An Easy Sustainable Swap – Biodegradable Makeup Sponge Review

In a disposable world, where everything we throw away goes to landfill and stays there until the end of time, I like to make eco friendly swaps where I can. The beauty and makeup world are, by there very nature, not all that eco friendly. More than likely the products we use are plastic tubes or bottles, with plastic components, mixed with plastic labels. You get my drift, there’s lots of plastic.

• 

• 

The Product

The original branded Beauty Blenders are made from latex-free hydrophobic polyurethane. Big words wow, but basically its a plastic foam that is heat set into the desired shape. Because they’re plastic, its adding to the problem instead of helping combat it. A few brands have come out with plastic free sponges, the likes of beauty blender themselves have brought out ‘Bio Pure’ sponge which still contains 40% polyurethane foam along side 60% renewable sugarcane. For £17 a pop I would have hoped for more but maybe I’m expecting too much there.

However EcoTools have developed a sponge to rival the big name brands once more, and at £5.99 each its a much more accessible price point too. Made from just five ingredients, Corn, Water, Biomatter, Natural Colourant, Eco-preservative, the BioBlender claims to completely decompose within just 120 days. It can be disposed of in your garden waste, or planted in soil when its life is over and breaks down the same as food waste such as a banana skin!

Amazing things for the environment, but does it actually work? I’ve been a lover of EcoTools sponges and brushes for a while now, favouring their regular sponges over any others in a similar price range. The first thing I noticed was how much it grew when I ran it under warm water. It was soft and squishy to begin with, but it softened even further when damp and it felt really smooth to the touch.

The Application

To apply my makeup I dot my foundation on my face and dab over with the dampened sponge to blend. The sponge does absorb some product, that’s to be expected with any sponge, but that’s not necessarily a negative. The texture of the outside of the sponge is so smooth that it blended out liquid foundation so quickly and seamlessly, it wasn’t too hard so it was easy to bend and get into the nooks of my face.

As far as longevity goes, I was a little bit worried with it saying its biodegradable and that it would actually start breaking down while it sat on my makeup table. On an every day basis I don’t use a sponge as I don’t wear any products that require one, so I maybe only use it once or twice a week. I was concerned that 30 days after the first time I used it, it would jut dissolve into a pile of goop. I can confirm that after using this for 5 months, its still going strong! I am going to get a new one soon as mine is no longer coming up clean when I wash it anymore, but I don’t feel bad for having to replace it knowing that its not going to landfill (I’m going to put it in my compost bin).

Would I recommend?

10/10 yes! It blends like a dream, is super affordable and is a better alternative for the environment, so yes I would definitely recommend it. I’ve never tried the official Beauty Blender sponges, but I have tried lots of other similar products such as the real techniques, Superdrug and Boots branded ones, and this works better as its so soft!

I got mine from Amazon (and at the time of posting this, its only £4.20!)

Would you try a biodegradable makeup sponge, or have you tried this one before? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this eco friendly swap!

Milli x