Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Review: Comparison of Wet n Wild vs ELF highlighters

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ABB's Snugglebunny requested some swatches of the highlighters since I recommended them, and since I've been meaning to do some reviews on the makeup I already own, I thought I'd write up a mini review/comparison of the two :)

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Unfortunately the ELF one does not have the ingredients listed - I think they were on the cardboard packaging instead. But these are the ingredients for the Wet n Wild:

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Note that even though both are labelled "bronzer", neither are dark enough to be a bronzer. They go on quite sheer on my skin and gives a nice subtle sheen:

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Wet n Wild tends to be more champagne-y while ELF is more yellowy/gold in tone. Even though the swatches might make ELF Luminance seem significantly darker, the difference is very slight in real life.

As you can see, these have a nice finely milled texture, although I find the Wet n Wild to have the better texture of the two.


I find highlighters are kinda hard to show up in pictures, so I swatched some Silk Naturals Dait Bait powder and Everyday Minerals Fairly Light to help with colour comparison purposes...

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On paper:

I don't know why but even with lots of light the white paper looks blue and the swatches look a bit brown....ELF Luminance for example is more golden, not brown like that :S (...I guess it could work as a bronzer for paper face charts ...?)

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By the way I think these are actually better than the MAC Fafi iridescent pressed powders...the texture of these are way finer and silkier. Plus no annoying chunky glitter either! (But I still caved and got Sassed-up...because I can't resist the packaging...:S )


My personal opinion:

Both products are great, however I'd go with the Wet n Wild one because the texture is slightly better and it does have a tiny mirror and brush (even if it is a crappy brush haha). The packaging is also more durable compared to ELF.

The ELF highlighter is kinda loosely pressed into the pan so it breaks easily (I've dug my nail by accident into one of their other bronzers and broke a chunk off, haha.)

But the ELF one IS more compact, and is cheaper if you get it in a store. Just don't order it online unless you happen to be ordering a lot of other stuff as well with a discount, because their customer service still needs A LOT of improvement.

11 comments:

IchigoBunnie said...

thank you SO MUCH for doing this review and swatch--I really appreciate it!

I'll definitely keep the WnW Acapulco Glow in mind. I do have SN's Date Bait but I was trying to find other hilighters once I run out of it and that WnW looks like a great, and more affordable, alternative, and more convenient too since I can find it in stores easier.

and thank you so much for giving the ingredients. I am so allergic to sulfates that I read more on ingredients lists than I do in my english class! haha

ilurvemakeup said...

Ewww ELF *runs*

Christiana Divine @ Memoirs of A Shopping Addict said...

i have both the wet n wild bronzer and the elf one. :P Hehe. i got the darker colors though cause i medium/tan skin naturally. :P i like them both and i agree, the wet n wild one is definitely more durable than the elf one, my elf one ended up cracking! :P my wet n wild one is still in tact though. :] great review! you've broken every down perfectly. :D

psychoexgirlfriend said...

I gotta admit, I find some secret satisfaction that WnW makes better highlighters than MAC. Hehehehe...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the very detailed and informative review. With ingredients and swatches comparing with Silk Naturals Dait Bait powder and Everyday Minerals Fairly Light! =)

Ah, ELF. I wanted to buy some stuff from when there was that explosion in interest in them but... I held off b/c shipping to Canada is expensive and then I heard about the poor quality products and now, questionable customer service. Glad for the heads up. ELF is officially off my might-try-out-in-the-future-list.

Bliss said...

This is great review, ive never tried highlighters before, but this make me wanna have a look into them.

Vanessa said...

Thanks for the review! Very helpful! I have the Wet N Wild one, not that one but the new striped one in the circle pan, and it didn't really do anything for me, I couldn't even see any color and it was a tad bit too shimmery for me.... :(

♡ Nic Nic ♡ said...

Nice review - the only bronzing colour i have is probably MSf warmed. Is that EDM fairly light foundation you're comparing with?

watercoloursky said...

ichigobunnie: no problem :)

ilurvemakeup: LOL! i knew you'd say something like that :P

psychoexgf: i know, its so sad... :S

bluey: no problem, i always find highlighter swatches are hard to look at because they aren't supposed to be dark coloured, so it helps to have a colour reference.

bliss: you should try them if you do any sort of contouring :)

vanessa: actually i find these don't have THAT much colour on me either, but I don't mind because I use them to give me a glow rather than colour :)

christiana: no problem ...glad we agree wet n wild is better :P

nicnic: yup that is EDM Fairly Light - just as a colour reference :)
hmm actually these are quite different from Warmed because they just add a sheen (no colour) to bring out a specific area when contouring. A darker colour like Warmed MSF adds both colour and sheen for a sunkissed look. hth :)

Anonymous said...

thank you! I've been searching for the acapulco glow everywhere but I've been to about every d/s in the area and I haven't seen it anywhere :(

na said...

I think I've heard of the Wet 'n' Wild one before. I feel like MUA raved about it at one point or another...although they rave about a lot of things, so I could be wrong, haha.

Thanks for the comparison! The WNW one looks really pretty.

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