Beauty Blender vs Super Blender: What's the difference?

I did it. I finally bought a Beauty Blender. BUT NOT BEFORE I purchased a knock-off.

Allow me to explain.

A few months back I purchased the Super Blender Sponge from Ulta (which retails for $4.99 US), used it with a fairly heavy-duty foundation, and was very happy with the results.

But I couldn't help myself, around Christmas when the deals are-a-posting from everywhere, I saw a deal that I couldn't refuse. The Beauty Blender "Pure" WITH the solid cleanser bar, via amazon.com's Beauty Blender store for $23.95 (which isn't much of a discount, but it was enough to get me to the minimum dollar amount for free shipping, which is what I was really after). 

Beauty Blender with Solid Cleanser bar

Both sponges are to be used damp (run under water, squeezing a few times, then squeeze between a towel to get the right amount of damp) and then "bounced" or "pounced" on the skin rapidly, sectioning the face out to insure even application; which is a complicated way of saying Stippling. Both have a pointed end and a rounded end. The pointed end gives you better control of the little areas of the face that aren't flat, like the edges of your nose or under the eyes. Anywhere you usually have to use your finger to blend out. The flatter/rounded end is for the wider/flatter parts of the face, like the cheeks, forehead and top of the nose and chin. 

So what's the difference? One word. TEXTURE.

Sizes when dry and damp, very similar!

The pink Ulta sponge is more dense, even when dampened, and it sounds weird to say, but it makes more "noise" when you use it on your face. It sounded like it was a rubber ball bouncing on my face. Which almost put me off and simultaneously made me giggle. 

The Beauty Blender, once damp, was definitely softer. I did get worried that my foundation would be sucked into the center of it; but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it didn't soak up as much as the pink Ulta sponge.

The resulting finish was fairly close for both; the big differences were that I felt I didn't use up as much foundation with the Beauty Blender as I did with the pink Ulta sponge, and when I washed the white Beauty Blender it seemed like anything that had gotten soaked up, was dispersed down the drain with that solid cleanser. When I washed the pink Ulta sponge, the water was pink-ish along with the foundation being washed out which means the dye washes out. Which freaks me out a little, but it's not a danger or anything.

Do you need this? Depends. Do you use liquid foundation? Do you find that you don't really like the finish of your foundation at the moment or that you're having to work really hard to get it the way you like it? Then maybe, yes. Personally, I really like the way the Beauty Blender and the Ulta Super Blender performed with my liquid foundation. But if you're content with a BB cream or tinted moisturizer then NO, you definitely don't need this. Otherwise it's up to you!

TIP: Go to YouTube and search how to use the Beauty Blender sponge properly BEFORE you purchase EITHER of these! You want to get a sense of "how" to use it before you buy it and then have absolutely no clue.

What do you think? Have you tried either? Did you have a terrible experience? Would YOU recommend either? 

The Essentials: A Solid BB Cream and a GREAT brush? What a concept!

I've been a fan of the BB Cream, specifically SmashBox BB Cream in Light. So when a solid/cream form of my favorite almost-foundation I was desperate to get my little hands on it!

Enter in Too Faced Air-Buffed BB Creme Complete Coverage Makeup! It's got the lightweight feel of a BB Cream and tinted moisturizer (once applied), but the coverage is so much better! It's build-able but still feels like there's barely anything on my skin! And you can't argue with the result:

On the LEFT: My bare face. On the RIGHT: My face with the BB Creme!

You can see the major difference! My skin looks smoother, more uniform without looking flat. The redness is virtually non-existent with the Too Faced BB Creme! AWESOME! The color that matched my skin was Vanilla Glow.

The Air-Buffed BB Creme comes with a little brush that clicks directly into the top of the cap. Convenient? Yes! Did I want to use it all the time? Nope. It'll do in a pinch, but with regular wear, I was going to need something more substantial.  To which I purchased a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush from Ulta and could not be happier. The brush is terrific, I highly recommend spending the $8.99 and picking one up. (Actually I bought 2! The price is so great, and you never can have enough good brushes!)

The Expert Face brush is synthetic fiber shaped in a short dome which makes applying creamy products absolutely effortless. Building the coverage of the BB Creme was easy; I just stippled some of the product where I needed the extra help then blended further out. The finish is a soft matte, so I  could set with a translucent powder or let it dry down on it's own. Voila! 

The BB Creme retails for $39 (U.S.) and comes in a small range of colors, only 5 to date that I could find. Which isn't the best, but it's what's happening right now. If the product sells well I hope the color options will increase. 

Recommendation: I say go check it out! Find your nearest retailer that carries Too Faced and see how the Air-Buffed BB Creme works with your skin! I purchased the products myself, and I love them!

The Essentials: A good foundation

Foundations are tricky. The newest foundation trend is Beauty Balm, aka B.B. cream. There have been an influx of brands from drugstore to department store suddenly shouting "BB CREAM"! What is BB cream?

It's a cross between tinted moisturizer and foundation. Typically lightweight and quick drying. Working quickly is a must with BB cream. A sponge or brush isn't necessary nor is it recommended (personally) since the pigments blend out easily and evenly with just the fingertips. Additionally, a small amount, seriously the diameter of a chick-pea, is all you need for an application.

I bought the Smashbox BB cream in Light.

Here is the swatch with the approximate amount needed to cover the face. When I say "cover the face" what I mean is you start in the middle (nose/T-zone) area and blend out to your cheeks, then up and down onto the forehead and chin areas. Don't go crazy and try and put BB cream on like a regular foundation. It's not. Take a look for yourself!

Here is the before: I know, pore issues. But relatively even skin with just a little redness on my cheeks. 

And here is the end result before powder. 

BB cream definitely helps to tone down any redness immediately and give a smoother look with very little effort.

BB cream can be used as primer as well, I've yet to try it since I've found the coverage is exactly what I wanted. Something light that looks like skin but as near perfect as possible.

At $39 US, the Smashbox BB cream is pricey, but I liked the fact that so little is needed for results which means I'll be using this BB cream well into the summer and possibly fall seasons.

Have you tried any BB creams? Any thoughts or questions? Feel free to ask!

Red. Yellow. GO!

Personally I don't suffer from Rosacea, but it's a common enough problem that I feel comfortable posting about it without first hand suffer-knowledge of the issue.

That patchy redness (mainly found on caucasion skintones) can make the search for correct foundation an ordeal. While the color looks right on your lower cheeks (most commonly where foundation color is gauged) and jawline; when the foundation is applied over the reddened T-zone and cheeks, the colors can turn anywhere from ashen to bright pink and that is a major problem!

If you suffer from rosacea or require other color correction; you may have seen various creamy or powdered pallettes of dark beige, lemon yellow, pale green, soft lavendar, etc. However the texture of those sometimes make using them less than optimal. Too heavy a balm or cream and the skin can look dry and cakey. Same goes for powder; a powder is used with a fluffy brush normally used over an existing foundation/tinted moisturizer, however if you go overboard, you can't undo it. I don't recommend color correting with powder unless you're already really comfortable with it. Now, that doesn't mean the pallettes that are meant to brighten with the color correction aren't terrific! Those are great because the pigments aren't high (meaning the color isn't saturated and you won't end up with a green streak if you go heavy-handed) so you get a diffused color correction as opposed to the stright purple or green or yellow powders themselves.

photo from loraccosmetics.com

My favorite product to recommend is LORAC Oil-Free Neutralizer for under foundation color correction. Used with a sponge, preferably damp (fingers or a brush wouldn't be optimal because you'll end up using too much product) a small amount of this yellowy-greeny liquid can be stippled onto just the red zones on the face. Once the neutralizer is dry (only takes a minute or two), you may use the foundation of your choice over it. Using light stippling (as all liquid foundations should be applied) you can blend blend blend your foundation on and the results are remarkable. The Neutralizer helps create a better color base for your foundation to lay on resulting in a better coverage, which is the whole point of foundation. And since it's oil-free, there's no fear for breaking out or irritating the skin.

Neutralizer can be used as a contour makeup as well. But use with caution! It may look like a light cream-colored foundation in the bottle, but when it hits the skin it is definitely a greeny-yellowy liquid. It's not meant to be used on it's own unless your skin is so fair that you can get away with it.

Bottom line: if you suffer or know someone who battles with rosacea, the LORAC Oil-Free Neutralizer is worth a try. You can get your hands on it at Ulta and Sephora and see for yourself. You can also order it online at LORAC Cosmetics, Sephora, Ulta, and of course Amazon.com. The retail price is $30 US but the .90fl oz bottle lasts a long time. One pump is almost always too much. Little goes a long way with this one!