When I see a brand putting out a ton of limited edition collections back to back to back, I get a little nervous. To be straight with you, wet n wild is making me nervous. They’ve been dropping one limited edition collection a month on average, and it makes me question whether they’re really focusing on the products or just trying to jump on trends. Case in point: the new wet n wild Crystal Cavern collection. The collection is made up of crystal-themed items and boasts a whole lotta multi-dimensional glow.
On first glance, I think it’s fair to say that the main assets of this collection are the Crystal Cavern Mega Glow Eyeshadow Trios. They were the first part of this collection I reached for and wanted to try, and I was hoping for a better experience than I had with the Rebel Rose collection shadows. Did they pull through? Maybe, but barely, and this is why I think wet n wild needs to slow their roll and just focus on one, really well made collection before pumping out more limited edition products.
Something to note is that while I normally find shimmer-only palettes irritating, I know that this collection is focusing on the crystal aspect. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised or salty about the fact that there weren’t any mattes in these trios. Plus, there was enough range in each trio to create dimension if you want to use multiple shades in one look.
Let’s look at each quad and swatches.
Clear Quartz
Clear Quartz is my most-used, with a taupe, champagne and silver inside. I like the taupe as an all-over-lid shade and highlight with the champagne. This trio is inspired by the healing properties of the clear quartz crystal.
Rose Quartz
Rose Quartz is the most pigmented of all the trios. You get a warm pink, a light cool mauve and a grey-ish lavender. Rose Quartz is supposed to attract “love” when it comes to the crystal’s power.
Jade
Jade includes some gorgeous greens— a charcoal shade with chunky forrest green glitter, a mossy muted green and a white with heavy green and yellow undertones. Jade is known for its attraction of prosperity.
Amethyst
Finally, Amethyst clearly leans purple. There’s a black with chunky purple glitter, a medium satin violet and a light lavender. Amethyst channels “balance.”
On first glance, these look cute! They’d make for great monotone looks that would catch the light beautifully. However, the quality of the shadows varied greatly across the board. Each trio had two satin shades and a chunky glitter shade, and not one performed the same!
Most of the satin shades were actually stiff. I had to press into the pan pretty hard, and layer up to get the color to show on my lid. I also tried applying with a wet brush, but that didn’t help. The chunky glitter shades performed the best, but should be applied and blended with the fingers for best results. Sticky eyeshadow primers and bases will also dramatically help these shadows, but the formula just doesn’t seem to pack onto brushes very well.
However, one you’ve fiddled around enough to get the shade opaque, they’re actually really pretty. I love the Jade colors, but I have to really work with them for the shade to translate on the lid. So I’m torn. Is the low price of $4.99 worth needing to fight with the shadow to get it to perform? Plus, with only three shimmer shades in each compact, there are only so many looks you’ll be able to get out of these. They could be a nice addition to your collection if you don’t already have similar colors in other palettes, but otherwise they’re not really worth the effort for me personally.
Overall, these are pretty mediocre at best and don’t reflect the quality I expect and have gotten from wet n wild in the past. They’re okay. I’ve just felt super underwhelmed by the limited edition collections that wet n wild has been releasing, and would much prefer a smaller amount of launches with really high-quality products.
But wait! There were some other awesome products in the Crystal Cavern collection! Hear about them in my video below, or click here to watch on YouTube.
Have you tried any of the recent wet n wild limited edition products? What is your experience?
Betty
It’s kind of like when Colourpop rolls out new releases every week and we can’t keep it. I literally have colourpop that I havent even used from the fall edit last year! It’s crazy what these companies are doing but I guess they need to jump on the trends.
Miranda
Totally! I’d rather have fewer releases per year and have AWESOME, high-performing products I can use year-round though. Just my opinion!