Tried And Tested: We Put Penneys’ €1.50 Beauty Blender To The Test

If there’s one beauty tool that’s recently revolutionised our make-up routine then it’s certainly the Beauty Blender.

After the original achieved cult status, heaps of other brands followed suit, by making their own version of the little magic sponge.

In particular, we love the Real Techniques Mircale Complexion Sponge, which at a not-so expensive €7.99 has become a firm fave in our beauty kits.

But now that Penneys have launched their own blender, at a penny-pinching €1.50, we had to know: could it do the exact same job for a snip of the cost?

STELLAR’s Ciara put it to the test…

Penneys PS Blender Sponge, €1.50

When I opened the packaging the first thing I noticed was the smell and the texture. It smelled quite chemically and was rock hard. When I ran it under the tap I expected it to expand in size and become soft like other beauty blenders but it remained small. It got a tiny bit softer. It also retained a lot of water so it took some time to squeeze out the excess.

I popped some foundation on the back of my hand as usual and starting applying it to my face. The sponge drank a lot of the foundation straight away. It felt quite wet and hard against my skin but it still blended pretty well. Because it was smaller it took longer to apply my base. I felt like it didn’t give me a full coverage so I applied concealer and blended away. The tip was very handy to blend under the eyes.

When I applied my bronzer and blusher with a brush I noticed it was streaky so I used the sponge to blend it. Because it was still quite wet it didn’t mix with the powder well and I ended up just using a blending brush to fix the problem.

Real Techniques’ Miracle Complexion Sponge, €7.99

This on the other hand had no smell when I took it out of the packaging. It is bigger in size than the Penneys Blender Sponge. When I ran it under the tap it expanded in size and got softer. I was thankful when it felt damp other than dripping wet as it meant I could apply my foundation right away.

I used the same foundation as I did for the Penneys Blender Sponge for comparison. I find that high coverage foundations work best with beauty blenders. On applying the foundation to the sponge the base sits on it rather than sinking in. This allowed me to apply it to my skin and blend straight away. I found this a lot easier to blend the foundation as it was that bit softer and bigger.

I also used the blending sponge to blend in my cream blusher and it worked a treat.

Conclusion:

For an extra €6 I would invest in the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. The Penneys’ Blending Sponge just did not work the way I wanted it to. It was too dense and retained too much water for it to do its job. But for €1.50 you really can’t go too wrong either.

What beauty blenders have you tried? Tweet us your verdicts @stellarmagazine.

• make-up