CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Evelyn Wang, senior vice president of marketing for wet n wild, was honored with the 2016 WWD Beauty Inc. Brand-Builder Award in the mass category.

Evelyn Wang

The Markwins International cosmetics brand said that Wang, in her two years at wet n wild, has “upped the brand’s cool quotient” with several product innovations, including its 1 Step WonderGel nail polish formula, which according to Nielsen is the No. 1 nail polish launch in the mass segment.

Wang was presented the award at a ceremony in Manhattan’s Rainbow Room. The voting, made directly by the WWD/Beauty Inc. editorial team, was based on retailers’ feedback, industry analysts and WWD/Beauty Inc.’s coverage throughout the year.

“2016 was an amazing year for wet n wild, and this would have not been possible without Evelyn’s vision, dedicated team and determination to make the brand one of the top players within the category,” stated Bill George, president of Markwins Beauty Brands.

Under Wang’s leadership, the wet n wild team in 2015 launched the brand’s “Stay Wild” tagline. Recently, wet n wild unveiled its 2017 #GenerationsOfWild campaign, featuring up-and-coming models Ireland Baldwin, Corinne Foxx and Alessandra Garcia.

Markwins noted Wang and her team also have focused on making wet n wild a “fast-fashion” player in the beauty industry by bringing trends to market in less than four months. One example was the brand’s new Color Icon Rainbow Highlighter, launched in September 2016.

For the 52 weeks ended Sept. 24, wet n wild’s retail sales volume climbed 17% year over year, according to IRI. Markwins said the 35-year-old cosmetics brand is on track to total more than $200 million in U.S. retail sales for 2016, up 18% from last year.