Nouveau Cheap Exclusive: your first look at the new Wet n Wild Color Icon 8-pan palettes!

UPDATE: To see eye looks I have created using all three of these palettes, please click here.

The time is finally here, my lovelies! This is Wet n Wild Week here at Nouveau Cheap, and I'm bringing you all of the new 2011 Wet n Wild releases all week long! We've got polishes, mascaras, eyeshadow trios and more, so check back daily for the scoop.

I'm kicking things off with the products we've all been waiting for: the Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection 8-pan palettes! As an official Wet n Wild Beauty Ambassador, I am so incredibly honored to say that this is a Nouveau Cheap exclusive. You won't find these anywhere else (for now) and I cannot WAIT to show them to you!

But before we get to pictures and swatches, I want to remind you of a few things first in case you missed my original post:

• These new 8-pan palettes are only available in select retailers. For now, you can only purchase them at Walgreens and Walmart. So please, don't drive yourself crazy looking for these at CVS, Rite Aid, etc. because you will not find them there.

• These are NOT limited edition. They are part of the core collection, so we are all going to happily avoid the Night Elf Frenzy of 2010. There's plenty for everyone and they're sticking around!

So let's get started! And in case you're one of those people who scrolls straight to pictures and doesn't bother reading commentaries, I'll just tell you right up front that each palette contain multiple different finishes, the textures are of excellent quality (as good or better than previous Color Icon shadows), they are highly pigmented and each palette contains at least two dupes--quite possibly more.

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection
(retail: $4.99 each at Walgreens and Walmart beginning mid-January)

NOTE: ALL OF THE FOLLOWING SHADOWS WERE SWATCHED WITHOUT PRIMER ON BARE SKIN

Let's start with Comfort Zone (I deliberately made the following collages quite large so that you can click on them and magnify them to really see the details of each swatch):

Lovelies, our dreams have become a reality:

the Club dupe that was in the Night Elf palette is in the Comfort Zone palette.

Oh, and the Vex dupe too! And since we're talkin' dupes here, that bronzey-brown is really reminding me of Romp but I'll get back to you on that.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Wet n Wild made this palette just for me. I mean, earthtones, bronzey-browns, greens AND the Club and Vex dupes? All in ONE palette? This is literally the palette I would create if I were in the Wet n Wild labs and they said, "Gianna, go hog wild. Make whatever you want."

What you need to know about Comfort Zone:

Shimmers: 5 (including Vex and possible Romp dupe)

Duochromes: 1 (Club dupe)

Mattes with sparkle: 2 (deep olive-black with gold sparkle and black with bronze sparkle)

I know there are more dupes in this palette but it's going to take me a little while to find them all, so please check back later for that info.

And in case you were wondering, here's how Comfort Zone and Night Elf compare:

Next up: Petal Pusher:

Petal Pusher was a hard one to capture in photos. These picture do NOT do this palette justice. The bottom left shade looks blue on camera, but in real life it's much more of a true violet purple and it's gorgeous (my swatches are pretty accurate). But by far, the standout shade in this palette, for me, is that gorgeous muted plum with the bronze shimmer. I'm pretty sure this is a dupe for either MAC Sable or Twinks but I'll need to investigate further.

Also the very light pink/white shade in the upper left corner of this palette is a satin matte white with a subtle violet-pink flash (I could NOT capture this in a photo). This reminds me so much of my beloved and long-ago discontinued Urban Decay Road Stripe!

Also, the shade underneath the "Road Stripe dupe" is a stunning lavender satin matte that flashes the tiniest hint of gold in certain lights. Oh my goodness is it beautiful in real life! I can't even think of a shade that compares to this off-hand.

What you need to know about Petal Pusher:

Shimmers: 4 (including possible Sable/Twinks dupe)

Satin Mattes: 2 (including possible Road Stripe dupe)

Mattes with sparkle: 2 (soft black with pink sparkle and intense black with silver, green and pink sparkle)

And finally we have Blue Had Me At Hello:

As soon as I swatched this palette I recognized that deep royal blue shimmer. I think it's a dupe of MAC Contrast or maybe Deep Truth, but like with my other hunches, I'll get back to you on that one! Also, that gorgeous bright teal has a golden sheen to it that you can't really detect in photos. Possibly a dupe for MAC Gulf Stream.

What you need to know about Blue Had Me At Hello:

Shimmers: 5 (including possible Contrast/Deep Truth and Gulf Stream dupes)

Mattes: 1 (black)

Mattes with sparkle: 2 (soft black with blue sparkle and intense black with silver sparkle)

Final Verdict: if you missed out on the LE Pixie Holiday palettes, don't even sweat it because I believe these are BETTER. All three of these new 8-pan palettes are must-haves in my book. The quality of the shadows is top notch, and I actually believe that the Club and Vex dupes in Comfort Zone have better pigmentation than the shades in the Night Elf palette (and the pigmentation in Night Elf is pretty amazing). Consider these new 8-pan palettes the Pixie Holiday palettes on steroids. Bigger, better, and with even more dupes! When you spot these at Walgreens or Walmart this month, grab 'em. I don't think you'll regret this purchase for a second because I can think of nothing else at the drugstore level that currently compares to these palettes.

Disclosure: The above image is published by request from Wet n Wild. NouveauCheap.blogspot.com has not received any form of compensation, monetary or otherwise, for writing this post or for accepting the title of "Wet n Wild Beauty Ambassador". NouveauCheap.blogspot.com has received editorial samples from Wet n Wild for this review. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.