Flawless Blender Sponge - £1.99
(plus 10% off with the unique code USG10)
Ever since they came out, I've lusted after a beauty blender, but the £16 (sixteen whole pounds for a sponge!) price made me hold on to my pennies. As the dupes started filtering their way down through the market I knew it was only a matter of time before one became mine, and now, it finally has.
Sponges and me have never really got on before, but I just knew that this one was going to be different. When I first started wearing makeup, I had a bag of the white wedge ones that I must have bought in a pack of 100 from the 99p store; they gave a horrible cake-y finish which was thick and heavy, and I hated them. This sponge is where all that changes. Designed to be used damp or dry to buff in and perfect your base, it gives a flawless, airbrushed and extremely natural finish to any foundation. To use, I begin by pouring a little foundation out onto my hand, dipping the sponge in and then tapping it all over my face to buff it in. I feel like it does lighten the coverage of whatever you put on, but this can easily be rectified by adding another layer, or left for a lighter, everyday look depending on what you fancy.
The shape and texture of this really work. The bottom, rounder shape is great for all over, whilst the tip works really well to get to hard to reach places, like around the nose and under the eyes, as well as setting and concealing. After swiping concealer where I need it, I then go ahead and 'stipple and twist' this and it works like a dream. Unlike brushes or fingers, it keeps the coverage concentrated where you need it, just slightly blending at the edges so that everything blends seamlessly into the skin. It's also nice and dense, unlike those good floppy sponges of old, so it doesn't end up swallowing everything and really stipples everything into the skin, to get a nice natural base.
Due to personal preferences, there are some regions that it does fall down in. I feel that it gives a much more matte finish than using brushes or fingers, which may be good for some, but personally I prefer the more glow-y look - nothing that can't be fixed with a good dose of highlighter though. The second is the cleaning, and much harder to combat I fear. I've tried everything that I can think of, and so far nothing has made is clean, which makes me slightly apprehensive about continually putting it on my skin over a long period of time. Recommendations would be much appreciated.
It's not quite a fair comparison with the original beauty blender, since I haven't actually tried it, but it's fair to say that this definitely has it's own merits. What do you think of sponges, have you tried the beauty blender?
