be gentle when squeezing [SEP] just received the sponges earlier today and i wanna say that i am both impressed and disappointed lol i felt that the sponge did blend my foundation well and didnt soak up any of the product but i was sad to see that it was already tearing due to when i was releasing water from it i do not know if it was because i was squeezing too much or maybe my somewhat long nails tore into them but literally the first rinse and there is already really small tears i am honestly not the most gentle person but i also own the realtechniqs sponge and i use the same amount of force to squeeze the water out and they are not torn yet also i did notice that there was still much water retained in the sponge even though i have squeeze it until no more drops could spill i would say this is a great product for beginner makeup people such as myself who do not want to spend so much money on one of the original beauty blenders