CVS Essence of Beauty Wedges/ cvs.com
I wanted to thank each and every one of you who participated in my poll on the very first post. It has definitely shown me what you look for in this blog and I will try my best to deliver. With that being said, if it’s products you want to know about, it’s products you are going to get! Let me do you one better. I’ll start right in by recommending some of the cheapest items in my kit that don’t lack in the quality department, whatsoever. If that sounds good, let’s get started!
This first item was something I hadn’t originally planned to talk about right away since it is admittedly random but I ran into some funny odds yesterday during the Cabinet shoot and took it as a sign to confess my undying love for CVS’s Essence of Beauty Wedges.
As I was making up a lovely Cabinet member yesterday I was applying some foundation and blending it down with my favorite Essence of Beauty Wedges. She commented on how she liked the sponges and asked what kind they were as I didn’t have the bag out that showed the name. I told her “Believe it or not I only used CVS’s Essence of Beauty brand and have never been able to find a brand that compared to it in quality. I can be at a beauty supply store and decide not to buy sponges there and I’ll go ahead and make the extra run to CVS. I even pass up bulk prices for these things.”
I went on to tell her that one day I was working in a salon that had the bulk stock of latex sponges. I used one, and besides the fact that it was flimsy and crumbly, my hand became incredibly itchy! Sure that could be a personal aversion I have to latex, but if my hand was feeling that way I sure didn’t want to take the risk of transferring that feeling to someones face! In haste, I ran into the CVS next door and grabbed the big bag of the Essence of Beauty Wedges. It stated on the bigger bag you get 25% more for free. Hey I’m no fool!
They are great for applying foundations and moisturizers because they are so dense that the product doesn’t seep into the pores of the wedge. I’ve found there to be a lot less waste with this staple item.As if that wasn’t enough, once I took an HDTV class with Suzanne Patterson (whose master Beauty Advice Bits you can find on the sidebar to the right) I realized that these were the types of sponges you could tear in half and use the inside of to actually blend foundation even MORE seamlessly! Yes, the inside, like so…
Essence of Beauty Wedges
The random but fine texture in the middle of the sponge blends the foundation more seamlessly than applying foundation with a brush or with the straight edges of the sponge. (And guess what? No crumbling!) Just press and stipple away and any tell-tale lines from the foundation application just seems to dissapear into itself. Brilliant! So by creating a texture that becomes almost undetectable to the eye you end up making the bag of sponges last twice as long? Oh Essence of Beauty, you had me at “non-latex” -but all the other great benefits made this a winner.
So whatever did Ms. Cabinet member think of my love for these frugal finds? She said “I thought those were the Essence of Beauty sponges. I’m so glad to see you use them. My husband makes those”.
!!!!!
I mean seriously, what a small world! Sure enough, I was raving about the sponges to the wife of the manufacturer, without knowing it. Of course my second thought was “Who can I talk to about getting these in bulk?”
Now imagine if she was the wife of the guy who made the latex ones? I’m sure there is a moral to the story here somewhere. 
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Please help I am looking for a red rubber facial sponge that I have used since I’ve been in high school Iam now 47yrs old it was like you sponges that come with 4 in a bag like your essence 4 cleansing sponges but they were red and rubbery I can not find these anymore please help I do not like the white ones they do not hold the makeup like the res ones I’ve been looking everywhere, I’m hoping you can hep please email me back where I can get these thankyou for your help. Mary
Tell Mia that she did a GREAT job announcing the winner. How very cute! Also let her know that her cousin, Cali, wants to see her soon.
Kat, I love your blog, and the moral to the story
Keep it up!
Hey Ash!
Well, after seeing your question I went and did a whole bunch of searches on BeautyBlender, mainly looking for how long they last. What I came to find was that every rave about the blender was the same I had for this particular wedge: “dense”, “you can stipple with it to give a seamless look for HDTV”, “swells up to twice it’s size with water”, “non-latex”, and “can be used over and over again” when one is just using it on themselves. Also, if using it on other people, you have 20 more (40 if you 1/2 them) for still under 3 dollars a bag. Not to mention one particular technique I do is to use the edge of the wedge by placing it under the bottom eyelashes when applying mascara so not to get any residue onto the skin. I would have to still have sponges on hand to continue that technique since I wouldn’t be able to do that with a Beauty Blender.
I am definitely open to trying other products such as the Beauty Blender, and when I do I will give a completely honest review and comparision. For now though, I don’t see one big advantage over the other to get me to spend the initial $40+ on the setup. Do you know approximately how long one Beauty Blender sponge lasts before detiorating? I’m totally curious and couldn’t find anything other than “forever”. hehe.
Thanks Ash!
You like these better than the beauty blender, girl?