

There Is Only One Correct Way To Use a Beauty Blender

Don't make the same mistake as me.

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Before I'd figure out how to shade match, before I'd follow makeup artists on Instagram, and before I'd be a beauty editor with hoards of beauty tools at my fingertips, I had a Beautyblender. As a college student, I shelled out $20 at Sephora for the pink foam egg and made it a staple in my makeup bag for years. I used it every single day to apply foundation, buff out blush and highlighter, and smooth out creasing from concealer. Little did I know I was using it wrong.

Yes, there's a wrong way to use a Beautyblender—and it's using it dry.

A Beautyblender should always be used wet so it doesn't absorb your makeup.

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This is a wet Beautyblender—notice how the pump of foundation is able to sit on top of the blender instead of being absorbed?

I knew soaking in water beforehand could be beneficial, but I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize until recently that it wasn't optional: The sponge was actually designed to be used wet. Spritzing it with a little bit of spring water or facial mist doesn't cut it, either. The sponge has to be fully submerged in water before use.

"It's designed to only absorb water, not your makeup, so your favorite formulas land on your complexion and not inside your sponge," says makeup artist Mark Chi (a global trainer at BeautyBlender. Water fills up the pores of your sponge so it doesn't soak up more product than necessary (I can't put that Fenty foundation to waste, after all!). That's not all...

A wet Beautyblender also works better because it's bigger and gives a smoother finish.

"Once wet, the Beautyblender expands to twice its size, becoming the perfect density and purposeful size for quick and easy makeup application," Chi continues. "I love how the surface of the Beautyblender mimics what an airbrush machine would do, correcting uneven skin texture."

It can be annoying to, once you're settled at your vanity, have to stand up and walk over to the sink to wet your blender, but I've noticed a complete difference in how the finish of my makeup looks if I apply with a wet sponge versus a dry one. I'm not alone in my mistake, either—so many people got it wrong that the brand recently introduced color-changing blenders with a literal reminder on it that reads "wet me."

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beautyblender sephora.com

Allow me to demonstrate the difference between using a wet and a dry Beautyblender.

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Here, I used a Beautyblender dry—there's still good coverage of some acne scarring but I noticed that it required way more product (around four pumps of foundation) which all sunk into the sponge. As for the finish, you can still see some uneven texture and pores coming through the foundation.

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Here, I used a Beautyblender wet. As you can see, skin not only looks healthier and dewier, but literally airbrushed. The blender expanded to twice its size so it covered more surface area and was a lot more fluffy and bouncy so it gave the most natural-looking finish. Coverage was the same, but this time I only needed to use two pumps. You're welcome!

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