beauty blender vs. all its "dupes"

Oh, the controversial Beauty Blender! There has been so much talk about this sponge and whether it really is that much better than all the others...and I am here to give you the scoop.

The first sponge I tried was the Ulta Super Blender Sponge. It was very hard and didn't really absorb any water...so it kind of got pushed to the back of my drawer. I ended up throwing it out when I moved from college back to home, in hopes of cleaning up my makeup collection a bit.

Next came the Beauty Pro Revive Makeup Blending Applicator, which I found at TJ Maxx, and I thought this was great. I did like how it blended out my concealer, but didn't find myself using it for foundation really. Although it was still a bit hard it did absorb some water and grow. I did include this in my current must haves of November 2013, which I will link here.

Then Christmas came around and my sister kept asking what she should get me. I personally hate spending money on brushes and sponges, so I thought the Beauty Blender would be a great present for her to get me. I did not have super high hopes for this sponge, but I thought, what the heck...

I can honestly say, the Beauty Blender is the best makeup related gift I have gotten yet! Don't get me wrong, I love my palettes and foundations and concealers, but this sponge makes my makeup look amazing! I'd like to give you some comparisons of what makes this sponge better than the others.

Pictures above are both sponges dry- excuse the makeup residue on it! You can see the Beauty Blender is a bit bigger and you can see that it is more porous. In the pictures on the right, you can see how much "spongier" the BB is...it is not as hard and absorbs much more water. A lot of people I see on YouTube use the word "pounce" when referring to how this sponge applies makeup, but that's exactly how I would describe it, as well. The BB pounces the makeup on so flawlessly, every foundation looks airbrushed.

Also, because it is so porous, I think it applies foundation without getting too much on your face, all the while providing your skin with some hydration. I have also used this to apply thick foundations and concealers and the blending work it does is beautiful and effortless. I have noticed this especially with the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer.

Above, you can see both sponges when they have been wet and then squeezed dry through a towel. In this picture you can really see how hard the Revive sponge is in comparison to the BB. I have also used the BB to apply powder and it puts enough powder on your face without looking cakey or heavy.

So in terms of how I use the BB, I first dot foundation onto my face with my fingers and then pounce the foundation onto my face. I do this for concealer, as well. For powder, I just dip the BB in loose powder or swipe it across pressed powder and then, again, pounce it in the areas I want powdered. To clean it, I just use a soft soap that I would use to clean my brushes.

I cannot say enough about it, the Beauty Blender is just awesome! Every day, even when I'm breaking out, I look at my foundation and admire how beautiful it looks- I don't even want to use a brush! Even at about $20, this is worth every penny!

Always stay happy and healthy! :) Tschüss, Katharina