Nanshy – makeup sponge review

Last week I participated in my first ever Twitter chat, organised by Bloggers Hub. The idea is to bring brands and bloggers together, from the comfort of one’s home or office. One of the brands I got acquainted with was Nanshy, who were kind enough to send me one of their makeup sponges to try. I thought it was a good idea as I’m trying to take my makeup a bit more seriously, to make it look right. The reason being, as my skin is maturing and my pores widening like craters, not all products will look good and the results may be improved by applying them differently. For this reason I’ve been investing and trying out different tools, as for example, smearing corrector with just my fingers no longer looks acceptable on my crow’s feet.

Main characteristics:

– Easily washable and re-usable
– Cruelty Free
– Works with all kinds of make-up: Liquid Makeups, Cream Makeups, Mineral-Based and Wet-Dry Powders and Cream Blushes.
– Has a unique shape – the flattened rise up top comes to a fine tip, ideal for covering imperfections and blending in corners or smaller hard to reach areas, such as the corner of the nose.
– Again, the shape is quite clever – the base is cut so that you can leave it to stand on its own and it won’t be rolling around and falling behind the sink or any such places (the toilet, eeew).
– Has a soft feel and texture.

I tried it and this is how it went:

I primed my skin with RMK Makeup Base (I had a sample laying around, I thought I might as well use it) and fetched my No7 foundation from Boots from the bottom of my drawer. (I have to say that I rarely wear foundation as sometimes I find it uncomfortable, especially when I have to wear my glasses).

I put some cream on the back of my hand and used the sponge (which should be wet by now) to spread the foundation evenly on my face. After I was happy with the amount of foundation and coverage, I proceeded to applying the remaining items, including Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush (20 Peach Satin), a cream blusher I picked up in the US a while ago. I particularly liked the way I was able to work the blusher with the sponge as until now I did it with my fingers. The round based of the sponge makes it a lot easier, as it can cover a bigger area all at once, making the blusher look even.

After all this I just washed it under the tap, using a non aggressive soap. Dried it with a towel and left it on a shelf to dry completely, until my next use.

To conclude…

I liked the makeup sponge, particularly with the cream blusher as I feel I had a lot more control over what I was doing. The only downside of this type of tool is that you’ll end up using a bit more of product than you normally would with using a simple brush orjust your fingers. As I rarely use foundation it doesn’t make much difference to me, as I always end up having to chuck it away after a while as it can go off.

Have you tried any similar products?

PS: I received the sponge as a sample, words and opinions are my own.