The Beginning
Ever since I discovered beauty sponge eight years ago, my life changed - I know it sounds overdramatic but it's true - after that fateful day, I only blend my foundation or any complexion products with a sponge.
However, for so long I searched high and lows to replace the beauty industry standard beauty sponge - that hot pink and super soft sponge - but to no avail. Every alternatives I bought were either too hard that it feels like I'm pounding a rock on my face or the shape isn't quite right for me or it is soft but absorbs almost all of my foundation.
But one thing all of these alternatives have in common is that they cost a lot for a beauty sponge, something that has to be replaced every 3-6 months depending on how I use it, and I can't be spending that much money for a sponge every few months.
So I sought out to make my own beauty sponge with all the qualities that I love. Initially, I sold it to just friends and families but after seeing positive feedbacks from them, I decided to share it with everyone and thus Revered Artistry and Plush Sponge were born.
The Process
Material
Plush Sponge is latex-free, or to be specific, it is hydrophilic polyurethane (foam), it is just a fancy way of saying that the foam reacts in water. Beauty sponges that expands when soaked in water are most likely made from hydrophilic polyurethane.
Fun fact: I've bought a sponge that was hard as a rock and did not expand when soaked with water. Little did I know that it was actually made from latex.
Latex can cause allergic reactions in some people and it is best to avoid latex in your sponge, your lash glue, in your life basically.
Shape
There are various shapes to choose from, teardrop, gourd, beveled. We found that a flat teardrop shape is the best for applying wet and dry products.
Softness
There were a variety of softness that we can choose from. From ultra soft to hard but we decided on super soft because if it's too soft, it might tear easily thus needs regular replacements and if it's too hard, you'll hurt yourself.
Density
This affects how the sponge bounce on our skin to blend products. Low density sponge might be too soft and squishy and doesn't provide much resistance for it to bounce up and down so it requires more effort to blend. Low density will also absorbs all of your foundation because it is more 'airy'.
Plush Sponge strikes the perfect balance of density that makes it bouncy and also does not absorb too much foundation.
Texture
There are sponges that have no pores, small pores or large pores. Plush Sponge has medium size pores, perfect for gripping on products. The textures helps to grip on products and transfer it onto the skin. If the surface texture is too smooth, the products might slip and slide instead of adhering to the skin.
Colour
The colour of our original Plush Sponge is purely accidental and we love how it shifts from green to blue in different lighting. We had a hard time naming it and are still not convince with the current name for the colour but it will do for now.
Once we have decided the factors mentioned. It is time to produce our sponges.
Production
The stages to creating Plush Sponge are foaming, drying, moulding, cutting, packaging. We have shared the process on our Instagram stories before, so do follow us on Instagram to get behind the scenes with us.
Overall Quality
The most important factor in a beauty sponge is the ability to blend seamlessly and we're happy to report that Plush Sponge can do just that! Don't believe us? Try it for yourself!