We tried the BeautyBlender microwave cleaning hack that’s taking over Twitter

Crazy makeup hacks always give me life, especially the daring and head-scratching ones that leave the internet bewildered. I should know, especially since I once used bra inserts in lieu of a foundation sponge. With that said, I, like the rest of the internet, have become totally intrigued by the genius BeautyBlender microwave cleaning hack that’s surfacing on Twitter. The hack apparently cleans your makeup sponges in less than one minute, according to the Twitter user @Jaycoko.

While this hack might sound familiar to you since another beauty lover tried it last year, @Jaycoko’s new video is catching like wildfire on Twitter. She has an impressive 28 thousand retweets and over 78 thousand likes. But even if you don’t have a BeautyBlender on hand, Twitter users in the thread suggest that this ingenious hack also worked on more affordable sponges.

This piqued my interest. I wanted to throw my Essence Super Beauty Sponge ($4.99) in the microwave to see what would happen.

To get my beauty sponge squeaky clean, I followed the video’s advice in hopes that I would never have to clean it with a brush cleaner again. Here’s what happened.

1Grab your dirty makeup sponge:

As you can see, my sponge can get pretty dirty due to the foundation and liquid highlighters I use. Getting it all off can be challenging. Sometimes soaking it in a brush cleaner doesn’t remove all my foundation stains, even when I try squeezing it out.

That said, this buzzworthy beauty hack definitely spoke to me. The “dry cleaner-like” appeal made me think it would guarantee the best clean possible.

2Grab your soap:

Like @Jaycoko recommended in her video, you are going to need a bit of soapy water to ensure your beauty sponge gets the clean it deserves. I normally wash my sponges and makeup brushes with Johnson’s Baby Soap, so I mixed it in water and poured it into a microwave-safe cup. (This is what everyone else was doing online.) However, making sure you have a cup on hand is important, as I initially did it without the cup and the results weren’t too good. Some Twitter users who didn’t put their sponge in water opened the microwave door and saw that their sponge had melted.

3Put your makeup sponge in soapy water, in a microwave-safe cup, and let your microwave run for about a minute:

The waiting game begins.

This part made me a little nervous, as I imagined some kind of foundation explosion in the microwave, but thankfully my cup didn’t budge. It made me eager to see all the deep cleaning action that was going on inside.

4Take your makeup sponge out:

After a good minute, remove your makeup sponge from the cup. However, if your sponge is super dirty, @Jaycoko recommends microwaving it again.

Even after nuking my sponge once, I noticed most of the foundation stains were gone. To me, this was a way better alternative to soaking my sponges in a brush cleaner and praying to the beauty gods that everything would come off.

5My final thoughts:

As you can see, this BeautyBlender microwave hack does have some merit, especially since it removed a lot of my foundation from deep inside my sponge.

Although I still have some foundation stains from previous use, I am definitely using this hack (with more nuking time) going forward, as I am tired of pointless cleansing methods that leave my kitchen sink a mess.