Beauty Sponges: featuring Beauty Blender, Sephora and Real Techniques

Beauty Sponges

Beauty sponges  seem to be everywhere.  Beauty blender is responsible for making sponges sexy and interesting again for the consumer.  Prior to that, it was only really pro MUAs who indulged in the sponge.

Beauty Sponges

My lasting memory of sponges, are the ones from Superdrug.  The pink and white ones which disintegrated in the hand half way through using them.  Brushes were easier to use and more importantly sexier. Between the significant improvement in synthetic brushes, the greater accessibility of hand crafted Japanese brushes, I thought that brushes were all I needed.  Then the beauty sponge revolution happened and now I have four brushes in my possession.  I use all of them, but  some more than others.

Beauty blender – the game changer. 

Beauty Sponges Beauty Blender

It comes in lots of colours, but I really wish it came in brown because, my cream one is stained… but I’ll come back to that.  Wet or dry this is the squidgiest, it is also the most expensive but more importantly it is the squidgiest.  It is a bit like rubbish memory foam, which for a pillow is not good for your posture but for your beauty sponge is fab.  The squidge factor is what makes the sponge do what you want it to rather than it doing what it thinks you want to.  The beauty blender provides the most flawless of all the sponges.  Truly flawless.  It takes longer to apply your foundation but it is soooo worth it.  The squidginess relates to the bounce factor.  When you bounce it off your face you do not move the skin significantly.  It is also the best for applying powder – by far.  The pink stain at the top of my egg is from my Max Factor  blush.  Beause of the squidge factor your can get it right into the inner corner of the eye, really close to the lash line.  Despite not having a sharp plane like some of the other sponges, you kind of don’t need it.  Cleaning however it is a pain, and the temptation to keep them longer than you should do it real but the finish… it is all about the finish.

Real Techniques – The worthy contender. 

Beauty Sponges Real Techniques

Who doesn’t love Sam and Nic? The Pixiwoos Real Techniques range of beauty tools are loved by consumers and MUAs  alike and with good reason.  They work… however, this sponge is not in my opinion as good as the beauty blender. It has a lesser squidge factor, which means that bouncing feels like hard work.  HOWEVER, it has the flat plane which is has a greater surface area than the side of the eg so you can get your face done quicker.  It does not stain as badly as the beauty blender, but again, what about a brown one for us brown girls.  It is cheaper than the beauty blender and in reality a good alternative, but once you have used the beauty blender, I think it is hard to use anything else.

Sephora – The purple one.

Beauty Sponges Sephora

This beauty sponge comes in a range of colours but I bought the purple one because, it was well, purple (obvs) This is like an hour glass woman who has bo*bs and hips.  The pointy bits are super pointy so if you want to take your concealer out to your temple or bake your powder.  This sponge is brilliant for sculptural placement of product.  It is not very squidgy and when I did a sponge off using  Sephora on the right side of my face, and beauty blender on the left, the patchiness of the Sephora sponge was a bit depressing really.  I had to go in with a second layer of product where the beauty blender has applied one layer flawlessly.  I tend to use this sponge for powder accents on my face, highlight, contour and occasionally blush because the super pointy ends make it easy.  The colour is delicious, but not enough to make me buy it again.

The Generic Brand – the black one.

Beauty Sponges Love MakeUp

I am sure that there are brands that have this sponge as their blender but this was bought from eBay from a no name brand and seller.  It was actually the first sponge that I bought.  It is not squidgy and it is hard work and it attracts dust.  Unlike the Sephora and Real techniques, it does not have a super defined plane that I can work with.  I am not a fan – this is the one that I give me 3 year old god- daughter to ‘play make up with’  better that she use a dodgy beauty sponge then sicking a brush in her eye!

 You are supposed to replace the blender every other month.  Yes every eight weeks.  The possibility of bacteria is rife with the sponge as you use it when it is damp and if you dont let it dry completely between use, you could be cultivating a colony of unwanted friends before you know it.  My recommnedation would always be for the beauty blender over any other sponge. The finish can be beaten but at sixteen pounds a pop, it is not the cheapest way to put make up on your face.

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