How to Make Over Your Image: Wet 'N Wild Cosmetics

Swatches from the Lust Palette


This is the brand I cut my makeup teeth on in the 80s. It was everything 80s and everything wrong with makeup: frosty, glittery, cheap and cheap-looking. By the 90s, it was a punchline in the makeup consumer eye.

I completely ignored (or, more to the point, actively dodged) this brand at the drugstores for two decades. Then Emily Eddington had a video blog about the line on her Youtube channel, EmilyNoel83. The comment was that this brand is really stepping up its game: It's looking at what the consumer wants and responding to it.

For the first time since my teens, I looked at the Wet 'N Wild display in the drugstore. What I saw was impressive: They've launched a series of eyeshadow palettes in varying sizes (singles, trios, six-palettes and up). The palettes of six shadows are my favorite: They are so smartly designed in both color assembly and an equal mixture of shimmer and matte tones. Beyond that, the color density is extremely rich and lasting. At approximately $4 each, their shadow palettes hold up against some of the most expensive eyeshadow palettes I've bought from the biggest names in makeup.

My personal favorites are Lust/Desire (wine-toned) and Vanity (earth-toned). Pride is a great blue/marine-toned palette, and Greed is designed to create a smokey eye. I've so far steered clear of the trios, since they're all shimmer-based and I personally like a mixture of matte/shimmer.

I'm constantly watching this brand now to see what new palettes they're coming out with. They improved their performance at one of the smartest times: During a down economy when the consumer is looking for affordable makeup that delivers.

I'm still gun-shy of their foundations, following scarring memories from the 80s. However, as the brand improves, I continue to want to try more of its products.