Review and Swatches: Wet n Wild Petal Pusher

While it has some gorgeous colors, Wet n Wild's 8 color palette in 736 Petal Pusher was a bit of a disappointment due to poor pigmentation. It contains a white that flashes pink/lavender/light blue at certain angles, a matte lilac with gold shimmer, a violet satin, a blue-violet with silver glitter, a light pink frost, a matte rust with rose gold glitter, a matte blackened purple packed with pink/red glitter, and a matte charcoal grey with silver glitter.

Below are swatches of the colors without flash.

Here you can better see the glitter in the second, third, and fourth shades in the right column.

The first color is beautiful in the pan, but hard to swatch and harder to capture. It creates a sheer white that flashes with iridescent pink, lavender, and light blue shimmer. It's a gorgeous color but absolutely requires a base.

The second color is very unique in my experience- it's a matte lilac with gold shimmer, which creates a lovely contrast, but it's not very pigmented and is a bit dry, so it would also require a base.

Next is a beautiful satin purple that also has a slightly dry texture and has better pigmentation than the first two but is still not as good as I've come to expect from Wet n Wild.

The last color in this column is a violet with silver glitter, also very unique, and also very dry and not well pigmented. I really built it  up for this swatch so you could see what a beautiful color it is, but it's pretty sheer and hard to work with. It's definitely worth it for such a beautiful color, though.

The top color on the right is a lovely break from the dryness and iffy pigmentation of the left column. It's a silky smooth frosty light pink with amazing pigmentation and a nice silvery sheen.

The second color is a bit dry and patchy but not as bad as the left column. It has a reddish-burgundy matte base with rose gold glitter. This is another unique shade that could create some really beautiful looks, and would definitely benefit from a base.

The third color is still a little dry but has nice pigmentation and goes on smooth, despite the somewhat chunky glitter. The base is a blackened violet with reddish pink glitter. Yet another unique and lovely color- this could create a nice smoky eye.

The last color is a matte charcoal grey with silver glitter that is -what a surprise- a bit dry, although it has good pigmentation. This is not a particularly unique color.

I haven't had any problems with creasing, but there is fading after just a couple of hours without primer, and even with primer the purples start fading around 6 or 7 hours. A cream base such as Mac Paint Pot or Maybelline Color Tattoo can help with longevity.

Though many of these colors are very unique, a few of them are dupes of higher end shadows.

On the top left, I'm comparing the top right shadow in the palette to the browbone shade in the Wet n Wild trio in 334 I'm Getting Sunburned. They have a similar frosty finish but the color from this palette is a bit lighter, not as vibrant of a pink, and has some more silver flash.

On the top right, I'm comparing the charcoal shade to Urban Decay Creep. Creep is a bit darker with slightly finer glitter, but I'm satisfied with these as dupes, and if you build up the Wet n Wild a bit more you could definitely get the same look on the eye with both. I'm sure there are other dupes for this shade as well, but one off the top of my head is Mac's Black Tied.

The third shade in the right column of the palette is slightly darker than Mac's Beauty Marked but on the eye they are pretty much interchangeable.

I really admire Wet n Wild's attempt to create some more unique shades with this palette, but I'm disappointed with the dry texture and sub-par pigmentation of most of the shadows. I don't find myself reaching for this often because even though many of the colors are gorgeous, I really have to work with them and the purples fade even with primer. If you really love some of these colors, the palette's not going to break the bank at $4.99, but otherwise you can find some nicer purple shadows, for example the Maybelline Eyestudio Color Explosion Eyeshadow Palette in 10 Amethyst Ablaze, although I think that one is a bit overpriced.

Purples are a difficult category of color, so if you really want purple eyeshadows and will use them a lot, I would recommend a medium-priced brand such as Inglot or Makeup Geek where you will pay more than drugstore but will get great quality.

Pigmentation: 6/10 (I had problems with 4 of the 8 shades, but was somewhat appeased by the lovely pink and nice darker shades on the right)
Texture: 5/10 (All of these except for the pink were dry, and the glittery violet was gritty)
Longevity: 5/10 (Quick fading without primer, and even some fading with primer)
Price: 10/10 (Even with the problems this palette has, I don't regret spending $4.99 and I think it's worth it just for the blackened violet shade)

Overall: 6.5/10