5 tips to get the best use out of your beauty blender

by Basic Beauty Tools
Mar 16, 2018
5 min read

Updated: Nov 25, 2019

We all want our money to be well spend and especially with makeup and makeup tools it is important to get the most out of these products. Here are our five tips to get the best use out of your beauty blender and for cost savvy shoppers will save money on their monthly beauty budget.

1. Buy a high-quality make up sponge. How to find the best Beauty Blender click here. To save money you are looking for a makeup sponge that does not absorb your entire Foundation before it has even touched your face. You want the makeup sponge not only to deposit the product on your face but also to the right areas. Using your sponge dry with a liquid foundation will result in the product being absorb into the sponge because liquid foundations have water in them and any sponge will have a natural tendency to absorb liquids it comes in touch with. Using the makeup sponge damp will activate the sponge material and as the sponge is already damp it will deposit rather than absorb. You can also prep your sponge to decrease the beauty blender’s absorption tendency even further with using a cheap moisturizer and setting spray. Just dab a few drops of moisturizer onto your Foundation Blender and gently massage this in. Then spray a little bit of makeup setting spray onto the sponge and your sponge is prepped and ready to go. This trick will work on any makeup sponge. Nikkia Joy’s video shows you how to do this. To see how to prep your sponge click here to go to Nikkia Joy's YouTube video.

2. Don’t poor liquid foundation directly on the sponge. Rather than pouring a few pumps of your precious foundation onto the makeup sponge go about using your foundation more economically and pump a small amount on the back of your hand and dab your damp sponge in there to pick up the product. Alternatively, you can put a few drops of foundation on your face and dab your makeup sponge over these little dots to spread the foundation out. This will ensure that you have control over the amount of foundation you are using and in the end this will save money as your foundation will last longer.

3. Clean your makeup sponge after every use. A sponge will absorb product and you don’t want this to sit and linger in a sponge for a long while. After applying your foundation undoubtedly, the makeup sponge will also have skin cells and bacteria that live on the skin mixed in with the foundation. Leaving this on the makeup sponge can make a sponge to lose its performance as old makeup can cake up and make it harder to blend your makeup. Also, by not washing it after every use you are creating the perfect conditions for mold and bacteria to flourish. Be aware that using a dirty makeup sponge can cause skin breakouts. Use an antibacterial soap and lukewarm water to clean your sponge. To dry pop it in one of our Spongedry’s to be sure it is clean for the next time you need to use your foundation blender. A regular cleaning routine will save you money as your sponge will last longer.

(When washing the beauty blenders, the Real Techniques and Basic Beauty Tools makeup sponges, where very easy to clean. The beauty blender (pink on the right) was the most difficult. When you don't like that the sponge has makeup residue after washing and like the clean look it might be a consideration to have a look at the other brands, which are a fraction of the price compared to the beauty blender sponge.)

4. When is it time to replace your makeup sponge? Beauty sponges need replacing more frequently than brushes or other beauty tools. Depending on how often you use your beauty blender, they should last up to three months or even longer. Things to look out for that signal that you would need to replace your beauty blender are when you see that the color is fading, when the material is falling apart, that your sponge becomes gunked up with product - you will notice this when your makeup application becomes streaky and when you squeeze your sponge you will feel like there is something hard inside. This is build up of makeup and that means that you need a replacement sponge asap. For people who use their makeup sponge very often, to be on the safe side, a replacement every two months is recommended. With very intense use, a replacement each month would be a good thing to do.

5.Use your makeup sponge for more than foundation alone. Never know how to apply cream blushes or other cream based makeup products. A makeup sponge makes working any cream blusher a dream and it gives the most natural flush. Applying SPF primer lotion also works very well with a foundation blender. Make this the first step of your makeup routine and it will prep your sponge at the same time to reduce the sponge’s absorption ability, which will save up on your use of foundation. And using the Foundation Blender with setting powder for an even layer of coverage or setting makeup near the under-eye area as shown by Eve Pamba, click here to see how it is done.

Go on have a go and see how you can get the best use out of your Foundation Blender and try out our money saving tips. With our 15% discount offer (code: FB15 at check out) you can get the Basic Beauty Tools Foundation Blender with 15% off or invest in a Spongedry (which comes with a BBT Foundation Blender) and buy a spare Foundation Blender for half the price with code: HALFPRICE at www.basicbeautytools.com