beautyblender VoxBox Review

For those looking to break into the “influencer” industry, you have to start somewhere, and that’s usually with collaborations and companies like Influenster, that send you products in exchange for your honest review. Opportunities like this will help you add to your portfolio and case studies, both really important for your media kit. 

So what is Influenster? Influenster is a community for discovering and reviewing products. It’s completely free to join, and you don’t need an invite to join, but you can use my link here. As a member you can write reviews for products you’ve tried, ask and answer product questions, read articles about new products, and more! After linking your social medias, you receive an “impact score” which is basically how many people follow you in total.

What is a VoxBox?  A VoxBox is a box of free, often full-size products that Influenster sends to its members for testing purposes. Once you become a member, you will get occasional emails with the subject like “Are you the perfect fit for our next campaign?” Campaigns can be for anything from snacks to cat litter to beauty products, depending on the interests you select. If you’re more into beauty, like me, you’ll answer a series of questions like what type of hair products you use, how much you spend on xyz, beauty trends you follow. After that you’ll see swatches of products and you can select the best fit for your skin tone and preferences. Finally you’ll opt-in or out for certain brands and enter your shipping information. If you’ve been selected, you’ll receive an email letting you know you’re in and that a box is on the way! After receiving your box, you have a set amount of time to review your products and post pictures if requested. While you don’t HAVE to follow through with all of the required tasks, it does help you get on the list for more boxes. Most important is filling out the post-campaign survey to evaluate your likes and dislikes of the product(s). Other steps you can take to increase your odds of getting a VoxBos are to fill out your “snaps” and completing your reviewing profile. Snap questions help the app learn the brands and products you’ve tried and want to try. There’s multiple categories, such as Facial Skincare, Entertainment, Sweets, and Pets. If you’re not interested in a category you can remove it from your snaps.

I think I’ve been a member since 2017 so I’ve received quite a few boxes over the years, including boxes with Marc Jacobs foundation, Shiseido Skincare, cat products, and Aerie pajamas. This most recent box is a campaign with Beautyblender for their new Bio Pure sponge and the BOUNCE base products -- the Airbrush Liquid Whip Concealer, the Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation, and Soft Focus Gemstone Setting Powder.

Since I have to write a review on the products anyway, I thought I might as well share them here. I’ll also include the brief descriptions of the products from Sephora for reference.

BioPure Makeup Sponge - “An innovative sponge with a 60 percent plant-based composition and one-of-a-kind bounce to effortlessly blend your makeup for a natural-looking finish.”

After my first use or two, I shared my review on Sephora:

The first thing I noticed was how beautiful the color is. I love that this sponge is 60% plant based. Once wet, it about doubles in size and it so soft. Bounces and blends product on the face like a dream

Now that I’ve used it for about two months, my biggest complaint is that this thing soaks up SO MUCH PRODUCT. I had never used a makeup sponge from beautyblender before. I’d say compared to my Real Techniques sponge, I use at least two pumps more of foundation to get good coverage. 

I’m going to give this makeup sponge a 3.5/5 because I still love the color and texture, but the amount of wasted product is a major drawback.

Airbrush Liquid Whip Concealer - A weightless, full-coverage concealer that uses hyaluronic acid and peptides to create a smooth, undetectable finish.

I received this product in shade 1.40N Light Neutral. The applicator is a nice doe foot shape that holds a lot of product. It’s thicker than I expected based on the name, but it does blend out very easily for a natural appearance. I’ve worn the concealer alone a few times, especially under my eyes, and it has great coverage without being heavy. Typically in my makeup routine, I’ll apply primer, then a little concealer under my eyes and over darker blemishes. I blend it out, apply foundation, then concealer again. I haven’t tried the concealer with any other foundations yet, but it does blend wonderfully with the foundation in the collection.

I’m rating this concealer a 5/5 because it’s very creamy, blends out well, and has great coverage.

Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation - A weightless, buildable, full-coverage foundation with a natural matte finish that wears for up to 24 hours.

Anyone who has ordered base products online before knows that it can be very difficult to choose a good match. I was surprised that I picked one that fit well for me. I received this product in shade Blend 1.40 N. My favorite thing about this product is probably the packaging. I really like the frosted glass on one side and the reservoir for foundation on the other. The pump has a lock to make sure there’s no messes if you’re traveling. I would say I use 5-7 pumps of product with the BioPure sponge to get full coverage. I’m not sure it’s related to my skin prep, but I definitely notice some areas looking cakier than others. I overall really love how this product looks on my skin. It’s a “velveteen” finish so it’s more natural and on the matte side. The texture of the product is pretty light and covers almost all spots on the first go. It is advertised as buildable and full coverage, which I agree with. Pores and texture are still very noticeable, but the foundation does not advertise as being blurring so I can’t fault it on that.  It is long wearing; however it is not transfer proof. 

I rate this foundation a 4.0/5 because while it was full coverage and long wearing, it doesn’t give me a flawless natural finish.

Soft Focus Gemstone Setting Power - A super-blurring, airy gemstone powder that sets makeup and absorbs oil, giving life to your skin without dryness or caking.

I received this powder in shade Buff, which was a fine shade for me. When I opened the container, there was a paper seal, but a fair amount of powder was on top of that. After removing the seal, there’s a mesh covering that you can push your sponge on to get product. This has the potential to be really nice but it makes it difficult to tap out the powder if you prefer to apply with a brush. When applying powder, I focus the product under my eyes, in the T-zone, in my smile lines, and then along the hairline. It makes my skin feel really soft and smooth where I applied the powder. I haven’t tried this powder with any other base products yet. I did have creasing, mostly in my smile lines and under the eyes; however I’m not sure if I can blame that on the products -- that seems like more of a my-face problem. I think the powder did help mitigate the heat and humidity. The description claims this is a super blurring powder. While the powder didn’t necessarily have that effect on my pores, it didn’t emphasize them so that’s a win in my book. 

I’ll give this powder a 4.5/5 because it helped maintain my base in the Miami heat without drying out my skin.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll notice I don’t do a ton of video work. This is for two reasons: one) I hate how I sound on video and two) it’s a lot of work to edit. But for the first time ever, I filmed all of my first impressions as I applied the makeup and got ready for the Lighting Workshop at HGAB Studios. Additionally, I recorded a few clips throughout the day as a wear test and give my thoughts. I compiled all the clips and had about 15 minutes worth of  content. I was going to upload it as my first IGTV -- I made a cover image and everything. It came time to download the full video and I ran out of storage space on my phone. Not thinking, I deleted the original clips from my phone to clear up space. Okay, actually I was thinking, and I was thinking that the clips would be stored locally in the app I was working in and if not, everything should have synced to my Google Photos. Well spoiler alert, they didn’t, and I lost all of the footage. I tried multiple programs to recover my lost clips but alas, they were gone for good. Of course I could always record everything and pretend I didn’t lose my footage, but it didn’t feel authentic, and I only really wear makeup for shoots for I didn’t have many opportunities to repeat. On Sunday, I did my makeup with these products and recorded the whole process. Stay tuned for a very sped up version of my typical routine and an up-close look!

Have you used Beautyblender products before? Would you try any of these?

Disclaimers: I was sent all of these products complimentary for testing purposes. All opinions are my own. Additionally, the product links were made through ShopStyle, where I am Pay-Per-Click (PPC)