Hey!I’m so excited for this blogpost, you ain’t even know. Today, I’m going to talk about my holy grail item to apply my foundation: SPONGES. I think I’ve been using a sponge to apply my foundation or concealer for over 4 years now. I think no brush can compare to the beautiful finish a good sponge gives you. Lately I’ve been on the market for some new sponges, so I decided to make this make up sponge battle! Pretty cool right? There are so many sponges on the market at the moment that it’s pretty hard to choose the best one. I know I’m not the only one that loves using sponges to apply their make up, so yeah, I think this sponge battle will come in handy. In this battle I’m going to compare the Forever 21 Love & Beauty Makeup Sponge, the Sephora Collection Precision Sponge and the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge.
So let’s start of with the packaging. The sponges come in these plastic boxes, but because my Sephora sponge is freaking old, I didn’t have the packaging to show you anymore. The Sephora & Forever 21 sponge look rather similar: they both have the classic Beauty Blender/egg shape. The Forever 21 sponge is just a bit bigger, harder and sturdier than the Sephora one. The Real Techniques sponge looks really similar to the other two at first, but if you turn it around, you’ll see that one side of the sponge is flat. Interesting. The Real Techniques sponge is also the softest/flimsiest of the three. Okay, really hard to describe this shit, haha, but I’ll hope you understand.
So the purple one is from F21, the orange sponge is from Real Techniques and the really dirty white/yellow-y one is from Sephora. Yes I know it’s freaking dirty. It has mascara stains on it and I can’t get them out unfortunately. This is the size of the sponges when they are dry.
And this is after I made them moist. The Forever 21 sponge hasn’t changed at all and it still has it’s sturdy shape/texture. The Sephora one didn’t get any bigger, but the water made it a bit more spongey/softer. The Real Techniques sponge got waaaay biggger and softer because of the moisture. It almost feels a bit a fluffy or something, haha. I find it pretty interesting that these three sponges react so differently to water!
So let’s go to the part y’all been waiting for: the foundation test. This is my skin before I applied any foundation (I just applied some prime spray & primer). Yes, I know that I don’t have perfect skin, but that makes me the perfect person to try these make up sponges out, right)? The foundation that I’m going to use is MAC Studio Sculpt by the way.
Let’s start with the Forever 21 make up sponge. I’m going to be honest with you guys: this sponge is crap. The texture of this sponge is so hard/sturdy that it literally doens’t blend out your foundation at all. You can see that some spots on my face have foundation on them, while other ones look like there’s nothing on my skin. After I tried out this sponge I threw it in the trash, that’s how much I disliked it. Maybe the result isn’t that noticable, but trust me: in real life it definitely doesn’t blend out your foundation at all, let alone your concealer. It also sucks (?) up a lot of product, yet doesn’t transfer it to your skin properly. This means that you need to use way more product than if you didn’t use a sponge. Nope, I really do not recommend this sponge.
Now onto the Sephora sponge. What can I say about this sponge. I’ve used this one religiously for 4 years or something, so of course I’m positive about it. It blends my foundation nicely and it you can really see the coverage that it gives you. Way better than the Forever 21 sponge right? Only thing is that I don’t like about this sponge is that it is hard to clean (it stains easily) and that it does suck up quite a lot of product. Not as much as the Forever 21 sponge, but still quite a bit. So yeah, I definitely like this sponge and I would recommend it, but it’s not perfect.
Now onto the last sponge: the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion sponge (damn, how often did I already say sponge in this review, lol). I was really surprised about the texture of this sponge. It’s way softer than all the other sponges. I really dig the way this sponge applies my foundation. It evenly distributes the foundation over my skin and it gives me a pretty flawless/airbrushed finish. It definitely covers way better than the other sponges. It’ so strange that a sponge can make such when it comes to the coverage abilities of the foundation that you use. Because it sucks up a lot of water before you start using it to apply your foundation, you will not waste as much as foundation as you would with a regular sponge. This is a big plus for me, because I hate wasting products. It’s also rather easy to clean, again, because it absorbes (that’s the word! haha) a lot of water, so the foundation doesn’t stain the sponge as much. I think this sponge gives me the best results!
So the winner of this sponge battle is…
Definitely the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge! I really think this sponge is sublime and you should definitely try it out if you have the chance! It will create a revolutionary change when it comes to your foundation application. I don’t know the exact prices, but the Sephora one was €10, the Forever 21 sponge was €3,50 and the Real Techniques one was €6.
And that’s it for today’s sponges review! At the moment I’m on my way to Antwerp. I’m gonna celebrate finishing my exams there with one of my friends. And I will be vlogging there as well! Exciting stuff, because it’s going to be my first vlogging experience ever, haha. Anyways, I see ya tomorrow!
xo Lilia
Fijne review! En heel veel plezier in Antwerpen! Ben benieuwd naar je vlog 🙂
dankjewel! hij komt als het goed is volgend weekend online! xo
That RT grows very big! And funny that it isn’t even the most expensive.
yeah funny right! xo
Its simply wonderful . I has nice effects and skin looks beautiful 🙂
thankyou 🙂 xo