Spoiler: not a Beauty Blender dupe.

Back in 2011, a quick trip to Hong Kong led me to these sponges. Not that I knew anything about them then; I was in makeup school that time and sponges were life. Since they resembled what I was currently using, I thought I'd pick them up, see if I can use them for makeup application.

Got back to Singapore, opened them, got disappointed when they didn't expand. They were nothing like the sponges I was using that time. So I just packed them up and put them inside my makeup traincase, unused and not properly tested. Until recently.

I've been itching to get a couple of new sponges, the Beauty Blender dupes and all that. But buying means spending I'm currently in a stingy mood. This led me to unearth (lol) these sponges. Because you know, why buy new ones if you have practically new ones in your stash, amirite?

These are the Belle Madame All-In-One Blender Sponges which I both got from Sasa Hong Kong. According to its description in the Sasa website, this is "different from normal make-up sponge. The calabash-shape sponge is designed for perfect make-up fit. It can be used to apply foundation, concealer, blush and eyeshadow, and set make-up. The material used is not easy to adsorb liquid foundation. It helps you save liquid foundation. It is specially designed to avoid traces of make-up to appear on the face. It creates perfectly fit, flawless finish."

I quite like the shape of it as it has a slightly tapered top and a wide round bottom. As I've mentioned earlier, these don't expand but wetting these sponges soften and smooth them a bit so you don't get irritated with a dry sponge texture. The sponge itself is quite tough, definitely the opposite of the soft and squishy Beauty Blender. Though its quite tough, you can feel how durable it is and it feels like it won't tear easily. 

Not gonna lie, I was quite shocked at how good these were with blending liquid products. Used one with a BB cream and it just blended and smoothed my base in just seconds. Since it's quite a dense sponge, it's true that these don't absorb too much product. Instead, they just work the product into the skin. I love using the bottom part for blending. The tapered upper half is quite wide to use to apply product on the corners of the face but I guess that it can be used to blend liquid or cream blush and contour instead. I am also convinced that this sponge can also be used for applying loose powder for baking although I'm pretty sure using it for eyeshadow is not the best idea.

Overall, these aren't too bad. They blend product nicely and quickly and they don't take up too much space either. People who are used to the Beauty Blender will find the toughness of this sponge off-putting but I'm personally not bothered by it. Remember, these sponges are more for blending than applying + blending, if you know what I mean. Also, really heavy cream products might not be blended out smoothly with these sponges so bear in mind to only use liquid products. I wouldn't recommend these for beginners or ones who are building up their kit as you're honestly better off with the original Beauty Blender or other dupes but they're worth a try if you want a tough, durable sponge to blend out tricky products or to pack on powder for baking.