Thursday, July 15, 2010

Product Review: The Beauty Blender Sponge

Readers - I know a lot of you read this blog for the travel content, but when I first started this blog it also had a beauty element to it as well - product reviews and things of that nature. Due to being in China, I haven't had the chance to try too many new products (until I started shopping online for some much needed retail therapy!) and alas, my products have arrived, and I have new reviews for all the people who were originally attracted to the beauty element of this blog.

This review is about the makeup sponge applicator called The Beauty Blender. I went back and forth over whether or not I should purchase this sponge - I mean, $19 for a sponge? Really? But, I don't like applying my foundation with brushes, and the more I used crappy CVS sponges the more I realized that I was in serious need of finding another application method!


After reading a ton of reviews on the product, I learned that many people only replace their Beauty Blender Sponge once every 6 months or even once a year, and with that in mind, I figured if I liked the product, I could deal with that sort of monetary investment.

The outcome: pure awesomeness.

My foundation has never looked so smooth or flawlessly applied. You can also use it to apply concealer, as well as creme blush.

The BB sponge is also simple to use. You first wet the sponge, then towel dry it (takes less than 1 minute to do this). Then you dip it in foundation or put the foundation directly on the sponge, and begin to stipple (or bounce the sponge up and down) in order to apply the makeup. Then you just watch in amazement at how smooth your foundation goes on! Awesome! I also used it with concealer to cover any blemishes, and it was simple to do and covered them perfectly, much better than a finger or a brush ever did (in my experience). The shape of the sponge allows you to easily cover hard to reach areas and corners.

This sponge in my opinion does NOT suck up the foundation, which makes me happy because those garbage little suckers from CVS used to waste so much of my $38 foundation.

I chose not to buy the cleaning solution that comes with it - after reading many reviews, I saw that many ladies believed Johnson's Baby Shampoo worked just as well as the Beauty Blender Cleaning Solution, so I opted to stick with that, and have had absolutely no problems - it cleans it great!

At Beauty Blender's own website, you can purchase 1 beauty blender sponge plus 5 packets of cleansers for $15.95. Click here.

My grade for the product: A

(BTW Sonia Kashuk at Target makes a $10 version of this sponge. I also read reviews on that and while most people like it, many said it didn't apply makeup as well as the Beauty Blender Sponge, possibly due to different construction material?... that plus the need to only replace the sponge once or twice a year convinced me to just go ahead and take my chance with the Beauty Blender - and I am so happy I did!)

Steph

15 comments:

  1. Great review!:D I like this product too!:D

    http://allthingsmarie.blogspot.com/
    Beauty. Fashion. Interior Design.
    & Life According to Marie.

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  2. This is on my beauty wish list. Thanks for the review!

    Amanda
    -The Pretty Pauper
    Feel free to follow my blog :)
    http://prettypauperstyle.blogspot.com

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  3. Great review! I'm definitely considering this sponge now :)

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  4. I love beauty reviews !! I also apply foundation & concealer with sponges and I didn't even know there was an alternative to the crappy little sponges ! Plus if you had it shipped to China I'm pretty sure that means they ship to France, too ;-)

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  5. I've been wondering about this product for awhile. Glad to hear it works!

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  6. Haven't tried it! But that sounds nice.....I used to use make-up brushes but cleaning them and replacing them can get expensive. Plus I think the hold in a lot of bacteria since you go for a while without washing them.

    I want to get teh temptu system someday - the airbrush make-up system :)

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  7. So glad you like it Steph!
    If you press and roll, it really does produce a flawless appearance!

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  8. You've totally convinced me. I have some Sephora credit and this is definitely on my list to pick up next time I'm there.

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  9. Omg! I don't wear liquid foundation because I don't like using a brush or my fingers. Thanks for this review and for putting this product on my radar.

    If you say it's "pure awesomeness" then it must be! Too bad it's so much $...it will have to be a splurge later.

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  10. i am curious how you had this shipped to china. i also recently moved to beijing and could use a little retail therapy, but i can't find many places that ship internationally. plus aren't there heavy duties and taxes? thanks!

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  11. Anon - because of my husband's job, we have an address that is still a U.S. address but gets sent to us here in Beijing - so it doesn't go through Chinese customs or anything - no taxes. I'm not sure how you'd do it otherwise! :( what sort of things are you looking for? Maybe I know of a place you can find certain things (probably not though. lol)

    Steph

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  12. so lucky! not really looking for anything in particular, but we moved from nyc and i am having trouble adjusting to the "fashion" scene here. i guess i'll just have to stock up when we are back in the us. hope you guys are enjoying beijing!

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  13. Yeah I have to say it has been good on my wallet at least! I haven't bought any clothes or anything like that since I've been here. But, it sucks because there is so much I WANT to buy that I see online, but it takes forever to get here and not knowing sizes... plus I refuse to buy great, nice shoes because it seems Beijing destroys nice shoes!

    My email is sleighh122@gmail.com if you ever want to chat!

    Steph

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  14. Thanks for the review on the Beauty Blender.
    Sounds like a great product.
    What foundation do you use? I am using
    Cover Girl Foundation. I am looking to try
    something different, but don't know which
    one.

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