I panic bought some sponges because the one I have turned into a nightmare.

The AOA Wonder Blender was such a wonderful replacement for my tore up Suesh blender. I featured the sponge here on the blog back in July and I just love using it for blending my base and even liquid/cream cheek and contour products. Because of its bevel shape, I'm able to blend precisely and evenly. This sponge was my go-to, hell, I even chose using it first over THE Beauty Blender. I really thought we'd have a few years of blending bliss before this horror happened.

Whenever I don't use it, I store my sponge in a container to avoid getting it dusty. Before storing it, I make sure I deep clean it first, really dry it out, and when I'm sure it's dry all the way through, that's when I put it back into its container. That's pretty much what I've been doing to my sponges for years. So imagine my horror when I took it out on the one day I want to wear a base only to find these little dots on (and also probably in??) my sponge.

At first, I thought it was just dust or mascara or liner residue I wasn't able to get off but I think deep inside I already knew what was going on. I knew those dots aren't makeup or dust; they're something more dreadful and something that I know will make my sponge beyond saving: MOLD.

I've heard nightmares of mold-infested sponges but it's something that never happened to me until now. As I've said before, I always make sure my sponges are clean and dry before storing them and this routine kept my sponges in good condition. It's the same routine I did with my AOA sponge so honestly, I have no idea why this sponge is now mold city. I mean, it's not as bad as the other sponges I've seen before but my sponge is definitely unusable now. I've washed and soaked it repeatedly already and it's just futile now. This sponge is officially dead because there's just no way I'd use that on my face and risk breakouts and infections.

Feeling a bit panicked, I watched a bunch of Youtube videos, hoping something can help me get rid of it. Upon reading a number of comments that you should just buy new sponges because mold-infested sponges are just irredeemable, well, that's what I did. I opened my Shopee app and next thing I knew, I had three sponges checked out. A week later, here they are.

I did consider getting a new AOA sponge but I took this as an opportunity to try new sponges from other brands. Here I have two of Focallure's Matchmax sponges, the One Cut Heart and the Four Cut Mouse.  The other sponge I got was the Stagenius Makeup Sponge in One Cut Olive, the same shape as my demised AOA sponge. Got this because I want to compare it to the AOA but also because this shape just works really well for me.

Notice that the sponges I got are all in bright colors. Honestly, the color of a sponge didn't really matter to me before but it does now. Get a blender with a bright color so that you'll see right away if it's already molding!! Black sponges are nice and totally ~aesthetic~ but I realize that I'll be pretty much unaware if molds are already invading my sponge so I'll be staying away from them for a while.

Really hope these sponges work as well as my AOA and if not, well, maybe I'll get myself a new AOA. We'll see. But yes, I hope this post gets you to be more aware of your sponges because molds are just the worst. Make sure to deep clean it after use, make sure to air dry it for at least two days before storing, and place it in a well ventilated place. Really would not wish this for anybody.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. LOLJK. The end.