During a field trip to Ulta in search of the perfect foundation for my favorite female, she asked me a question I had never really though of: when should you throw away your makeup sponge?
Uhhh-Never?
Or at least until it disintegrates into tiny pieces. At that point I would consider that a pretty good indicator to repurchase. Not to say that I wouldn’t double up on these babies. Truth be told, I own multiples. But I’m a makeup hoarder so…there’s that.
My motto is; if it still works, keep it and keep it clean. That also holds true for many other inanimate objects in my life. Shoes, technology, random household decor, all of it. Not to say you can’t also have a new or upgraded version of said item. Let’s not get crazy.
See what I mean? Hoarder.
Now if you are the owner of a Beauty Blender or a generic complexion sponge, you are aware of the difficulties in getting all of the foundation stains to disappear. In my search for the perfect cleanser, I’ve spent more pennies than I’d like to count. And hours of scrubbing and squeezing? Perpetual dish-pan hands would be an accurate representation.
And then genius struck!
Remember when we were all taught by Pinterest that you can remove makeup with oil? Sure you do. So then, if oil is makeup’s kryptonite, why don’t we use it to rid our brushes and blenders of stains and gunk? Why not, indeed.
Let’s get steppin’—
1. Get your sponge nice and soaked with tepid water. *FYI: Tepid means slightly warm or lukewarm. My friends thought I should explain just in case. Now you have your word of the day. Maybe I’ll do a giveaway next month for anyone who can use it correctly in a sentence.
2. Pour a dab of Olive Oil and a dab of Antibacterial Soap on a dish (or in the palm of your hand, which is what I normally do). Swirl your sponge it and and let the oil get up in it’s business.
3. & 4. Squish and squeeze pushing the water and soapy oil mixture from the inside of the sponge to the surface. Almost like what I would imagine milking a cow would be like. Possibly? Sort of?
5. Continue this process of adding a smidgen of soap and oil and rinsing thoroughly with water until you have a blemish-free sponge.
So now that your sponges are immaculate, fill it full of product and do it all over again tomorrow.
Just kidding. I only do intense cleaning like this once or twice a week. On a daily basis, I do the lazy thing and just use an antibacterial cleaner.
So what do you think? Is olive oil makeup kryptonite or do you think I’m insane? This question is slightly rhetorical…
I’ve never tried using oil. I usually use just antibacterial soap and it works ok. Or I could just be too lazy to walk to the kitchen for the olive oil haha. I’ll try it out next time I deep clean my BB. Thanks for the tip!
THANK YOU for this!
Thank you so, so much ..
Haha! You are welcome!
Need to give it a go! Thanks for the tips!
This is such a helpful post! 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad I can spread the word about germ-free makeup sponges 😉 😉
Finally my prayers have been answered! I was looking for the best method to clean my blender for a while now, as nothing worked well enough so far. So thank you! 🙂
You are welcome! Those buggers are hard to clean. Go figure…it’s a sponge so… lol 🙂
I hate to throw my sponges away, too! Especially my beauty blender! I’ll have to give the oil trick a try! Thanks for the info! 🙂
Yes! I have only thrown one away and that’s because it was years old and I put my thumb nail right through it! I’m much more gentle now 🙂
Hahahahaha! I may have to part with my pink beauty blender soon and break out my back up. Trying to get as much out of it as possible!!!
It’s a sad, sad thing! I wish they lasted forever!!!
Brill post Liz… I’m hoping to invest in a beauty blender so will definitely keep these tips in mind when it comes to cleaning 🙂 Thanks for sharing lovely <3 Karen xo
Thank you Karen!! You will see how stained up these beauty blenders get but luckily they do come clean 🙂 you will definitely enjoy it once you buy!!
Oh really Liz?! Must make sure I look after it and deep cleanse it regularly… hopefully that’ll help prolong the life 🙂 X
I use this method on my brushes once in a while when I want those pink and brown makeup brushes to become white again! So good!
It really gets through the gunk!!!
Thanks for sharing!!! I just bought a Beauty Blender, so this post is really timely!!
Great tip!! 😊
Thanks! <3
You’re actually supposed to clean your sponges after every 1 to 3 uses. At least that’s what I’ve read. I wash my Beauty Blender after every 2 uses because it’s otherwise just gross.
I wash my everyday before I use it…I just don’t always use oil 🙂 On a daily basis I use an antibacterial and every few days I give it the deep clean 🙂 🙂 Gotta keep those microbes at bay!!! 😉
I’ve tried the baby soap and olive oil combo but I’ve never thought of adding anything anti-bacterial! I think I’ve just had a ‘duuuhhh’ moment lol Great post! <3 x
That was me as well! I saw this dish soap sitting there and thought, “why the hell not”. Finally something that works!