Launched in 1980 as the USA’s first ‘all 99 cent’ cosmetic line, wet n wild is a sexy, fashionable and diverse range that sells on its high quality and affordable price.
Checkboxes:
[ ] Sexy – Packaging? Really? Nothing out of the ordinary, feels cheap
[/] Fashionable – I’ve given this a half hearted check; from what I’ve seen nothing really stands out from their range other than mega cheap price
[x] Diverse range – They do have a lot different shades and different glosses, mascaras, etc
[ ] High quality – Ha.ha.ha.HA. No.
[x] Affordable price – Super cheap; their highest priced items are around £5 with most costing 99p, plus they often have sales where items are reduced to 99p from £1.99, £2.99 etc
That’s 2.5 out of their 5 claims… not a great start
A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a small order from WnW after finding a sale thread on a forum – all lip products are reduced to 99p throughout July & August. Being the lip product junkie that I am I decided this would be a good time to try out some of their stuff, but after much browsing on their site, either the products I wanted were out of stock, or they just didn’t appeal to me.
In the end I purchased:
– MegaGlo Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Catwalk Pink
– Mascara Primer
– Mega Lash Mascara
– Diamond Brilliance Lip Sheen in Pink Sapphire and Sparkling Diamonds
– CoverAll Liquid Concealer Wand in Fair
– Sponge Applicators x 2
They offer free delivery within the UK when you spend £10+
Normally I wouldn’t look twice at this brand, not because I have anything against ultra cheap products, but more often than not it’s a case of “you get what you pay for” – I buy some ultra cheap items, end up not liking them and they just go straight into the bin. I’d much rather have spent that money on food (mmm fish…) or something more worthy. Anyway, here are my thoughts on my WnW purchases.
Mascara Primer
I actually don’t know what to say about this product. Other than that it makes no difference whatsoever to my mascara application, and stinks like sour yoghurt. Yes that’s right. Lovely eh? I don’t care if the smell does dissipate after a while; I don’t care that this is cheap (99p); if it does absolutely nothing and smells foul it’s going in the bin.
Mega Lash Mascara
This is supposed to create “thicker, longer, natural-looking lashes that won’t smudge or clump” but there’s a fundamental problem – 1 or 2 coats of this mascara makes next to no difference (at least not on my already dark lashes) and in order to get thicker looking lashes you have to apply 7+ coats and by then it would have already started to clump and smudge. It does not lengthen lashes either, plus has a super funky smell, and not in a good way; I fail to describe this as it is simply way beyond my senses so the only thing I can say is “not very nice”.
Did I mention that the packaging looks & feels cheap? You can probably tell from the picture anyway.
Diamond Brilliance Lip Sheen
At first glance both Pink Sapphire and Sparking Diamonds seem great – smooth and lightweight. Pink Sapphire is a sheer pearlescent baby pink with no shimmer, and Sparkling Diamonds is an iridescent clear gloss with tiny shimmer particles, mostly blue and both glosses are very, very pretty.
Unfortunately this is the best I can do with my camera (it looks prettier in person!)
I honestly wish I can say I like them, but they make my lips feel slightly uncomfortable, have no staying power, and smells very plasticky sweet (better than expired milk product at least). I don’t rate the packaging very highly either, especially not the fake plastic diamond thing at the top of the tube which just adds to its tacky factor.
CoverAll Liquid Concealer Wand
I got this in Fair which is the lightest of 3 shades they have. It’s a pretty good match for my NC15/NC20 skin, but it’s somewhat difficult to blend. If I use my fingers a lot of the concealer gets wiped off and becomes blotchy on blemishes, so no it doesn’t cover well in my opinion. I haven’t tried it as an under eye concealer though, since I don’t get eye bags. As far as concealers go, this is not good enough.
Sponge Applicators
I actually like these; they’re not of superb quality but are soft enough to apply eyeshadow with, fix minor mistakes or remove eye makeup by drenching them in makeup remover. Pretty easy to clean with some warm soapy water. Glad I got 2 packs although I only got them initially to bring me over the free shipping amount.
MegaGlo Illuminating Bronzing Powder
Purposely left the best till last 😛 Catwalk Pink contains 4 shades – light shimmery bronze, pearly baby pink, medium matte red, and a darker shimmery orange bronze; these can be used together or separately as highligher, blush, eyeshadow too, so this is quite versatile.
When used together the 4 shades create a super pretty glow (swatch on the left) that is perfect for my skin. Usually bronzers make me look like a blotchy orange, and it is difficult finding a light enough shade without it appearing over the top, but I don’t have problems with MegaGlo because it’s so subtle. The only issue I have with this, other than the cheap packaging, is that it takes work picking up the product on your brush – you need some wrist strength, but once I apply it with my MAC 182 kabuki brush it lasts all day. Pretty decent for £1.99 😉