Beauty Blender Bluff: An idiot's guide

So there are a million blog posts out there about the infamous Beauty Blender, and I hate to jump on the bandwagon so to speak, but after owning (and loving) one for about 7 months now, I thought I would share my top do's and don'ts!

Since the rise of the makeup sponge, there are countless copies on the market. I've even seen Primark do it's own version, as well as RealTechniques, and I tried a few of these in the past, but they never quite hit the mark.
I purchased my Official Beauty Blender (in the pink-duh), a few months back, and I instantly fell in love.
First off... It's so pink!
It's also incredibly soft, and a lot smaller than you imagine. Seriously, I took it out of the box and couldn't believe I had paid £16 for it.
It's shaped like an egg, so the idea is you can use the pointed end for small corners such as around the nose and mouth, and the larger area for place's like your forehead and cheeks. It is also created with a super secret type of sponge that the high-street one's aren't made with, meaning that rather than sink into the sponge, the make up will stay on top, meaning you are going to get the most out of your favourite products as none of it is lost in transition.

I'd watched so many video's of this being used in different ways, so the best thing I found was to play around with it and see what suits you best.
For me, I found applying foundation with the blender easy, but not my preferred method. I did find, however, that liquid concealer worked the best for me. I also found the buffing in my cream contour worked really well with the sponge, as it kept the product concentrated where I wanted, rather than spreading it around my face.
But this is my personal opinion, and I'm not a lover of cream products. However, this can also be used to blend cream blusher, and even with powder to set your make-up. It really is universal, and if needs must, I would use this and only this on all of my face. (Excluding eyelashes and lids- of course.)

The genius behind the blender, is that you are not pushing products over your face, but into them, and it's shape allows you to get a full 360 application, making your make-up look flawless. This being said, its recommend that you bounce or dab the sponge on your face, and not use it in a spreading motion.

Also, this product works much better when it's wet. You just need to run it under the tap and squeeze it a few time's, and it will almost double in size. This makes it a lot more bouncy and easier to use, creating a truly flawless finish.
The pot it comes in doubles as a holder, meaning once you have finished using it, you can pop it back in there and it will begin to decrease in size as it dries.

Now, this all seems fairly fool-proof, and when I first got the blender, I fell in love straight away. After getting my head around it properly and finding what techniques and products worked the best for me, it soon became a staple in my make-up bag.
And this is when I ran into trouble.
The problem with this, is that after using it, I would put it straight in my make up bag, which of course I would zip up, pop in my bag and go about my day.

Size difference: Left = wet. Right= dry.

I soon discovered little black marks on there, that I assumed were marks from an eyeliner or mascara not taken off properly the night before. These, however, did not go when I cleaned it.
These black marks then began to spread. Now my first thought was 'bugs' (we've all seen the video), but after scaring myself too many times, I dug a hole to reveal that my Beauty Blender had not been infested with unwanted guests.
No matter how much I cleaned it, the marks kept appearing. There was more and more each time I used it, and the original ones were getting bigger.
This is when my research began.

After searching online for a while, I found an article that said to never (NEVER) put a damp beauty blender in a sealed environment as this creates the perfect envionrment to harbour bacteria, and thus grow mould.

Ew.

After a quick examination of my blender, I confirmed the worst. It was mouldy, and no amount of washing it, was going to stop that. After being sick in my mouth at the thought that I had been putting something mouldy on my face for the last few weeks, I immediately ordered myself another two.
So, a top tip.... Always wash your blender after every use. Or at least after every other use. It takes two seconds, and is so easy. I find that baby shampoo or even regular hand soap is all you need, and this will keep the blender clean and fairly germ-free. This means its going to last longer, and for the price you pay, you want these things to last.
I would also say, never put it in somewhere with no air in while it's damp. They need to dry completely in free air, to prevent them from growing mould.
Now i know this probably isn't the best advertising, but the fact that I purchased two more after I mis-treated mine, shows how super they really are. My idea being that I can leave one at home, and one at the boyfriends, as that is usually the reason for my makeup bag to travel with me.
As a final tip, I would also say defiantly buy the pink or coloured one...as with the black one, it may be difficult to see when the colour begins to fade, or if yours begins to grow like mine did!

Dipbrow Disaster

I bought the lovely Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbow Pomade (in medium brown- if you were curious), roughly 6 months ago.
True to form- I love it!
The smooth creamy texture means that shaping and filling in your brow's has never been easier, yet looked so professional.

The secret to the pomade, is to use less than you think. It also takes a tiny dip of your brush into the pot to do one brow, and I find filling in the tail-end first easier, and then using a spoolely to brush and blend the product into the inner portion of the brow.
This helps to avoid the scouse brow.

When you first get the dip brow, it is untouched and perfect. The top layer is so creamy and soft that every brow is perfection. However, I found that after the top layer of creamy-ness had gone, you are left with a slightly harder, rougher product, that does not work so well.
Yes, you can dig your brush into it and find some cream, but it's not as smooth and pigmented.

This upset me, as I knew I had taken care of it. Never left it without it's lid off- yet it seemed to be dried out and sad.
After flicking through the internet and Anastasia's Intagram ( I figured I wasn't the only one who had come across this), she mentioned that often they can dry out, but by applying a small amount of oil product, you can re-deem your pomade.
It was recommended to use oil such as Bio-oil, baby oil or Moroccan oil etc.

So, I tried it! And it worked! Success!!

As you can see, my pot before hand was sad and dried out, however a small (and I mean small- like less than  a drop) amount of oil has worked wonders. I used the end of a bobby pin to mix it together, but you could use anything that you have to hand. The end of a makeup brush, a cocktail stick, a spoon.

You can also see the difference in creamy-ness and pigmentation after doing a swatch on the back of my hand, before and after the oil treatment.

So, this was an all round success. I am so pleased my DipBrow has been restored and is back to brand new!