What’s the deal with the TikTok beauty sponge eyeshadow hack?

How to blend eye makeup without any brushes

BEAUTYcrew Beauty Editor / January 21 2022

TikTok is our safe space for exploring all things beauty. 

Home to beauty hacks that are good, bad, ugly and everything in between, there’s no better place to explore makeup, hair and skin care trends. 

Beauty sponges have become indispensable when it comes to makeup application as of late, with a stash taking up prime real estate in our freezers thanks to the TikTok frozen beauty blender hack.

But we suggest thawing them out pronto because according to TikTok, beauty sponges are a fast track to blended eyeshadow.

Beauty TikToker @glamwithsuzan kicked the trend off by showing a community of beauty-obsessed individuals how to seamlessly apply a smokey eye using an average egg-shaped beauty sponge:

Want to nail the sponge eyeshadow technique yourself?

Simply dip the side of your dry beauty sponge (we recommend sticking to a smaller-sized sponge for this hack) into two eyeshadow colours (mattes preferably), and press the sponge onto your lid to stamp the eyeshadow where you want it. 

Then dip the tip of your beauty sponge into a shimmer or glitter shade and apply it to the centre and inner corner of your eye. Et voilà ! A perfect smokey eye look in mere seconds. 

Granted it may not look perfect on your first try, so keep a blending brush on hand to smooth out any rough edges (or just use a dry finger, if you’re so inclined). 

Need some further inspiration? These TikTokers rose to the challenge and created (surprisingly) wearable soft smokey eyeshadow looks:

After a beauty sponge to help with the hack? We recommend:

Real Techniques Miracle Mini Eraser Sponges (was $16.99 now $14.44 at Oz Hair & Beauty); FENTY BEAUTY Lil Precision Makeup Sponge Duo ($28 at Sephora); and E.L.F. Complexion Sponge Trio ($19.43 at iHerb).

Real Techniques Miracle Mini Eraser Sponges

FENTY BEAUTY Lil Precision Makeup Sponge Duo

E.L.F. Complexion Sponge Trio

Love a TikTok eye makeup trick? The TikTok winged eyeliner hack is… interesting to say the least.

Main image credit: @dixiedamelio

Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).