Imagine my excitement when I went to check out the new self selection area in my local Boots and found Wet n Wild!

I’d spent years hearing about how great this brand was. I was supremely jealous of all those Americans buying that cheap good quality make up!

Not wanting to go too mad as I’m trying to be a bit more mindful in my purchases at the moment, I picked up two items.

I went with a cute little eyeshadow palette in my favourite colour of the moment, rose and a lipstick.

The most frustrating thing with this purchase was a common issue with Boots – lack of testers. They really need to up their game when it comes to taking care of their self selection cosmetics area. Superdrug is showing them up on that front and has been for a good couple of years now.

Anyway, before I go on a massive rant, I’ll move back onto the products.

So not only are the products brilliantly priced (£3.99 for the quad and £2.99) for the lipstick they’re also cruelty free. I love that there’s much more choice when it comes to cruelty free now. While they’re not 100% vegan, they do have a great selection of vegan products which includes both of the products I purchased.

When it came to deciding what to purchase it had to be eyeshadow and lipstick. They’re my two biggest make up weaknesses and a great intro into a brand you’ve never tried before. It’s a bit risky to go out and purchase a foundation from a brand you’ve never used before.

The eyeshadow quad is beautifully set out.

The way the use for each shade is printed into the powder is great for an eyeshadow novice like myself. The powders are very soft but I didn’t have a big issue with fallout like I have done with other soft shadows in the past. Application is nice and simple and creating a look is very easy with this. What makes it even easier is the lack of pigment in these shadows – they’re very forgiving because of it. Obviously though, lack of pigment isn’t exactly a great plus when it comes to eyeshadow. Unfortunately the shimmer in these powders just overpowers the shade and so you just never get the result you were expecting when you looked at the palette.

I was hoping that this would become my daily shadow but the colour just isn’t good enough and it’s too shimmery for daytime wear. What I will say though is I love the formula in terms of how long it lasts. With eyeshadow primer underneath I can get a whole day out of this. The packaging is also pretty sturdy and one I’d be happy to travel with and not worry about damages. I’m therefore not put off this eyeshadow but will stick to mattes in future.

On to the lipstick and it was one I had to buy based on packaging alone.

Sadly the packaging didn’t do the colour justice at all and I ended up with a bright pink that was called a mauve. You can even see on the outside of the lipstick itself that the colour doesn’t match that on the top. Basically there’s a top layer on it that’s darker than the actual colour. Because the colour was so different to what I was expecting it was only worn once.

Application was nice, it went on smoothly and gave my lips a good sheen. It did stain my lips ever so slightly and I probably got the same wear time out of it as I do any other lipstick, such as my latest Urban Decay one. If my local Boots can actually get some testers out, I’d buy another of these if I could find a colour I like. Such as an actual mauve.

Wet n Wild – worth the wait?

I’m really happy I tried these. It confirmed what I’d read online about the brand. Cheap, and good quality. The next time I need something, I’ll definitely be giving their stand a look over.