I'm So Confused By This Makeup Sponge Fail In The Summer I Turned Pretty

When it comes to fashion, The Summer I Turned Pretty does. Not. Miss. But when it comes to beauty? Well, some improvements could be made. Though Belly’s overall look is stunning, there was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it makeup sponge fail in Episode 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty that Elite Daily’s beauty team can’t stop talking about. Warning: Spoilers for Season 1 of The Summer I Turned Pretty follow.

After Belly (Lola Tung) arrives at the country club for debutante tea time feeling more than a little awkward and sporting a wicked shiner from the previous night — thanks to an accidental elbow to face, courtesy of Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) fight with the gas station shopkeeper — Shayla (Minnie Mills) kindly offers to fix her up. Reaching into her (very cute) clutch, Shayla pulls out a makeup sponge with Belly’s exact shade of foundation already on it and quickly dabs, blends, and buffs the makeup on Belly’s face.

In less than five seconds, just like magic, the bruise is gone, the makeup sponge disappears back into Shayla’s bag, and the two go back to a slightly uncomfortable afternoon in their fanciest fascinators. It’s a sweet enough moment if you completely ignore the mechanics of makeup sponges, liquid foundation, and makeup application in general. I, for one, find it shocking. I watched this moment repeatedly and am still not over this apparently willful failure to adhere to the laws of makeup physics and also the rules of the universe. Dear reader, this is not how any of this works and I have so many questions.

Do all debutantes carry makeup sponges already dabbed in foundation in their purses at all times just in case, or is this a habit specific to cool and collected Shayla? Is this the secret to her unflappable composure? Is it just a complete sticky mess inside her bag now? How is there not foundation smeared all over her gloves?

Also in question: the shade-matching magic. I know I’m supposed to be suspending my disbelief, but I cannot indulge in the absolute fantasy of just casually whipping out an exact foundation match — we’re talking undertones here, people — for another person you don’t even know that well. Kudos to the makeup department for having such a close match on hand because, dang, I wish my foundation looked that seamless.

One thing I am not questioning is Shayla’s truly expert-level foundation application. She had just the right amount of product on the makeup sponge, she evenly and gently applied it, and also took the time to blend and buff out the edges. The speed at which she pulled off this touch-up is also notable. It has taken me far longer to cover up far less discoloration on my own face and if Shayla started a YouTube channel, I would 100% like and subscribe.

So far, it seems like not too many people have noticed this makeup sponge travesty, which I totally get. Like I said, it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. At the same time, I really want to thank the lone eagle-eyed Twitter user who saw something and said something. Keep your eyes peeled, folks. There’s a lot of makeup propaganda out there.