When you’re adding a skin product like foundation or concealer, your impulse might be to grab a makeup sponge (Mine were for a long time). But Stevie Rose Adams, Saie’s makeup artist and master educator, says a brush is a better tool for applying foundation because of the formulation of many complexion products. “If your makeup is silicone-free, the sponge will absorb the product,” Adams explains. Makeup that contains silicone—such as dimethicone and cyclopentasiloxane, two of the most common—is safe from absorption because the chemical makeup of silicone is as a polymer, but an increasing number of foundations today are formulated without silicone, which means the sponge may soak up the product and require you to use more.
