Beautyblender Launches Bio Pure, the Sustainable Version of Its Iconic Makeup Sponge | Review

In 2021, beauty brands can’t — or, at the very least, shouldn’t — release a new beauty product without considering the sustainability factor. While plenty of brands create a new product then reverse-engineer the formula with eco-friendly ingredients, Beautyblender is out here with a new product developed specifically because of its environmental benefits. Green-beauty lovers, meet Bio Pure, the new, sustainable version of the iconic teardrop-shaped makeup sponge, launching on February 1.

The newest sponge is designed to look and feel exactly like its predecessors with one distinction:  up to 60 percent of its foam body is made up of the would-be waste products of sugarcane. The swap to what the team is calling “BioPlush” foam means that the manufacturing process is lower in CO2 emissions and less water waste. 

“We’ve been able to technologically advance the production and creation of sponge material, so it’s more Earth-friendly,” says Beautyblender founder and makeup artist Rea Ann Silva. Plus, according to cosmetic chemist Ginger King, sugarcane is “a fabulous sustainable material for cosmetic use.” The sugarcane fibers “make great biopolymers,” she says. (In fact, you may already be familiar with sugarcane-derived products. Biossance’s moisturizing Squalane Oil is made entirely of sugarcane.)

Silva’s always been aware of her brand’s environmental shortfalls when it comes to makeup sponge reduction. “I’m a makeup artist; I’m not a scientist,” Silva continues. “My foaming manufacturers have long known what my goals are. This is something I was asking if they could do very early on, and there just wasn’t the technology for it. Recently, they surprised me with this concept, and I was like ‘Are you kidding me?!’ I was so excited.” 

It can feel hard to remember a time when makeup sponges weren’t reusable, which is due in part to Silva. When the company was founded in 2003, it helped introduce the concept of a non-disposable sponge, a problem Silva set out to solve after noticing the number of makeup sponges she went through as a makeup artist on the TV series Girlfriends. Bio Pure is intended to be used for three to six months, with frequent washings (ideally, after every use) along the way, just like the original.