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? 

Happy New-Groundhog-Valen-Patrick's...oh ok, I've been lazy!

I have been lazy. I've had bunches of posts in my noggin but haven't put finger-to-keyboard! Sorry!

Now, to jump back in! What's one of my peeves? Texture! Bumpy, bubbly polish makes me want to scratch the paint right off, as exhibited in this post, UGH! That being said, there's a new trend coming out in full swing this spring: Liquid Sand by OPI.

 

The color above is "What Wizardry is this?" purchased by my pal, Barb (HI BARB!) and loaned to me to see how it looked. I believe she made her purchase at Ulta earlier this week.

My thoughts: It's a PRETTY COLOR! Bronze-y, gilded and sparkly. But the more it dried, the more the bumpy sandpaper texture came out. Granted, I used a supa-fast-quick-dry top coat, which the OPI website says to avoid, in fact the bottle says "Dries to a textured matte finish infulsed with reflective glints of light. Apply base coat and two coats of color. Do not use top coat." But I'm impatient and didn't want to be forced to walk helplessly around with my fingers up in the air waiting for them to dry.

Verdict: I like it, but I don't think I'll make any purchases of them This bottle was a loaner and I think the owner is going to be pleased, but the texture just isn't my style. If the top coat had smoothed it over, then I'd probably be ok with it. But it didn't. I'm not sure anything short of 6 coats of a top coat would actually smooth the texture.

If you like trends and aren't afraid of texture, then HAVE AT IT! OPI always has terrific color choices.