Cosmopolitan Blend Perfection Sponge: A Fad Too Far?

I'm an easily influenced person, and something that greatly influences my buying habits are the words and praise of fellow bloggers. When bloggers get on the 'bloggers hype', I'm normally one of the first to jump straight in and trustingly submit myself to the product. It's worked for a lot of products: the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish is still the most wonderful skincare product ever, and my Estee Lauder Double Wear graces it's way onto my face almost every day. One craze that I was however a little more dubious of, was the blending sponges.

If you (somehow) haven't heard about these blending sponges, they surfaced a few months ago in the form of the 'Beauty Blender', a little sponge meant for applying foundation that somehow costs around £17. Bloggers swore by these, as they claim to provide a professional finish and flawless complexion that is only dreamable with makeup brushes.

Now I wasn't about to jump straight in with the proper Beauty Blender, so I chose to try it out with a cheaper version - the Cosmopolitan Blend Perfection Sponge. This was only around £4.99 on Amazon so was much more affordable, and I was planning to purchase the more expensive one for longer term use if this one went well.

Unfortunately, I absolutely without a doubt hate it. The idea of using a sponge was weird to me at first, and after two days of struggling, it's still incomprehensible to me.The sponge used far too much makeup - needing at least double what I would usually use in order to cover my face, because it soaked half of it up.

I tried many different techniques and however I tried, I could not get even a half decent finish. By the end of the ordeal, my face would be streaky with orange lines - something I'd never experienced before with my Double Finish, and it wouldn't be blended at all, no matter how hard I tried. I ended up both days wiping it all off and starting again with my lovely stippling brush.

I love the idea of the two ends (the larger for face, the smaller for harder to reach areas like under eyes), but the fact is that the material just didn't work- understandably, the sponge soaked up the makeup, shock horror!

I think it's safe to say I'll be sticking to my brushes for now - and that sponge will be going straight in the bin!

What are your opinions on blending sponges?