Review: Sunday Ivy Velvet Sponge - Hit or Miss?
The Beauty Blender has shaped the way makeup-lovers apply their makeup. It gives you a fresh yet flawless finish that allows you to wear high-coverage makeup looks without looking cakey. Since the Beauty Blender was released, there has been a rise in competition in the beauty sponge world but the variations often don't have the same spongy feel or give you that flawless finish like the Beauty Blender.
However, the downside to the Beauty Blender (and other similar sponges from brands such as Real Techniques and Morphe) is that it absorbs so much of your foundation in the process. You actually end up using more product than you would with a brush, making it an expensive makeup technique to have on a daily basis. Until recently...The Velvet Sponge has been a popular term being used all over the net claiming to be the ultimate beauty sponge that doesn't absorb your makeup and therefore being a much more efficient sponge to apply your makeup with. I came across Sunday Ivy on my Instagram feed one weekend and decided to purchase one to give it a go myself!
Who's Sunday Ivy?
Sunday Ivy is an online shop offering a variety of velvet sponges. They aim to provide products that are affordable yet innovative that are also vegan and cruelty-free!
What's so good about the Velvet Sponge?
The velvet sponge by Sunday Ivy claims to save 70% of your makeup by not absorbing any of your makeup while still giving you a flawless finish. The velvet sponge is made up of microfibres which gives it that fuzzy/velvety feel and stops the sponge feeling completely wet when you run it under a tap like other sponges. The tiny microfibres also make it easier to buff your foundation into your skin. I decided to purchase the Double Agent sponge by Sunday Ivy and give it a go!
Did I enjoy using the Velvet Sponge?
Firstly, I was pleasantly surprised to receive my velvet sponge in a cute egg-shaped travel case which I think is really handy! The sponge definitely felt fuzzy and I was curious to see if this beauty sponge would actually work. I always prefer to wet my sponge before applying creams/liquids to my face so I did run water over it and then squeezed out the excess water. The sponge almost doubled the size quickly and didn't feel as wet as other sponges. (As the sponge is made up of lots of tiny fibres, it dries quicker).I applied my foundation in multiple ways while I was testing out this sponge.
I applied foundation to my face first and then used the sponge to blend it out.
Put foundation directly onto the sponge and then used it to apply makeup.
Used the sponge as a final buffer after applying the foundation with a brush.
In my experience, I found that it was best to apply my foundation on my face with a brush and then use this sponge to blend out the foundation properly. The sponge took no time at all to blend the foundation out and it instantly gave a flawless, even coverage. The foundation I used with this sponge was the Maybelline Superstay foundation. Despite it being a full coverage foundation, the finish was seamless and had that 'barely there' makeup look while still giving me high coverage.
However, dotting foundation onto my face/on the sponge was actually wasteful. The foundation transferred and was absorbed by the sponge which is something I wasn't expecting. As you can see from the photo below, you can see the more pigmented areas are the parts where blobs of the foundation were absorbed by the sponge. The lighter parts I was expecting as this is the excess foundation that was transferred onto the sponge.
When it came to concealer, I really struggled to reach the small areas near my nose and eyes which was annoying as I thought this shape would fit nicely under the eyes. The sponge also isn't as soft as other sponges so it was hard to 'squeeze' the sponge to make it fit in hard to reach areas. (I should mention that this sponge is larger than the Beauty Blender). For that reason, I didn't enjoy using this for blending out my under eye concealer.
Overall, this sponge gives a very nice finish to the skin but it still does absorb makeup if you like to dot your foundation on your face or apply product straight onto the sponge. Even though it might not absorb all the way into the sponge, it does absorb to a level where you can't apply it to your face. I think if I had chosen a different shaped sponge from their website, I may have had a better experience but because the sponge still absorbs product, I can't say it lives up to the claims or something I would recommend you to buy! I love the idea of the sponge and I hope that Sunday Ivy can develop their product range to make them better and make them more versatile to work with. For now, I'll be using my kabuki brushes to blend in my foundation!
Have you tried the velvet sponge? What are your thoughts - I'd love to hear from you!
Kavita K xo
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***My views on these products are from my own personal experiences. Please remember that everyone reacts differently to different products – products that work for me may not work for well for you. Be sure to do some research before making purchases, especially if you do have allergies to certain ingredients.***