Wet n Wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadow swatches and review

It seems like every brand has a cream eye shadow stick these days- from cult favorite NYX to Urban Decay.  But at just $1.99 Wet n Wild's just might be the cheapest. First I'll show you some swatches and then get to the meat of the review.

Wet n Wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadows

From top to bottom- Pixie, Envy, Techno, and Distress

From left- Pixie, Envy, Techno, and Distress (Techno blended out at the very end)

The swatches look decent don't they? The only one I had issues swatching is Techno, which is a bit sheer.

From the beginning I knew that these weren't going to be a miracle non-creasing product to rival the high end brands.  This is what they claim, "Soft-blending, creamy eyeshadow at the convenience of a pencil. Silky-smooth formula glides on easily for high-impact, light-infused color that lasts for hours." (Quote from wnwbeauty.com)

I'm going to ago over each claim and let you know how it stacks up. The following is probably going to come off a bit snarky. I love Wet n Wild as a brand, though, I really do. But you can expect every brand to have a few duds.

Soft-blending-  I'm not sure what "soft" blending is but yes, these blend pretty well.  But, they sheer out really quickly so you are losing that intense color.

Creamy- Yes, these are very creamy.  Too creamy actually.  They never really set on their own (without powder on top).

Silky-smooth formula- Yes, I will give them that.  They aren't clumpy or lumpy.  But once again it is that creamy smoothness that gives us the problems.

High-impact- If you don't blend these a few of the shades are what I would consider high-impact (the blue and the green). The purple is quite sheer and the beige is neutral.

Light-infused- Well, they aren't matte.  I guess being shimmers makes them "light-infused".

Lasts for hours- Aaaand here is the kicker.  They don't.  Not by themselves anyway.  On a bare eyelid with no primer the don't last more than 5 minutes.  Well I suppose they last if you consider bunching together and having a little party in your eyelid creases lasting.  And that is applied straight from the pencil and blended (sheered) out.

The best way to back up any claim. Proof. And here is mine. (Be warned- scary, gross, creased eye makeup ahead!)

After 10 minutes- Applied thickly with no primer

I wasn't expecting this test to go so well. And it didn't. Applied like this they actually creased immediately. You can tell by looking at my lid how "wet" looking it is. And sorry, I forgot to wear mascara in all these pics, haha.

After 10 minutes- Applied sheerly with no primer

My next test was to apply as thin a layer as possible to see if it would crease. As you can tell, it did.

After 10 minutes- Applied a medium amount over primer

This time I used a primer, Too Faced Shadow Insurance. After 10 minutes the creasing isn't as horrific as the first picture, but it's still pretty damn bad. Unwearably bad.

After 10 minutes- Worn with primer and set with powder eyeshadow

This time I used the pencils as a base for powder eyeshadow. I used similar colors as the pencils (sorry, I don't remember which ones!). After 10 minutes I did not have any creasing and I like the way it looks better than just the powder shadows alone.

After 3 hours- Worn with primer and set with powder eyeshadow

So after 3 hours I still didn't have any creasing. Sorry for the crappy pic, but it was getting really late and I was so tired of messing with these things. At least I found a way to wear them that works for me!


Really, the only way these can be worn for me is as a base for other eye shadows. I have normal eyelids that rarely get oily, so I'm not sure how these would fare for those of you that do get oily. For $1.99 they are worth a try if you see a color you like. Plus, you can always take it back to the drugstore if it didn't work and you have your receipt.

To be honest, I don't really use these that often because they add another step to my makeup routine and that extra step is an extra 2 minutes I could have spent sleeping, haha. These do not live up the claims at all, but you might get them to work with a little work.

Oh, another thing. I hate the packaging. The plastic cap has a tendency to crack really easily making it loose. On all the pencils I have this happened and the cap mushes down on the top of the pencil, ruining it. I would either depot these and be very very careful with them.

Pros:

• Work as a base for powder eyeshadows
• Inexpensive

Cons:

• Crease instantly, even with primer unless used as a base for powder shadows
• Would like a broader color range. A white would be nice.
• Techno is pretty sheer
• The packaging is terrible and tends to ruin the pencils

Available:

• These retail for $1.99 and are sold at drugstores and where ever you can find Wet n Wild

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!