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IG: makeupvanityxo

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5 Must-Have Products from wet n wild!

(As an aside, you can also check this out at my blog! It’s in its starting phase) Wet n wild is a well know brand, bringing affordable beauty to a store near you since 1979! Now I’ll admit, when I first got into makeup…I was a snob.  There’s no way around it.  I saw wet n wild’s price point and thought, “$6 for a foundation?  $3 for an eyeliner?  There’s no way that will be good.”   Over time though, wet n wild has proven itself to be a good quality, affordable brand, even to my sometimes still snobbish sensibilities. 

Not everything is a winner, there are some misses, but there are some amazing hits as well.  I’m here to tell you what I think are 5 products from wet n wild that you can’t afford not to have in your makeup arsenal!

1.  Photo Focus™ Foundation

You’ve probably heard someone rave about this foundation already, and with good reason!  This foundation is amazziinnnggg.

I would say it has a medium-full coverage that can be sheered out with a sponge or built up, though be careful as it does cake up on some skin types (especially my oilier friends).  I have no problem with this foundation lasting through my entire workday, and trust, I’m a workaholic, I’m there for a lot longer than I should be.  The finish will vary depending on primer, skin type, and how you set it, but I find it generally skews towards a demi-matte finish, not too shiny and not too matte.

Now, every product has some cons.  I’ve heard varying reports of the foundation oxidizing, I found it does oxidize a little on me but not so much that I wouldn’t keep wearing it, and definitely less than many other drugstore foundations. As well, I wish they would expand the shade range a little more.  20 shades are available and while that is quite a good bit, the selection for darker skin tones is still quite lacking. Overall: it’s $6, you get 1 fluid ounce (the industry standard), and you get an AMAZING foundation.  Go get it!

2.  Photo Focus™ Pressed Powder

As you can tell by the name, this powder accompanies the Photo Focus™ Foundation and while I won’t gush as much about this powder, it’s still a great product (and only $5!).  I’ve tried this powder with the matching foundation, with other foundations, and even alone (or in a darker shade as a bronzer) and I love it!  It blends beautifully, it sets wonderfully, it has incredible lasting power.  It has a little bit of coverage but not as much as wet n wild’s CoverAll Pressed Powder.  That’s not really what I’m using it for though, so I really don’t mind the loss in coverage.

This powder will give you a much more matte finish and a little bit of coverage.  It’s a pretty tough powder, almost seeming like more of a baked product than a pressed one, but make no mistake, it’s doing its job!

 3.  ColorIcon™ Blush

This blush looks a little underwhelming at first, but don’t judge a book by its cover!  These blushes are beautiful and (par for the course so far) longlasting.

These blushes are pretty lightweight, but can be built up if you want a more dramatic look.  The finish varies from color to color with Mellow Wine (my personal fave) being more matte finish while Pearlescent Pink has a more shimmery finish (do you think the name was a giveaway?).

At only $3 apiece, you can get the whole shade range for only $15! 

4.  MegaGlo™ Highlighting Powder Okay, so I’m a highlighter fiend, I think I have around 200 or so single hightlighters and I’m not even going to start counting the ones in palettes.  I believe that gives me a little bit of authority to speak on the topic of highlighters and I can honestly say that these are BOMB. Now the specs, they are $5 and come in 6 shades, from a champagne-y Precious Petals (which many hail as even better than the famous Champagne Pop from Beccas) to a lilac shade, Royal Calyx. These highlighters glow, they gleam, they shine.  They aren’t for when you want a subtle everyday sheen as you go about your business.  They are high shine and while I won’t draw any direct comparisons right now, they outperform many of my highlighters that cost almost 5 times as much!

5.  Perfect Pout Gel Lip Liner

I love affordable lip liners.  Honestly, I’m sure they’re amazing but I just don’t always feel comfortable spending $30 on a product that’s going to be covered up by my lipstick. Enter: The Perfect Pout Gel Lip Liner.  At $3 a pop, these are one of the most affordable options you’re going to find, and honestly, why would you pay more when these exist? They glide on incredibly smoothly and they’re pigmented enough that I sometimes wear them alone.  I was worried that a more gel-like lip liner might be slippery and slide all over the place but I’ve not had a problem with these lip liners staying right where I want them to. This is another product that I wish they’d release in more shades as there are only 6 shades out right now and lip colors come in EVERY shade imaginable, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for future releases.  Until then, go out and buy a few so wet n wild knows what the people want!

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I only take photos from one angle, and that's ok.

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Wanted to do a quick look using all BH Cosmetics (Except the mascara, oops) I like purple and non-smoked out looks INSTA

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Fenty Beauty's Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette Review

Fenty Beauty launched September 8th and it has blown everyone away in the little over a month it’s been around.  Now, when it launched, it was very much focused on complexion and a solid base: primer, highlighters, and an incredible range of foundation.  I loved it all but I couldn’t wait to see when they would throw some color in there.

Well, it’s happened with the Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette!  I saw this arriving in peoples’ PR packages and it looked stunning, I could barely hold myself together waiting until I could physically hold it (and play around with it) myself.  I can breathe again because it’s arrived and it does not disappoint.

Upon opening it, the packaging is amazing.  It looks like an iridescent oil slick (similar to the packaging for Urban Decay’s Vice 4).  The case is sturdy and feels to be pretty good quality.  It’s a bigger palette, probably due to the diagonal layout of the shadows and the spacing between them, but it’s not the bulkiest  (Looking at you Morphe 35 shade palettes).

On to the good stuff, there are 14 shadows ranging from sheer glittery topcoats to crazy pigmented shades.   I’d say about 80% of the shades are more of the sheer to light pigmentation shades.  It’s still an amazing palette but it might not be what you’re expecting if you’re comparing it to some other palettes.

The colors are: Oh-Zone (sheer platinum glitter) Xtra Terrestrial (smoky moss with iridescent glitter) Mars on Fire (sheer copper rose glitter) Cosmic Ocean (sheer aqua glitter) Ultraviolet (smoky violet with iridescent glitter) Light Year (smoky charcoal with gold glitter) Midnight Bolt (true blue with superfine glitter) Meteor Crush (sheer pink and gold glitter) Sublime (sheer mint and gold glitter) Planet FX (smoky brown with iridescent glitter) Space Owt (smoky grape with holographic blue glitter) Jupiter Sand (smoky chocolate with iridescent purple glitter) Milky Way (ivory with iridescent glitter) Sunburst (amber with gold glitter)

Overall, this palette is amazing and I’m so glad I got it.  The colors are astounding and can be applied subtly for fun everyday wear or you can go hard and channel your favorite drag queen, I’ll probably be going with the latter so no judgement.  Though, as said, most of the colors seem to err on the more sheer side so if you’re looking for a palette packed with pigment, this might not be exactly what you were hoping for  (though layering the sheerer colors over a good base should still get the result you want).  To that note, you might see how they look layered over other colors a la Too Faced’s Glitter Bomb palette.

You might try pairing it with a palette that has more matte shades for some more wearable looks (Rihanna described this collection as glitter on glitter on glitter, but I need a good transition shade in there, ya feel me?) such as the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Palette or something similar.  It really depends what you want to get out of it, but for a palette jam-packed with "glitter on glitter on glitter", I think this is a pretty versatile choice and a good addition to your collection.

(Here’s a photo of the shadows with flash to sign off)