the moment, so it is difficult to test and try before purchasing.
I’m probably in the minority but I wish their packaging didn’t feel so cheap and flimsy. I also hate dealing with the stickers and the residue.
Rave: with drugstore prices creeping up over the past few years, I really appreciate how they can deliver amazing products at a consistently low price point. Their phtofocus foundation is incredible and their powder complexion products are top.
Rant: the packaging just feels very flimsy and shade range super limited, especially in store. When I go to my local drugstores there’s only a small selection of the shade range and mostly in the same tone.
Raves: The Silk Finish lipsticks without frost. I am loving Blind Date and Secret Muse, which look like MAC; Brule eye shadow single; #666 lip liner; the eye shadow brushes
Rants: The eye shadows other than Brule, which are either too glittery, too patchy or in unwearable colors; the world’s worst stick concealer.
Overall, for the price, Wet n Wild is a good deal as long as you know what works for you.
Favorite products:
– Reserve Your Cabana bronzer/highlighter. It’s a little too dark for me to use as a highlighter but with a big fluffy brush it’s like a soft glowy finishing powder that adds some warmth to my face.
– Rose in Air. I like the new matte formula better than the old one and didn’t like the Modern Renaissance formula so this is the palette for me. I’ve been very tempted to try the new Comfort Zone but the real star of that palette was the blue/red duochrome and I’m not a fan of the shimmer formula.
– Nail polishes. I don’t hear people talk about them often but for $3 a bottle they have insanely good coverage and dry quickly. Plus, the color range is pretty wide and all the bottles are flat so they’re easy to store 🙂
I have been meaning to try some of their blushes (particularly Mellow Wine) but I already have a lot of blush and no place to put it!