Review & Swatches: New Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Colors SPF15

At this point I'm sure most of you have, at the very least, seen some reviews of these new lip colors from Wet n Wild, and I'm sure some of you already own a few. I received all 14 shades for review a while back, but I really wanted to take my time with these and get a feel for each one before I shared my thoughts with you. Now that I've worn all of these colors multiple times (some more often than others) I'm finally ready to give you the low-down!

 Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Colors SPF15

(retail: $2.99 each, 0.1 oz)

From Wet n Wild:

Color, comfort, and care! Luxurious color delivers hours of sheer-to-moderate coverage that glides on buttery-soft for a smooth, moist-looking pout. Lips are pampered with Vitamin E, Amino Acids, Avocado Oil, and Rice Bran Oil that moisturize and condition for silky, soft comfort. And with SPF 15, lips are cared for and protected from harmful UVB rays.

 Let's get straight to the swatches:

Birthday Suit: 

frosty champagne nude

Peachy Keen: 

frosty coppery-bronze

Make Me Blush:

 similar to Peachy Keen but cooler

Arrest Me Copper:

 shimmery copper-brown with very slight golden-green duochrome effect

Of the four shades above, my favorite is Arrest Me Copper. It reminds me of the long-ago-discontinued shade from MAC called Isis because it has that same type of very slight golden-green duochrome effect (Isis was a pale nude shimmer though, so they're not an exact match). If you're normally drawn toward shimmery copper lip colors, I think you'll love this color because it's rich and multi-dimensional in person (you can see the shimmer better in the picture of the tube above).

Bare-ly Legal: 

light-medium nude creme

Ring Around The Rosy: 

medium chocolate-raisin creme

A Currant Affair: 

neutral red creme that leans warm (almost brick)

Of the three shades above, the one I've been wearing the most is A Currant Affair. On my lips (I'm a MAC NC20 and my lips are fairly pigmented), this color comes across as more of a neutral red (not too tomato-y orange but not quite blue-red either). It's almost a brick red, and what I like is that it's not super dark. It's just a really nice, standard go-to red that I find myself reaching for again and again.

Pink Chamagne:

frosty pale champagne-peach

Within These Adobe Walls:

light salmon-pink creme

It's A Girl:

shimmery blue-based pink

Pink Slip:

shimmery medium rose

My favorite of the four shades above is Pink Slip, but only because I can't really pull off light pinks. I find Pink Slip to be very wearable (not too light, not too dark) and would probably work on a variety of different skintones. It's a nice work-friendly shade that would be pretty for spring.

That's Berry Beautiful:

red creme that's cooler than A Currant Affair and more blue-based

Salsa Lessons:

a bright, tomato-red creme with orange/coral undertones

Lolly Popstar:

frosty medium pink that is warmer and darker than It's A Girl

My favorite shade of the three above is That's Berry Beautiful. I love wearing this color in the evening when nothing but a nice, blue-based red creme will do. 

Summary

Texture, consistency and pigmentation: The texture of these lip colors is smooth and creamy. Every single one of them glides across the lips like silk without any effort at all. They're lighter on the lips than Revlon Lip Butters, and slicker as well. Pigmentation is superb for all 14 shades. I think Wet n Wild really downplayed the pigmentation of these lip colors when they said they provide "sheer to moderate coverage." These deliver one-stroke-color, meaning that one stroke across the lips yields incredible pigmentation. I haven't felt the need to build for more intensity with any of these shades--the color intensity is excellent with no effort at all. I find the creme shades to be a bit more moisturizing on my lips than the shimmers/frosts. The one issue I have with the formula of the shimmer/frosts is that some of them (in particular the lighter shades) can become a little cakey over time. I've encountered a few instances where the lighter, shimmery shades caked up a little in the center region of my lips after an hour or so of wear. One way to curb this is to apply a little less product during initial application.

Flavor/fragrance: Both the flavor and fragrance of these lip colors is very mild. They sort of remind me of MAC lipsticks because they have a very soft vanilla fragrance and flavor to them, but both the flavor and fragrance seem to completely disappear a few minutes after application for me.

Staying power: The darker shades yield the best staying power for me. In particular, the red cremes have very impressive staying power on my lips--four hours or longer. And when the darker shades fade, they leave a very nice, even stain behind. The lighter, shimmery shades last about 2-3 hours for me, which I think is good considering that lighter shades never seem to last long on my lips to begin with.

Finish: I very much prefer the cremes in this line to the shimmer/frosts. That's a personal choice, of course, and I always favor cremes when it comes to lip color. But I do want to warn you that the shimmery shades (in particular the lighter shades) can look very frosty on the lips, depending upon the color. If you don't like a frosty look, I'd stick with the medium-to-dark shimmery shades. As far as the lighter creme shades (like Bare-ly Legal and Within These Adobe Walls), I would suggest using the thinnest layer possible because these shades can look a little chalky (even though they're not dry in the slightest) if you overdo it and apply too much.

Packaging: I've never been a big fan of lip colors that don't fully retract into the case, because I'm generally a klutz and I tend to hit the stick with the lid when I'm opening and closing the tube. However, I will say that because these stickers are a bit more narrow than the average lipstick, I've managed to keep these lip colors nice and tidy (it's a miracle!). Another thing I don't love about the packaging of these lip colors is the labels and safety seals. Do not get me wrong: I LOVE safety seals on drugstore beauty products (in fact I despise when brands don't put safety seals on their products) but I found the labels and stickers on these tubes to be almost too much. I understand that Wet n Wild needs to affix the product info on the tubes, which is great, but combined with the safety seals, it's a struggle to peel off all of the layers and then the tube is left with sticker residue that never quite seems to go away. I'm sure I could use Goo Gone to remove it but..I'm lazy.

FINAL VERDICT: Are the new Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Colors perfect? No. Are they worth $2.99? YES. I would actually pay double that amount for some of the shades in this range. I think they're moisturizing, creamy, pigmented and have great staying power, which are all things I look for in a lip color. On the downside, some of the shades in the range are very frosty, the sticks don't fully retract into the cases and the labels/safety seals leave sticker residue behind, but those three things don't deter me personally because the shades that work for me REALLY work for me. I think that if you can find a few shades that work well for you in this collection, you'll be quite happy with your purchases. Personally, I'm willing to work around a few packaging flaws in exchange for a lip color that's dependable and works well for me...and only costs $2.99.

If you'd like to see the colors in this range swatched on other skintones, be sure to check out my fellow Wet n Wild Beauty Ambassdors' reviews! Click here to see A Brilliant Brunette's review, here to see Makeup By Celly's review and here to see Vampy Varnish's review.

Have you tried any of the new Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Colors yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. 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.