Kick Azz $5 Palettes- Wet n Wild Ultimate Expressions

I've always heard about how good the Wet n Wild Ultimate Expressions Eyeshadow Palettes are, but I never got around to them. I don't know why I didn't buy these earlier! They are very well-pigmented, not to mention inexpensive.

~SPECS~

PRICE: Around $5 (My local Walgreen's are a rip off! I went to 3 different locations located within 2 or 3 miles of each other and each store had a different price: $5, $5.29 & $5.49. WTF?)
PRODUCT AMOUNT: 8 colors; 9.5 g in total.
COLORS AVAILABLE: (3)- Sand Castle, Paradise Cove & Fantasy Island
TEXTURE: Soft but not chalky
INGREDIENTS: Click here
MAKEUP ALLEY REVIEW: Click here

PROS: Very well-pigmented; has a huge pull-out mirror; sponge tip applicator clips inside the palette so it doesn't annoyingly fall out; inexpensive; easy to find

CONS: Thick, bulky packaging; not enough matte highlight colors; limited color selection

The Sand Castle palette has the perfect summer colors and any neutral color lover will adore this. Sand Castle has more of a shimmery finish than the Paradise Cove palette. I don't care for the bottom left color; even though it's matte it has small sparkly pieces in it, which I don't like. The rest are shimmers.

Paradise Cove is also a great palette for neutral color lovers, even though it contains a pretty purple and burgundy color. The bottom-left color has a semi-matte finish while the rest are shimmers.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I ADORE THEM!


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So those were the "kick ass $5 palettes" but I'll also include something else. Since Walgreen's was having a BOGO (your free item couldn't be more than $4.49), I picked up a couple trios with my purchase of the Ultimate Expressions palettes. These are called the Wet n Wild Mega Eyes Eyeshadow Trios.

SPECS

PRICE: Around $3
PRODUCT AMOUNT: 3 colors; 4.2 g
COLORS AVAILBLE: (6)- Amazon Greens, Island Blues, Belgian Chocolates, Egyptian Sands, Mojave Mauves, Venetian Violets
TEXTURE: Drier and not as soft as the Ultimate Expressions palettes
INGREDIENTS: Click here

PROS: Pull-out mirror; easy to find anywhere

CONS: NOT AS PIGMENTED AS THE 8-COLOR ULTIMATE EXPRESSIONS palettes; dinky sponge tip applicator

FINAL THOUGHTS: I'm not buying these trios again. But hey, they were free anyway.

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Now for the fun part: The Dupes...

Think about it! Scroll to the bottom for the answer.

The Wet n Wild palette is more pigmented than the Physicians Formula. It took more swipes to swatch Baked Sands.

I've heard that the 3rd color in the Amazon Greens trio could be a dupe for MAC Sumptuous Olive or Henna.

Did you guess correctly? =)
But remember, the trios are not as pigmented as the 8-color palettes. I had to rub my brush in the WnW green several times to get it to look like this.

I LOVE Paradise Cove and Sand Castle.

I think I'm cool with all my eyeshadows for now. After my NYX haul, that's it!

(Note: All swatches were done over the Scandalous eyeshadow base)