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Friday, February 21, 2014

Swatches & Comparisons: Wet n Wild Spring 2014 Limited Edition 8-Pan Eyeshadow Palettes

NOTE: If you're looking for this collection, take a look at the interactive sightings map here to see if it's been spotted in your area. To see my swatches of the Spring 2014 Megalast Nail Colors that are also part of this collection, click here. Also, there are makeup brushes that have been launched for Spring 2014, which you can see here

Today I'm going to be swatching the two Wet n Wild Spring 2014 Limited Edition palettes for you, which I received for review recently. I'll also be showing you some comparisons with various Urban Decay, MAC and NARS eyeshadows. This is quite a long post, so let's not waste any time!

 Wet n Wild Limited Edition 8-Pan Eyeshadow Palettes
from the Spring 2014 The Style Award Goes To... Collection
(retail: $4.99 each, 0.3 oz)

Let's start with the Flirting At The After Party palette:

Flirting At The After Party




First four shades:


  • First shade: A very pale lavender shimmer/frost.
  • Second shade: A light pink shimmer with a slight violet flash (much prettier in person).
  • Third shade: A deep lavender matte with fine silver sparkle.
  • Fourth shade: A warm-toned orchid matte.
Second four shades:


  • First shade: A medium lavender matte.
  • Second shade: A cool-toned orchid matte.
  • Third shade: A deep grape shimmer with pink sparkle.
  • Fourth shade: A deep berry-wine shimmer with fine pink sparkle.
As I was playing around with the shades in this palette, I decided to bust out my Urban Decay Vice 2 palette, just to see if there were any lookalikes. I didn't find any dupes, but here are some similar shades:

 Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay X-Rated

Urban Decay Voodoo vs. Wet n Wild

  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay X-Rated: Not dupes. The WnW shade is more matte and has a slight violet flash to it, where Urban Decay X-Rated is an opaque bubblegum pink with shimmer.
  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Voodoo: Not dupes. The WnW shade lacks the violet-purple sparkle that runs through UD Voodoo (the WnW shade has pink sparkle). 
Next up, the Walking The Red Carpet palette:

Walking The Red Carpet 




  • First shade: A pale pink matte that is more like a creme with pink undertones on my skin.
  • Second shade: A white shimmer/frost.
  • Third shade: A deep beige shimmer. This shade is very much in the same vein as MAC Shroom/Stila Wheat. I thought it was going to be a tan matte when I first saw it in the pan, but it's lighter than tan on my skin and it has some lovely shimmer to it. It's the shade I've been reaching for the most in this palette. Great for the lid and also as a highlight shade.
  • Fourth shade: A golden shimmer with gold flakes. It's on the sheer side, but not nearly as sheer or flaky as NARS Silent Night (which you'll see later in this post). 
  • First shade: A warm taupe-leaning brown shimmer. 
  • Second shade: A medium gold shimmer.
  • Third shade: A dark brown matte base with fine pink shimmer/sparkle. 
  • Fourth shade: A warm, rich chocolate brown with yellow-gold sparkle. I have never seen a shade quite like this from Wet n Wild before, including in previous limited edition palettes.
Since the Wet n Wild Spring 2013 8-pan, Spring Forward, had several Urban Decay Naked Palette1 lookalikes (click here to see), I was curious if this year's palette might contain some Urban Decay Naked Palette 3 lookalikes. After much swatching, I found three similar shades:


Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette vs. Wet n Wild Walking The Red Carpet Palette

  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Strange: The WnW shade is slightly more pink, but on the eye I can barely tell the difference.
  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Mugshot: In the pan they look quite similar but as you can see, there's obviously a lot more pink in the Urban Decay shade.
  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Blackheart: The base colors are quite similar, but you can see that Blackheart contains a lot of pink glitter, so it makes the overall color look a lot more pink than the WnW shade. There is actually some fine pink glitter/shimmer in the Wet n Wild shade as well, but it's not as pronounced as in Blackheart.
After playing around with the shades in Walking The Red Carpet, I noticed a few additional similarities, so here are some more comparisons:

 Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Half Baked

 MAC Satin Taupe vs. Wet n Wild

Wet n Wild vs. NARS Silent Night

  • Wet n Wild vs. Urban Decay Half Baked: You can see that the WnW shade has more gold to it, whereas the UD shade is more of a bronze-y gold. 
  • Wet n Wild vs. MAC Satin Taupe: Clearly there's more pink in Satin Taupe.
  • Wet n Wild vs. NARS Silent Night: Color-wise, these are quite similar. The WnW shade is not as sheer as the NARS shade. Also, for those of you who have said that the WnW shade is flaky and has a lot of fallout, I would like to refer you to my pic above of NARS Silent Night. The NARS shade is so much worse in terms of fallout and flakes--it makes the WnW shade seem like a dream to me.

Additional thoughts...

Overall, I think that this year's Spring 8-pans are better than last year's (and I loved that Spring Forward palette from last year). I think the colors in this year's 8-pans offer a few more unique shades, and I love that there are no black shades in either palette (if you're a longtime WnW fan, you know that there's usually at least one black shade in most of their limited edition palettes). I have enough black WnW shadows to last a lifetime, so I really appreciate that they omitted black shadows from this collection.  Also, I think the overall quality level seems better with these palettes as opposed to last spring's palettes Yes, there are some sheer shades here that you can't really wear without primer (I highly suggest using the Wet n Wild Fergie primer, or any other primer that you love, with these shadows), and a few of the matte purples are a bit patchy but overall, I find the quality of these shadows to be good-to-fantastic, and even better than some of the shades in the new-for-2014 5-pans.

If you get these palettes and you have issues with the pigmentation, try playing around with your application method a bit. Use a dense eyeshadow brush and try packing (aka pressing) the color onto your lid vs. brushing the color on. And if that does't work, try a sponge-tip applicator. I love sponge-tip applicators for applying matte shadows (I just use a blender brush to blend them after I apply them with a sponge applicator). But just don't forget to apply primer first--I can't stress that enough. A few of these shades are fine without, but the majority really benefit from a good primer.

Again, if you're looking for these palettes, check the interactive sightings map here to see if they've been spotted in your area. And if you've found these in your area, I would be so grateful if you left a marker on the map to help other readers. There are also some limited edition Megalast Nail Colors in this collection, and you can view my swatches of those here.

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. For more information, click here.

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26 comments

  1. Fantastic post! I love the comparisons. I'm itching to get my hands on both of these palettes, however, I live in Canada. :( Much harder.

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    1. Where can you buy wet n wild in Canada ?

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    2. Great review! I FINALLY got Walking the Red Carpet and all because of the map! Thanks G!

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    3. I've seen Wet n Wild at Superstore in Canada, but only the permanent collection, never limited edition releases.

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  2. I have been STALKING that map hoping something will pop up in NC! It looks like Walgreens around the country are all starting to get it though, so I'm going to continue popping in there. Thanks so much for the great swatches and comparisons. I already knew I really wanted both of these but now I'm even more psyched! :D

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    Replies
    1. You are so welcome! I hope you find them soon!!

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  3. i need to find these on puerto rico

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  4. These are both fantastic! I am officially obsessed with finding these. Thanks for the great pics, G!

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    Replies
    1. You are so welcome, Carol. I hope you find them soon!!

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  5. I have the brown/gold one, but didn't open it yet. Hopefully I'll get to do that this weekend. The Sinful Colors sale at Walgreens has set me back a bit. Three Walgreens and lots of polish later makes me a busy nail girl.

    I saw this display at my local Walgreens yesterday, fully stocked. My stash came from Harmon a cpl of wks ago.

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  6. Both of these look great! I wonder how Flirting At The After Party compares to Petal pusher…

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    Replies
    1. I own both and two shades are similar but none are identical to me. Hope that helps!

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  7. These look more pigmented then the swatches I saw on other blogs, I wonder if it's application or if it's quality control.

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    Replies
    1. Probably neither. In this post I link to my original Fergie primer review and mention that all swatches were done over this primer. The WnW Fergie primer really beefs up pigmentation on just about all shadows (not just these). That's why I suggested using primer with these palettes and mentioned that only a few of these shadows can really be worn without primer. Hope that clears it up! :)

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  8. Found these at the Walgreens on Kirby and Holcombe in Houston. WIll look up the address and post it in the map section. I took on of each of the shadows and 1 of each of 3 polishes so the display is still full

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  9. OOoo, and here I was not expecting to see anything new from wet n wild, guess I'll be adding to my collection after all!

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  10. just wondering how many times did you swipe the eyeshadow over the primer? i'm sorry if you mentioned that and i missed it. Also what colors do you think would suit brown eyes beter

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    Replies
    1. For most of the swatches I swiped 2-3 times but I was using a combination of q-tips, sponge applicators and brushes (I only have so many clean brushes at a time).. If it helps, I have worn these shadows for eye looks (I'll be posting some eye looks soon!) and, with primer, I didn't have to struggle for the colors to show up. BUT, as I mentioned earlier, some of the matte purples were challenging because they are patchy. I had to use more of those and apply with a sponge applicator to get them to work. And again, I HIGHLY suggest using primer with these.

      As for brown eyes, purples always look awesome on brown eyes, as do golds and bronzes.

      I hope that answers your questions! :)

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  11. Hi G, which is your favorite of the two pallets?

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    Replies
    1. I'm biased because purples and pinks don't generally look good on my skintone, but I love the neutral palette the most. :)

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  12. I hope I can find those when they come out. I tend to miss the spring palettes but I am planning to jump on these!

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  13. Now when is WNW going to come out w/new blushes??? They have had the same 4 colors for years and years. They should at least do limited edition blushes. Oh and how about an all matte browns colors pallet....that would be awesome!

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  14. I went to 2 different walgreens and a CVS today looking for those palettes and I cannot find them ANYWHERE!! They are so pretty! I hope I can find one.

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  15. hi there. I already have the permanent wnw 8 pan in petal pusher but I'm not over the moon about the quality of the shadows. Do you prefer flirting at the party over petal pusher? Thanks!

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  16. I would compare WnW pinky-beige with UD's WoS. I adore that color. I use it all over my lid, since I'm yellow toned, and it counteracts the yellow, green, and ochre undertones of my skin and highlights my lid nicely so i can contour my crease and hollow nicely and naturally. I would buy the palette for just that one shade, but all the other shades are gorgeous.

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