Makeup sponge by Ebelin, dupe for Beauty Blender?

There’s been lot of Beauty Blender dupes released past 3 years and all I’ve tried so far haven’t even come close to Beauty Blender. I stumbled across yet another dupe in DM drugstore, this time by Ebelin, so let’s see if it’s any good.

Price: you can buy Beauty Blender (BB) for 16,90€ from French Sephora, with 20% off seasonal sale, you can buy it for 13,52€. Makeup sponge by Ebelin costs 2,25€ in Austrian DM drugstore (in Slovakia the price is probably similar).

Makeup sponge by Ebelin and Beauty Blender

How it’s used: before the application you wet the sponge and squeeze extra water. The fact that it’s wet helps to keep the product you are applying on the sponge and not soaking in. The BB allows flawless application of any cream products such as primer, foundation, concealer, cream bronzer, blush or highlighter. Recently I’ve seen makeup artists using it with under eye powder as well, I tried it and it works nice. You can watch the instructional videos on the Beauty Blender website.

Texture:

Beauty blender: has unique texture, it is very soft sponge that doubles in size when wet. When used, it beautifully applies the product and softly bounces off your skin.

Makeup sponge by Ebelin: it has rather rubbery texture that is not soft to the touch as the BB. You cannot squeeze it completely to the point that you would feel your fingers through the material as it is in case of BB. When it’s wet it doubles its size just like BB but it doesn’t bounce softly so the experience is not as nice as with the BB.

Makeup sponge by Ebelin (right) and Beauty Blender (left) : both dry

Skin look after using each sponge:

Beauty blender: I use it for foundation and under eye concealer; it allows flawless application, taking away extra cream product if I apply too much of it. I also use it for under eye powder and it cancels powder-like look immediately.

Makeup sponge by Ebelin: surprisingly it works quite well; it gives flawless look to my foundation too. On the other hand since it is not possible to squeeze it very well, it is hard to use it for under eye concealer and powder.

Makeup sponge be Ebelin (right) and Beauty Blender (left) : both wet

Final verdict: this is probably the closest dupe to Beauty Blender if I’m not counting sponge by Real Techniques (it doesn’t try to be a BB dupe, but everybody compares it to it anyway). For the price and relatively good job, I think the sponge by Ebelin is a good alternative to expensive BB sponge. I will definitely use it but then I’ll go back to Beauty Blender. It is the best makeup sponge in the world.

Velvet Matt eyeshadows by Catrice

Almost all drugstore brands are releasing new eyeshadows and I was especially curious about Catrice ones. They have matt finish and you know how hard it is to find good matt eyeshadows in drugstore…So of course I bought them immediately for testing.

Velvet Matt eyeshadows by Catrice

Price: 3,95€ which is very good price for single eyeshadow.

Texture: they are very very smooth just like high end eyeshadows. I was surprised how smooth and velvet they are! They blend like a dream and look very nice on eyes. They are very pigmented so you just need to touch them lightly before applying. The only downside to them is that they are not very well pressed in the pan so if you dropped them they immediately shatter. I don’t recommend traveling with them. You can see on the picture that the brown eyeshadow didn’t even make it to the “photo shoot”.

Velvet Matt eyeshadows by Catrice

Colours: I bought 4 colours, 010 Vanillaty Fair ( butter colour), 020 Pink-up Girls (light baby pink), 030 Jump Up and Brown (darker cool tone brown) and my personal favourite 040 Al Burgundy (burgundy with black base).

Velvet Matt eyeshadows by Catrice: 010 Vanillaty Fair, 020 Pink-up Girls, 030 Jump Up and Brown and 040 Al Burgundy

Longevity: without an eyeshadow primer (or with bad eyeshadow primer) they don’t last long and they crease (on the first picture here under). If you use good eyeshadow primer they last all day.

Two different looks:

Final verdict: Apart from being badly pressed in the pan and the questionable longevity without primer they are very nice eyeshadows. I always use good eyeshadow primer so I don’t have any problems with creasing. They look good on my eyes and blend like no other eyeshadows in drugstore. If I see any new interesting colours I will buy them for sure.

PROJECT 20 PAN vol.2

As promised here is a short list of products I’m going to try to use up by the end of June. 6 are from previous project pan and 14 are new. There are lot of challenging items I must say but if I didn’t have the project pan I’m sure I would neglect them so I say let’s use them up!

1. SuperShock eyeshadow base pot by Avon (still 1/3 left)
2. Brow gel by Anastasia (deluxe sample)
3. Eyeshadow pencil in colour Champagne Toast by Milani (still 1/2 left)
4. Eye pencil in colour Bronze by Bourjois (2/3 left, that will be a challenge)
5. Lip pencil in colour Nude by NYX (1/2 left, that may be easy)
6. Prep & prime face primer by MAC (little bit left, probably 2 weeks of use)
7. Airbrush concealer by Clinique (1/2 left)
8. Lumi Magique foundation by L’Oreal (1/2 left)
9. 4 eyeprimer samples by Urban Decay 
10. Mascara by Makeup Atelier Paris (full size)
11. Lipstick in Lush for blast by Color whispers Maybelline (1/3 left)
12. Prep & prime face powder by MAC (little bit left, probably 2 weeks of use)
13. BB cream Sublimist by L’Oreal (1/2 left)
14. Eyeliner pen in colour Brown by Miss Sporty (1 month of use left)
15. Eyeliner pen in colour Black by Miss Sporty (1 month of use left)
16. Eyeliner pen in colour Blue by ARTDECO (1 month of use left)
17. Lipstick n.02 by Dermacol (1/3 left)
18. Lipgloss n.020 by Catrice (1/2 left)
19. The Porefessional face primer by Benefit (1/2 left)
20. Eyebrow highlighting pen by KIKO (full size)

As you can see quite a good mix of products here and I wonder what will be used up and what not at the end (I hope at least products from previous project pan will be gone because I’m slowly getting fed up with them). Let me know if you are also doing your project pan challenge and what products do you want to use up. Courage!