Vault

Max value reached

Adding this item would put you over your total vault limit of $250. please review your cart to stay under the limit.

Does This Viral Hack Really Clean Your Beauty Blender?

28 May, 2018 - 09:08pm by - Head Pixie | 16 Comments

By BR Kellie

Who doesn't love a good beauty hack? One that simplifies a process. One that makes life easier. One that saves time while getting results. Recently the beauty world went a bit nuts over a beauty hack that saw filthy beauty sponges come out sparkly clean. I read a handful of articles about it, because, well... it seemed too good to be true. Then I decided I had to give it a go, because if there's one thing I hate doing it's cleaning my BeautyBlender, and if this hack could save me time and get my sponge back in good nick, I was in!

First things first... THE HACK. Take a microwave-proof mug/glass, squirt in dishwashing liquid, add water until it's at the halfway mark, drop your sponge it. Pop it in the microwave and put it on high for one minute. Once it's done remove the sponge from the cup (CAREFULLY - because it will burn your hands as it's super hot), then rinse under water and leave to dry.

SO SIMPLE! But did it work? Or was this hack a load of hooey?

Let's take a look at what I was working with...

Giddy aunt, while beating the makeup into my face it looks like the poor BeautyBlender's been beaten half to death. Yep, I love my BeautyBlender and it shows. It's revolting. Making it the perfect candidate for this test. 

I followed the instructions down to the letter, and in the microwave it went.

The minute passed, and with eager grabby hands I pulled the cup from the microwave, then using a spoon I retrieved the sponge, took hold of it, popped it under cold water and gave it a squeeze.

OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Don't do what I did. 

You see, despite running it under cold water the inside was still stuffed with boiling water and when I squeezed the sponge I squeezed said water over my hand. Cue running of hand under cold water along with sponge to ease the pain. 

But did the pain pay off?

Er, no. 

What did happen was a whole lot of dye left the sponge, and the mangy foundation stains remained.

So I thought I'd give it another burst. Same thing happened again - minus the burn, because I squeezed out the hot water by pressing down on the sponge with my spoon before running it under the cold water. Bye dye, hello again stainage. Also, by this point my sponge was starting to get a bit bent out of shape. A little putty-ish. It was bouncing back, but it was taking its time to do so. I was seeing a $30 sponge go down the drain  - or into the rubbish bin - not ideal.

SO... I went back to the internet for more research, and found an article titled along the lines of 'The Beauty Hack You've Been Doing Wrong!'. That article said you had to let the sponge cool down in the cup and then run it under water. 

Right, okay then. So I did that. Result!! .... er.... Not so much.

It looked a 'bit' better, but it was so bleached out it looked like it had been sitting in the desert sun for half its life. The stains may have lightened but they're very much still there. At least with about four minutes of microwaving on its side in boiling hot water I knew any germs in there were well and truly dead.

So how's my beloved BeautyBlender performed since? Fine-ish. You see it still bounces the foundation on, but now it makes a 'skoosh skoosh skoosh' sound. It sounds like all those bubbles made with dishwashing liquid and water are in the middle of the BeautyBlender begging to get out - and this is after I rinsed and squeezed the BeautyBlender post-microwaving for a good ten minutes. No exaggeration. 

Bubbles trapped inside a BeautyBlender? That can't be a good thing. 

So... I'm calling it. This hack is gak! It took forever, it didn't lift the stains, and now my sponge is a bit stuffed. It's a fail, my friends.

The question is though... have you tried this hack? Did it work for you? Have I done something wrong? Or will you be bypassing this altogether and sticking to the tried and true method of using makeup brush cleanser and rolling the sponge around in your hand to keep things clean?

back

Comments

Please sign in or register to add a comment.

11th November, 2018

Interesting indeed

4th June, 2018

So disappointing to read, so very sorry for you and your Beauty Blender :-(

31st May, 2018

Sounds like too much work! I just rinse mine under warm water with some dish washing liquid and it seems to do the trick! The stains are never completely gone but at least the greasy residue is gone!

30th May, 2018

Won't be trying this anytime soon!

30th May, 2018

Shucks that sounds painful. Also, I didn't even know about rolling-around-the-hand method. Haha! I just rub it against the makeup brush cleaner soap bar and squeeze - keep doing it until I get rid of the makeup.

30th May, 2018

I don't actually use a beauty blender sponge to apply my foundation so I can't really comment on what is the best way to clean one but if in future I do decide to use one,I will skip doing this and just stick to cleaning it the normal way.

30th May, 2018

I'm too scared to try it , I have the RT sponge (my holy grail!!!!!) I just use hot water and anti bacterial non soap liquid soap

29th May, 2018

I stopped using beauty blenders after I saw how disgusting it looked when cut open.

29th May, 2018

Eeeek! I don't have a microwave so I wouldn't have tried it.

29th May, 2018

I just got a new sponge yesterday. I won't try this though lol

29th May, 2018

I use a solid bar of soap to clean my beauty blender and it does the job beautifully! I simply wet, rub over the soap bar and rinse under water. If you have a stubborn stain, rub the stained area over the soap and rinse again.

I've also heard you can soak your beauty blender in micellar water overnight. Not tried it yet but I can imagine it'll work!

29th May, 2018

The best way to keep your beauty blender clean I found with the least hassle is to wash it as soon as you're done your makeup then it takes only a couple minutes to clean. If you wait till the end of the week it take awhile to wash all the foundation out.

29th May, 2018

Sounds too extreme -I will be by passing this one.

29th May, 2018

Oh dear, I have never used a blender :) I actually would like to try one though but doubt I will give this hack a try haha.

28th May, 2018

I've never heard of the hack. But it'd certainly nuke the bacteria.

MareeB
29th May, 2018

Thanks for the tip!

WELCOME TO NZ'S BIGGEST BEAUTY GUIDE!

READ AND WRITE REVIEWS ON YOUR FAVOURITE (or not so favourite!) PRODUCTS!

Sign up to receive our newsletter and stay up to date with all of the latest happenings here at Beauty Review!

You'll be the first to know about Trial Teams, Vault restocks and Giveaways.

We promise never to spam you - only to share the best in NZ beauty!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE MAILING LIST!