#makeup blending sponge

[stimtoybox]

[image description: a photo of two silicone blending sponges sitting on a mottled blue and white quilt background. The left-hand sponge is shaped like a pink teardrop and is filled with pink glitter; the right-hand sponge is shaped like a figure-eight with a rounded point and is also filled with pink glitter.]

Silicone Blending Sponges - Typo, a set of two for $5 AUD*

Dimensions: Approximately 4 x 4.5 cm at longest/widest points.

* The price is complicated: these were in a sales box labelled 3 for $5, so I actually got this set of sponges and two phone cases for $5 AUD. The full, non-sale price for the set was $7 AUD, so I got a good deal on this (and the phone cases are both a soft plastic that looks and feels great on my phone).

I’m not sure if this clearance is at all Typo stores, since I know only certain stores are designated to carry some clearance stock items, so I’ll mention that I bought this set at Southern Cross DFO, Melbourne.

These are odd things! They’re quite a bit firmer than mochi squishies, but they still have stretch like any other silicone squishy or stretch cord. I can’t squish these quite as far as a blending sponge, foam squishy or silicone squishy, but they do squish and stretch, and they’re very good for digging in with fingernails: I can just stretch the sponge to remove any indentations or scratches. Short of taking scissors to them, I don’t think I can break them: I’ve been twisting the top of the teardrop rather roughly and nothing has happened.

The only downside is that they do leave a few glitter flecks on my hands. Like any silicone toy, they’re also dust magnets: I’ve had them open on my desk for only two days and they’re already covered! However, they’re not quite as sticky or greasy as some mochi squishies, so I wouldn’t be too worried about washing these.

I also find them a little bit too tough for my chronic hand pain, but I’m reviewing these with an eye to more avid stimmers as a mochi squishy replacement. Dad goes through those so quickly, and these sponges offer much the same stim in a more durable form. Since even replacing cheap stim toys gets expensive if you do it every fortnight, these may be a more economic alternative to mochi squishies.

If you find that conventional silicone stim toys wear out too quickly under squishing or you prefer firmer resistances for squish toys, keep an eye out for these sorts of silicone blender sponges!

[stimtoybox]

[Image Description: a plastic bag of beauty blender sponges in various shapes and colors (pink, yellow, green, blue, purple) hanging from a peg board]

The CVS on Hope Street in Providence, RI (United States) has quite a few sets of sponges. I assume they are also in the beauty sections of other CVSes as well. These ones are lots of different shapes, which I thought was cool, and are $6.29 USD for 15 sponges. There was also a bag that just had wedges, which was $4.99 USD for 20 sponges. I didn’t get either of these, so I don’t know how these ones specifically are to stim with, but I got a much smaller pack of cool egg-shaped ones (I don’t have pictures of that set because I opened it as soon as I got home and forgot to take any) from the same brand and they are great.

Thank you so much, @night-dark-woods! Oh, these are so pretty!

I’ve had a few different bags of makeup sponges for stimming, and I’ve found that thickness is as important for me as good texture. I’ve a few thin ones that are nice to touch, but they’re so thin I can’t really poke at them (and they’re too small for rolling). These ones, aside from being super fabulous in terms of colour, look chunky and thick, ideal for poking at and squishing. I love the look of the wedge-shaped pink ones!

A reminder, too, that makeup sponges make a good base for DIY crackling squishies. Just take two sponges of the same size and glue a snap-style hairclip inside with glue. (I tape the ends of the clip shut before gluing the sponge pieces together around the clip. Then put something heavy, like a book, on top of the sponges until the glue dries.) You can then paint the outside of sponges, if desired, in fabric paint. I made a squishy this way from two silky-soft giant teardrop sponges, and it is super nice to crack.

[stimtoybox]

Silicone Makeup Blender - K-Mart, $2 AUD.

Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 cm.

Variations: pink, yellow

I bought this because it feels squishy in the package, hence stimmy potential. (I don’t wear makeup and have no non-stimmy use for this.) I’d say it does, and while it’s a weird stim toy, it provides a few different textures I’ve felt with no other item.

Oddly enough, it’s less squishy outside of the package--the plastic over the top makes it feel squishier than it is. It has a covering on the back that feels like a very fine plastic felt that is quite nice to touch, and a thin film of plastic over the silicone that feels like touching a kind of plastic skin. Both wrinkle easily when bent or squished, so there’s a cool visual component to poking, bending and flexing this, especially because both backing and film wrinkle differently--you get a fine layer of wrinkles on the top, followed by the silicone and then deeper wrinkles underneath. The top film wrinkles enough that you can feel it gather, giving the blender a very subtle texture. The faster and firmer you stroke it, the more it wrinkles, so you can vary the texture depending on how you handle it.

It has no scent at all, and the film means it doesn’t have the powdery feel of a mochi squishy. It is silky smooth and gives under the finger tip, and I can’t think of anything that exactly matches the feel of this. When squished, it like a firm mochi squishy--both firmer but also more jelly-like. Enclosed in backing and film, it isn’t stretchable, and you can’t press a finger all the way down into it.

To me it’s something like how I imagine pressing a very firm jellyfish might feel like.

I don’t think this would be super durable--the top film isn’t thick. I don’t know how much twisting and poking it would take before ripping.

If you like jelly-like consistencies without the sensory feel of jelly, this might be a workable squishing, poking or stroking toy.

Image description under read more cut:

[image description: two photos of an oblong, rounded, pale pink, glitter-infused silicone makeup blender sponge, taken on a red watermelon slice pillow background. First photo shows the sponge inside a black bag with a clear front and peach text written on the bag over the sponge: “oxx silicon make up blender” and “easy to clean, easy to use, absorbs less foundation”. A peach spot to one side has hard-to-see white text reading “new shape”. Second photo shows the sponge, unpackaged. It has a darker pink felt-resembling back and a thin clear film over the sponge, causing faint wrinkles across the top. The glitter pieces are a fine silver.]

[stimtoybox]

[image description: a stock photo of eight makeup blending sponges, arranged in a circle on a white background. From centre top, the sponges are: a pale pink hourglass shape; a dark pink teardrop; a beige/cream hourglass shape; a light blue teardrop; a mauve hourglass shape; a light green teardrop; a banana yellow hourglass shape; another light blue teardrop.]

Makeup Blending Sponges - eBay, $0.77 USD each.

Item has free standard international shipping.

If you wish to purchase more than one of these, another eBay seller has these on sale in lots of 4 for $1.82 USD and 8 for $3.38 USD each.

Even on sale locally, these are at minimum $2 AUD each, making these eBay options a super cheap stimming option. I love them, as they have a more cellulose-like texture than squishies, and they’re great for just rolling in your fingers or gently squashing.

The set of four has two teardrop and two hourglass sponges per set, making it a great starting point for stimmers who want both shapes.

[stimtoybox]

[opening image description: a compilation shot of various DIYs, including: half of a clear glass jar filled with paper stars; a fluffy pink slime stretched into a rope; a red, pink and peach pompom; a plastic keychain made with the green Starbucks logo; a pink, purple and aqua macaron squishy; a mobile phone with a silver stylus touching the screen; two chains of blue and pink plastic bracelets; and an Asian woman wearing a flower crown/headband made of pink and purple peony-style flowers with a gold spiral unicorn horn. Text in the middle of the compilation reads “10 DIYs” in pink/yellow and black letters.]

Video Tutorial - 10 DIYs, Cute Life Hacks

There’s only three tutorials here that I’m posting this for, although I think many of us may find the making of paper stars to be a particularly stimmy craft.

The first is the making of pompoms using felting wool wrapped around a fork and tied in the middle with string or dental floss. This looks incredibly easy and results in soft, fluffy pompoms that look much nicer to hold than the cheap acrylic pompoms you usually find in craft stores. For texture lovers, this looks like an ideal craft.

The second is a DIY squishy made from the cut-off ends of two makeup blending sponges and white silicone or deco cream. I know silicone isn’t readily available for most of us, but I’ve seen deco cream in Daiso. For stimmers who like makeup sponges but want a toy that’s a little more interesting, this looks like a lot of fun.

The third is a tutorial for a fluffy no-glue slime using a peel-off face mask, shaving foam, baking soda and contact lens solution. Make sure your face masks contain PVA, because they won’t work otherwise.

Video has moderate background music and auto-generated closed captions in English.

[stimtoybox]

Makeup Blender Sponge Case - K-Mart, $2 AUD.

These are no longer available online, so Aussies will have to check their local store, but my local K-Mart has these packs of plastic cases, designed for storing blender sponges, reduced to $2 AUD for a pack of two.

They look like giant Kinder Surprise egg capsules, but they’re much easier to open. (A light twist does the job.) They’re also large enough to fit many small fidget toys, like sponges and small squishies, Tangle Jrs, Fidget Cubes and Twiddles. All the toys shown in the third photo, with the two cases opened in half, fit easily inside a closed case. Even the Prism’d Fidget Cube!

These are, honestly, perfect for storing a toy you don’t want to toss loose into a bag or is prone to gathering dust. (Tangle Jr Fuzzies, makeup blending sponges, mochi squishies.) The plastic is very sturdy without being heavy, there’s air holes at the bottom and top so the toy won’t get musty, and they aren’t difficult to open. Depending on the size of the toy, you may even get two items inside the case.

I’m planning to go back and get more of these for my Tangle Jr Fuzzies, sponges and mochi squishies, as they all collect dust when sitting in an open basket, and I find my current solution--storing them inside a ziplock bag--to be too fiddly for my hands. These will solve the dust-collecting problem while being easy to open and close, and it means I can toss a Fuzzy into my bag without worrying about my keys scratching off the flocking.

I really can’t sing their praises enough as a simple, cheap small-stim-toy storage solution--and I have a stimmy DIY for them as well that I hope to write up over the next couple of days. If you’re near a K-Mart, get these before they’re gone.

K-Mart also has the dual-coloured sponges marked down to $2 AUD as well, and I love these as a small, inexpensive squishable fidget. Also no longer available online.

I had a look on eBay, but I couldn’t find anything similar. If there’s listings for something like this for non-Australians, please comment so I can post about them!

Image description under read more cut:

[image description: three photos of two bright pink/fuchsia makeup blending sponge storage cases, taken on a red and green watermelon slice pillow sitting on a blue and white night-sky quilt cover. The cases are plastic and egg-shaped with slightly flattened tops and bottoms, like the capsule inside a Kinder Surprise egg, but without the hinge holding the two halves together--these simply separate. Four rounded air holes are punched into the top/bottom of each half.

First photo shows the cases, clipped together, inside a plastic bag with a clear front and a white back. Black text reads “beauty care co makeup blender case” across the clear front. It sits beside a pink-and-navy teardrop blender sponge, also inside a similar bag, text reading “makeup blender primer foundation powder blush”.

Second photo shows the cases, one closed and lying on its side, one pulled apart, the case halves sitting on the pillow face up and showing the inside of each half.

Third photo shows the cases pulled apart and sitting on the pillow, arranged in a grid of four and holding different stim toys: an orange teardrop-shaped blending sponge, a yellow/pink/blue/clear Tangle Jr Textured, a purple/green/blue Twiddle, and a black and white Antsy Labs Fidget Cube housed inside a red Zuru Prism.]

[stimtoybox]

Hey I'm new to the idea of stim toys 'cos I'm newly diagnosed and I'd like to ask if you have any "starter" ideas for stim toys or ideas for squeezeable stim toys that give a bit of resistance when you squish them. Things not smelling or making noise is a big plus.

I see we have another stimming convert! Fabulous. Not that we’re trying to take over the world or anything…

Anon, I’ve got several posts that I consider Stim Toy 101, including posts on breaking down toys into categories and posts on the more popular fidget toys. I’ll list those, and then I’ll finish by listing the toys that I think fit your brief.

So. For anyone new to the wide and wonderful world of stim toys, here’s what I hope to be useful reading:

@wrennigan​‘s Chewable Comparison Post: a list that compares many Stimtastic chewables.

Household Stimmy Items: a list of readily available stimmy objects for folks who don’t have online access to conventional toys or need to be stealth in their stimming.

Subtle On-The-Person Toys: toys that are easily portable and less like to draw attention, also great for folks who need to be stealth.

Common Tactile Toys: a list of the most common tactile stim toys and how they’re used. This is a great post for “starter” toys, anon!

Categories of Stim Toys: things to keep in mind when building a varied stim kit.

My Stim Kit: an example of the kind of kit you might build.

Varying Your Stimming: why you should be a little mindful about your stimming, because you don’t want to end up with chronic pain or injury.

@whisperstims​‘s Stim Toy Hygiene Post: how to clean your stim toys.

DIY Stim Toy Master Posts, One and Two: lists of links to all sorts of tutorials for DIY toys. The degree of difficulty varies here: some tutorials and DIYs are easy, others require a bit of crafting experience.

Autistic Sellers and Crafters Post: a list of autistic stim toy store owners and stim toy crafters.

Now, we’ll move into the rec portion of the answer. Squishable, with resistance, but silent and scentless. All links go to our tags, because by now there’s several posts telling you where you can find the thing.

Squishies: available in a variety of resistances, very squishable, available many places online. Some of these are slow-rising, which mean they compress tightly and take time to expand; others compress less well. Some, like the mochi squishies, are rubbery and gel-like, but most are made from foam. The better quality squishies generally cost more, sadly; I’ve had good experiences with the SquishyFun brand, and I’ve heard good things about Areedy squishies as well. Unfortunately, many squishies are scented, and while some listings state this, many don’t specify scent, so buying these can be a bit of a risk.

Stress balls: usually made from foam, available in a variety of resistances (firmer than most squishies), silent. Most of these don’t have odours, but I recently bought some that did smell chemically. These are readily available in dollar shops and just about everywhere online.

Fabric or crocheted stress balls: weighted, good for crunching and scrunching, no scent, do make low noise as they contain weighted pellets and, sometimes, crinkle paper. The mesh fabric stress balls I have are quieter than the crocheted ones.

Grape or mesh stress balls: squishy, available in varying resistances, do make a slight slurping sound as the slime inside the ball moves.

Puffer balls and puffer creatures: very soft and squishy, but the majority of them have a chemical-rubber scent that I can’t bear. This said, I own one ball from a dollar shop that has no odour, and the puffer worms I smelt at Sensory Oasis for Kids have no odour, so they do exist. This one, I think, is very much a try to find in person item because of the risk of bad smells, but they are available in many dollar and toy shops.

Wool stress balls and wool dryer balls: soft woolen balls that you can squish in your hand. No smell, no odour but that of wool unless you add scent - just a wool ball you can squish or tear.

Makeup blending sponges: a teardrop or hourglass shape sponge, generally medium resistance, great for squishing. No scent or sound, just a lovely fine-spongy texture. I’ve seen them from most dollar and department stores starting at $3-$4 AUD, but the brand name sponges are absolutely not needed for stimming.

(Many sponges in general are good for squishing, and if you like rough textures, check out this ask for a few more rough-textured sponges that are squishable.)

Disney mini Tsum Tsum plush: no scent, very squishable, lots of great textures, a small amount of sound if you press the small pocket of weighted pellets in the plush’s belly (above the strip of faux suede used as the toy’s base).

Thinking Putty and TheraPutty: one of the firmest items here, if you like a lot of resistance when squishing, but Thinking Putty does tend to crack and snap when moulded. It’s not constant, so it’s like a crack here and a snap there, but know that it does. TheraPutty makes no noise at all. No scent for either, unlike most putties and doughs.

I hope that gives you somewhere to start, anon. If you have any more questions, please ask away!

[stimtoybox]

[image description: two teardrop-shaped makeup blending sponges, one aqua and one pink, taken on a red watermelon slice pillow. The aqua sponge is in a peach ziplock bag with a clear plastic front; the pink sponge is in an aqua ziplock bag with a clear plastic front.]

Makeup Blending Sponges - K-Mart, $1.50 AUD

An FYI for Aussies: my local K-Mart is clearancing out the makeup blending sponges in the coloured bags (as shown in the photograph above). The ones in the white bags are still $3 AUD each, but the sponges in the coloured bags (pink, aqua and orange) have been reduced to half price.

(They’re older stock than the white-bag sponges, which I’m guessing is the reason why.)

For folks wanting a cheap, silent, very portable stim toy for rolling and squishing, they’re well worth checking out. Please note that some of these sorts of sponges do contain latex, and the labelling on these ones does not state that they’re latex-free.

My store also had other multi-pack bags of different sized thinner makeup sponges on clearance, which is worth checking out for anyone wanting to paint ABS plastic toys (Tangles, snake puzzles) in PVA glue for a picking and peeling replacement stim - I find it much easier to get smooth coverage with a makeup sponge than a paint brush. In fact, unless the item is very small, I almost always use a sponge to apply glue over a brush (it works well for spreading glue for my handmade book-making, too) so having a bag on hand is well worth it even for people who don’t wear makeup.