Beauty Blender Review (And a $1 Alternative!)

Beauty Blender Review (And a $1 Alternative!)

The original Beauty Blender has a huge following and a lot of hype. Now there's lots of different types of Beauty Blender in various colors, but the original hot pink one is what everybody seems to use. You can buy it from Sephora or the official Beauty Blender website for $20 USD.

Left to Right: dampened Beauty Blender, unused dry Beauty Blender, 9 month old dry Beauty Blender

I received a set of two new original Beauty Blenders for Christmas (thank you, Mom!), so was able to compare a new and old Beauty Blender as well as a dry and damp one. As you can probably see, the older Beauty Blender (it's about nine months old at this point) has faded. It's not clean in the picture, but it still shows the true color. When you wash a Beauty Blender for the first time, quite a bit of pink dye washes out. I find that a bit of dye washes out for several washes after that as well.

The sponge doubles in size once you dampen it, and gets a bit softer. It's very soft when dry as well, but I wouldn't recommend using it dry as it soaks up a ton of product. It can still soak up a fair amount of product when wet, but it's not nearly as much. One thing that is unique about the Beauty Blender is the texture - I have yet to find an exact dupe for it because of that. It's airy and lightweight, and when you squeeze it it'll bounce back to it's original shape almost instantly. I love it because it always gives a natural-looking, smooth finish.

Left to Right: dampened AOA Wonder Blender, dry black AOA Wonder Blender, dry pink AOA Wonder Blender

I still love the Beauty Blender, but I don't see myself buying myself any more in the near future. The AOA Wonder Blender from ShopMissA is only a dollar, and it's so similar that I just can't justify spending $20 on a Beauty Blender again. It's a lot more dense when dry, but once you get it wet it's much softer and closer to the texture of the Beauty Blender. It also gets less dense each time it's washed, and after a couple of weeks I find that it's almost the same as the Beauty Blender when wet, except it soaks up less product and it's easier to clean because the material is far less delicate. It bounces back into shape when squeezed the same way the Beauty Blender does, and it gives almost the same finish when used to apply foundation as well.

The AOA Wonder Blender comes in several different shapes and colors, all of which are the same material. The Beauty Blender comes in different colors as well, but many of them are slightly different texture-wise. I prefer black sponges (I really just prefer the color), but I do have a couple pink Wonder Blenders for variety. Because they're only a dollar, I can buy a bunch at a time and have backups as well as multiple in use for different products. It makes washing easier as well because I can use a new sponge every day so there's less product in the sponge when it comes time to wash them each week. They also just soak up less product in general.

Top Row: dampened AOA Wonder Blender (left), dampened Beauty Blender (right)
Bottom Row: dry AOA Wonder Blender (left), dry Beauty Blender (right)

Both sponges are about the same size both wet and dry. Once dampened, they are very similar in texture and work almost identically. The AOA Wonder Blender isn't an exact dupe for the Beauty Blender, but it's very similar and I definitely prefer it. Below I've made a list of comparisons:

Overall, I would purchase the AOA Wonder Blender over the Beauty Blender. There is enough of a difference between them that I can see some people still preferring the Beauty Blender, but for me they're so similar that I'd way rather use the cheaper one. I still really like the Beauty Blender, and I would still use it if I got one as a gift, but I won't be buying them myself anymore.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below or contact me another way if you have feedback! What do you think of the Beauty Blender if you've tried it? What about the AOA Wonder Blender? Are there any other beauty sponges you think I should try? I would love to hear from you!