Wet 'n Wild Ultimate Expressions Eyeshadow Review

i grew up in a home where I constantly heard "Oh honey, just buy anything, they all come out of the same vat anyway- that is what your uncle says."

My uncle was a Hollywood makeup artist who had his own line of high end makeup, so I just accepted that he was the authority and always bought low end stuff.

They say that the way to train people in the bank to know counterfit money is to have them do nothing but touch and work with the REAL thing, then they can always tell counterfit.

I have worked with drugstore level cosmetics for many years and when I first began to work with high end products, I was shocked at the difference.  Having said that, I do want to add, however, that there is nothing more obnoxious than being around a makeup snob.  Some people will attach themselves to a brand, and if that brand put colored dirt in a cup, they would swear it is the ulitmate.  I am not one of those either.

I am the first to admit if something is really nice- I don't care WHAT company or how much it costs.  Either it is wonderful or it is not.  That is how I operate.

When it comes to WET N WILD, I have tried many of their products- heck I even have a wet n wild lip liner from when my MOM was into makeup and I was a kid!

One thing I can say is - there IS a difference between WET N WILD and high end makeup.

WHAT IS ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONS FROM WET N WILD LIKE?

When I first heard the raves over WET N WILD ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONS sets, I was curious.  After all, the products I had tried from WET N WILD had mostly been awful (there were just a few nice ones), I was not sure how good these could be.  The raves continued so I had to check them out.

Although I have ISLAND FANTASY, I have played with all of the ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONS palettes that WET N WILD has.  The compact is about 5"x4" big and there are four larger squares of shadow on the ends and then four thinner shadows down the middle.  There is a two ended applicator included and a pull out mirror in the bottom which is nice.

In every case, I have found that there are only one or two colors in the entire palette that are pretty nice.  The rest are chalky, unpigmented, and very plain looking.  There is not much in them that makes them something I want to put on my eyes.

The two nice colors that I came across are nice, but honestly I have put them next to others that are similar, and the faded appearance and lack of luster do show up.

FINAL COMMENTS

If you have nothing else you can afford and you are not looking for much color, WET N WILD ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONS can be used over a good eyeshadow base with some success, but honestly you will not have anything that is really outstanding in appearance.  It still is better than nothing and if you budget is about that, it is a decent option.

If you have the chance, however, you should check out other brands for similar colors.  It is better to have one palette that really looks great than five that look really lackluster and ho hum.  If you are not one to wear much makeup, that might be just what you are looking for, and in that case, have fun!

The two shadows that I like out of the Fantasy Island palette are nice for occasional makeup that I play around with even though I don't tend to reach for them often. They are pretty.

I did want to point out, however, that every line of shadows has some clunkers in it.  Just because something costs a lot does not mean it is always top quality.  WET N WILD has a bigger tendency toward inferior products, but it still has good ones now and then,

Some eyeshadows I have come across that perform beautifully that you can find discounted versions of are LORAC (www.loraccosmetics.com  has a VIP section with some great deals that are similar in price to WET N WILD believe it or not).

MAC has a few okay shadows, although I personally don't do well with many of them.  Revlon has occasional nice shadows, as does Almay.  But again, all companies have good and bad shadows- pigments change the performance of each shadow so it is a color by color basis you have to test them on.