Review: Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Single in Penny (with a surprise twist!)

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Wet n Wild. And when they underwent their big 2010 makeover earlier this year, I discovered so many fantastic new products that I kind of had to step back and just enjoy the ones I had for a bit. So there are actually still many products in the core collection that I have yet to try, one of which was Penny. Even though I'm a HUGE fan of copper and bronze eyeshadows, I just never got around to trying this eyeshadow single. Until, that is, the lovely Yuliya (aka Cutiegingerbread) sent me that surprise gift a while back, and included not one, but two fabulous extras (the first being the best black liquid liner I've used to date, and the second being Penny).

I'm pretty much running out of ways to say thank you to Yuliya, because seriously, introducing me to a black liquid liner of that caliber was more than enough to rock my world. But now this? OK, let me just show you why this eyeshadow is so mind-blowing to me (and it's not going to be what you expect, I promise):

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Single in Penny (retail: $1.99 at most drugstores)

My best way to describe this shade is pinkish-copper with gold shimmer. There is no sparkle to this shadow--only very fine shimmer. In certain lighting, the copper comes out more, while in other lighting the pink is more apparent. It's a stunning sort of rose-gold shade that I think would look lovely on many different skintones.

Here are some swatches taken in different forms of lighting:

I've done my best to illustrate the chameleon-like quality of the shade. I think the name "Penny" is very fitting, since it really does remind me of a brand new US Penny. You know how new pennies have that pinkish cast to them? That's exactly what you get with this shadow.

I thought I'd try using Penny as a wash from lashline to crease and blended upward. Unfortunately, as you will see in the following pics, it really doesn't work for me as a wash. I think, pardon the pun, it sort of washes me out and the pink in it makes my eyes even look a bit puffy. Perhaps if I had used a brown shade in the crease, it would have given my eyes more depth and dimension. I'm not giving up on using Penny on my eyes, but I'll let you be the judge:

But here's where I had my Ah-Ha moment! As I was applying Penny to my eyes, I kept saying to myself, "Wow, this color...it's so gorgeous...it really reminds me of something..." And then it hit me: NARS Orgasm! I'm not claiming this to be an exact dupe, but it sure does have that pink-with-gold-shimmer type feel of Orgasm!

So naturally, after I got done applying this to my eyes, I took out my blush brush and swiped a little on my cheeks:

Do you see that lovely pink shade on my cheek with the fine gold shimmer across my cheekbone? That's Penny and Penny only! I'm wearing nothing but Penny on my cheeks here! I don't know about you, but I think this looks pretty great as a cheek color!

Now, I do want to warn you that, on my oily skin, this color didn't last as long on my cheeks as it did on my eyes (but naturally, I applied way less to my cheeks than I did to my eyes). BUT, in the days since this first experiment, I have tried using a matte pink blush first, and then topping that off with just a light dusting of Penny and the results have been fabulous! It lasts all day when I wear it over a matte blush.

For fair skintones, I think you could get away with wearing Penny by itself as a blush (you might need a face primer first though, just to increase the staying power if you've got oily skin). But for deeper skintones (anything over NC30, I'd say) this would look STUNNING as a highlighter/bronzer on the forehead, cheekbones, etc. Or of course layered over your favorite matte blush.

As a highlighter, bronzer, blush or eyeshadow, I think $1.99 is a VERY worthy investment for this eyeshadow.

I'm officially calling Wet n Wild Penny "The Poor Gal's NARS The Multiple".

Thanks again, Yuliya, for rocking my world not once but twice!

Do you already own Penny? Have you tried it as a blush or highlighter? I'm sure I'm not the first to try using it in this capacity and I certainly hope I'm not the last! If you have it, give your cheeks a little swipe and see what you think!