Beauty Blender vs. CVS Knock-off: Review/Comparison

Hey, y'all! So, I've bought a few products since finishing my Project 10 Pan, and one of them was the Beauty Blender. I already had a knock-off Beauty Blender from CVS, so I decided to do a quick review/ comparison for the two of them.

Ever since the Beauty Blender became super popular, seemingly every single store that sells makeup- drugstore and high-end alike- have begun to create their own knock-off versions. That's understandable since the Beauty Blender is a whopping $20 dollars for just one little sponge.

I'm going to talk about each product individually, and then compare them.

The Beauty Blender comes in this little container. As you can see below it, there's a little accordion-folded paper, which has the instructions on how to use it. Basically, you're supposed to get the Beauty Blender wet, which causes it to expand, making it even more porous and squishy. Once you've gotten it wet and you can tell that it's expanded, you towel dry it a little. At this point, the Beauty Blender should be just slightly damp. It won't be completely dry, but as long as it's just not extremely wet, it's ready to be used. 

Size comparison after wetting it- it doesn't fit into the container anymore!

I like to take it section by section from here, since I typically use Revlon ColorStay, which sets pretty quickly. I dab dots of the foundation onto one part of my face and then bounce the Beauty Blender around to blend out the makeup. When applying, you definitely want to bounce/pat the Beauty Blender across your skin, and not brush, swipe, etc. it. The supposed benefit of using the Beauty Blender over a brush is that the Beauty Blender will give you a more natural finish than brushing on foundation. With the Beauty Blender, you're literally pressing the foundation into your skin rather than brushing it over your skin, so it definitely makes it look more like your skin.

When using the Beauty Blender, you definitely have to be aware of the type of foundation you're using. If you're using something like Revlon ColorStay, which sets quickly, you don't want to dab it all over your face and then start blending, because it'll start to set as it's sitting on your face and you won't get the full effects of using the Beauty Blender. Also, you want to be careful that your foundation isn't too liquidy, because the B.B. is still a sponge, and it soaks up liquid, so it might soak up more of the foundation than it actually puts onto your face. 

I think the main thing it has going for it is that it's SO squishy and porous, so it can really give you the 'flawless' finish it claims. I've used it several times at this point, and I absolutely love the finish that it gives my face. The foundation gets blended evenly and looks really great on the skin. Even though I think $20 dollars is a bit too much for any sort of sponge applicator, I would definitely recommend it, because I think it gives my foundation a much better finish than any brush I've used to apply my foundation. 

 As you can see, the CVS knock-off has a completely different shape from the original Beauty Blender. I'm definitely of the opinion that the B.B.'s shape is better than the CVS knock-off. When using the B.B. you can use the bottom, but you can also get around a little on the sides of it. With this one, it's basically either the tip or the bottom.

With this one, you're supposed to use it dry, so you don't wet it down beforehand. The first thing I noticed when trying to use it was that it was very, very dense and thick. I wasn't even sure it should be called a sponge because it was just so dense. This made it nearly impossible to evenly apply foundation. It was so uneven that even though I tried to make it work several times, I don't think I ever left the house wearing foundation that was applied with this. It's just too dense, thick, and hard.

For me, there isn't even really a comparison between the two. It's much more worth your while to spend $20 dollars on the Beauty Blender, which actually works really well, than to spend $4 on a sponge that is almost unusable.

My (admittedly amateur) opinion is that if you're seriously interested in buying a Beauty Blender, you should just get the actual Beauty Blender rather than wasting your money on cheap knock-offs. Although I've only tried this one knock-off, I've picked up and squished/felt several other knock-offs, and none of them are as porous/squishy as the original Beauty Blender. Since that's what helps it to give foundation a natural finish, I didn't even consider wasting my money on anything that was harder or more dense than the original Beauty Blender.

The long and short of it is that overall, I really enjoy my Beauty Blender and would definitely recommend it over a brush or a knock-off.

Hope y'all enjoyed my review and that this helped you figure out if the Beauty Blender is worth buying. If you like my posts and want to keep up-to-date, it would be awesome if you'd follow/subscribe, since it lets me know you're enjoying what I'm doing! Thanks, y'all!