Wet n Wild is finally available in the UK. Beauty Bay currently stocks 57 of their cruelty-free products including makeup brushes, a wide selection of mascaras, eyeshadow palettes and their bestselling Photo Focus foundation, powder and concealer with prices starting from only £2. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of their limited edition collections like the Fire & Ice collection currently doing the rounds all over YouTube or the MegaCushion Foundation yet. Beauty Bay isn’t stocking full shades ranges yet either. The Photo Focus Foundation, for example, is available in 20 shades in the US but only 6 here, with a few of these regularly out of stock.
Wet n Wild launched almost 40 years ago in the US and is a bit of an American institution. It’s bizarre that it’s taken so long for the collection to officially hit the UK but I’m incredibly thankful that it has! I picked up the Wet n Wild Photo Focus Foundation in Soft Ivory (the lightest shade Beauty Bay currently stock), the Photo Focus Pressed Powder in Warm Light and the MegaGlow Highlighting Powder in Blossom Glow.
This vegan-friendly foundation retails for just £5 and has been tested under seven different photo lighting conditions to ensure flawless camera-ready makeup every time, with no white cast. The foundation gives buildable medium coverage with a natural-looking matte finish. It doesn’t come with a pump but with a spatula instead.
The Photo Focus Foundation is brilliant value for money. I can’t think of a single foundation on the UK high street that performs this well for only a fiver. My current top three budget-friendly foundations: Maybelline SuperStay, Revlon ColurStay and LA Girl PRO.Matte, are still at least double the price. It’s similar to my ColourPop foundation and is surprisingly longlasting. I do wish Beauty Bay would expand their shade range as I could do with it a touch lighter, but I’d definitely repurchase this.
The Photo Focus Finish Powder (£4.50) is pressed so hard that it’s very difficult to get any on your brush. If you spend a little time digging at the pan, it gives a soft silky dusting of powder that isn’t overly chalky and blends easily. It’s perfectly fine for touching up your makeup throughout the day but it’s not the best for truly locking in your concealer. I don’t find myself reaching for it all that often, especially when I always have trusty Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder at hand.
I was disappointed with the MegaGlo Highlighting Powder (£3.75). It was the product I was looking forward to trying the most. It’s one of those products that swatches beautifully but underperforms when actually applied on to the skin. Blossom Glow is a soft iridescent silver with slight lilac and pink undertones. It feels incredibly soft and silky and, when swatched, melts into the skin effortlessly. It applies okay, but nowhere as near as blinding as the swatches online. You really need to layer it. Even then, I found that it completely disappeared throughout the day. It barely looks like I’m wearing anything. I was really disappointed because there is so much hype about the Megaglo collection. It just goes to show that beautiful swatches aren’t always an accurate representation of the product’s performance.
Have you purchased anything from Wet n Wild? Which US makeup brand would you love to arrive in the UK?
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