Beauty Blender v Brush

My favourite thing to use is a stipple brush, particularly the Real Techniques Stippling Brush. These brushes make applying foundation a breeze, especially if you’re new to the game! They are great quality and will last you for years and years. I’ve found my foundation also lasts longer after using one of these brushes 🙂

I think you will have to trial and error a bit and see what suits you.
I have used a brush in the past and found they apply the foundation to thick for my liking.
I tried sponge after but agreed with others that they absorb too much product.
I now routinely use my fingers to apply, then a brush to blend it all in to finish up.

I personally love sponges for my skin because of my pores I find it easier to blend in the foundation/cream. I find I keep getting “Streaks” with brushes so don’t use them much but I still use my fingers heaps!

On myself I use fingers because I am lazy. On other people I use either a traditional foundation brush or buffing brush or a beautyblender or a combination of all the above, depending on the skin type and the finish I (they) want.

However I found that using a beautyblender gives me the best possible finish, particularly on challenging skin. I use it wet if my client has good skin and/or wants a glowy finish. I use it dry or semi dry if my client does not have great skin, as I found that the coverage is better using a drier sponge.

Personally I haven’t had any luck with cheaper sponges. They seem to show less difference on good skin, but on bad skin beautyblender does the trick while others don’t. Most girls in my makeup team also rate beautyblender as the best brand. They have also said that ModelRock Base Maker is “not bad” but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.

That said, beautyblender is a pain in the butt to wash.

Foundation brush can work very well on good skin and for a sheer to medium coverage finish, but I always tend to use it in conjunction with a small sponge or a small concealer brush to smooth out the streaks.

That depends on the type and consistency of the foundation and your skin type. If you have dry or textured skin and/or wear a few layers of skincare under your makeup you might find a brush stirs up texture and flakes or makes your skincare underneath move or pill.

Sponges are gentle as you pat the product into the skin rather than buff it in or drag to spread so it disturbs the skin less but it can absorb a lot more product than using your fingers or a brush.

Then there’s cost, usually a good foundation brush is expensive and cheap ones give a streaky finish. Cheap sponges or expensive ones make no difference (I have the original Beauty Blender and $2 cheapies and I find the cheap ones work better and expensive isn’t necessarily better. Real Techniques sponges are a happy middle ground).

I personally use a flat foundation brush to spread the product over my face (not buff it, just lightly spread) and then go over it with a damp sponge to smooth it over. This is particularly good for my thin serum foundation that I use, if I just use a sponge it soaks up a lot of the product and sheers it out too much. The brush will allow for higher coverage but is harder to blend if you are inexperienced. Also how thick the foundation is and how fast it dries is also a factor. Damp sponges give you longer blending time, a brush needs a more experienced hand.