For a few years now I’ve been trying to find a foundation that doesn’t make me look like I’ve caked stuff on (which basically rules out all compact-style foundations) and that matches my very pale skin tone (which rules out a lot of others). Chantecaille’s cream-style Future Skin was excellent in texture but too dark for me, for example.

I finally found a great color from Haba USA, but the foundation is a very runny liquid. For a week I struggled to get a good application but it always came out streaky and looked bad. I was about to give up and go back on the hunt for some other brand, when I decided to order this Beautyblender combo. (I’d been eying it for months, but not sure it was worth the price. )

This thing is a miracle. It is a very soft foam and it’s actually like a bulb with a narrow rounded tip (in the pictures it appears to be a flat sponge with a teardrop shape). Reminds me of the foam used for the super-decibel-cutting earplugs they make. Closed-cell foam?

Because the foam is so dense, it doesn’t soak up tons of foundation like some sponges do, and it applies it very evenly. Over a few days of experimenting I found that swiping it on produces a more even result than blotting it on. This is a PERFECT product and have already bought one as a gift for my sister. As long as Beautyblender’s in business, I’ll be supporting them.
Rating: 5 / 5

So after trying just about all of the brushes on the market I turned to these sponges out of curiosity. I had high hopes but low expectations, as they seemed pretty gimmicky. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and I figured that even if the sponges were crap that I could use the cleaner on my huge brush collection.

Even though they seemed like they would only be good to use with liquid foundation, I decided to try using them with the mineral foundation first just for the heck of it. Dampened the sponge as suggested (it bloated up rather alarmingly) and sat down at the makeup table expecting a steep learning curve. First I used the pointy end to apply and blend the creme concealer with surprisingly good results. I did have to go over one or two of the darker spots with a small brush, but using the “stippling” motion to blend everything worked well without sacrificing coverage. So far so good. Now for the moment of truth-applying the powder foundation. Usually this involves several minutes of patting, gentle buffing, blending, patting again to replace the coverage that was lost from the buffing, etc. Not with this baby. It took maybe a minute of “stippling” to get an even, non-cakey finish. I probably used half as much product as usual, and there wasn’t a huge powdery mess on the table. Pretty shocking. I couldn’t believe it was that easy, so I went to check it out in a variety of different lighting, convinced that there must be some streak or blob somewhere that needed fixing. Nope, looks great. I was sold, even used the pointy end to clean up an eye makeup oops without messing up my foundation.

I was ready to post this review then and there, but decided to try out the cleanser first so I could include it. I don’t know what the complaints are about, the dispenser worked fine and the sponge cleaned up easily. The lavender smell is a bonus, very nice. Part of the reason it was so easy to clean is that the sponge absorbed almost no product, so everything was just on the surface. Of course I only tried it with powder, it may soak up more liquid foundation. It seems designed to keep the product on the outside, so you don’t lose as much foundation (and $$$) by having it sucked into a sponge.

Sorry this review is so long (and probably boring), but when you’ve tried as many different (and almost invariably disappointing) types of makeup and applicators as I have it always comes as a shock to find a product that works as well as it says it does. This is one. The only caveat is that since I’ve only used it once I can’t vouch for its durability yet, but it claims on the package to last for 3 months. Time will tell.
Rating: 5 / 5