What do you people use to apply the polish(for those doing it by hand)? As a noob, last year I used a foam applicator pad, just like a sponge but in a small pad size, used it once then I made a mistake, I washed it in warm water(well tried) let it dry then when I went to use it again(months later) you could see there must have been water still in the sponge because it was smearing the polish and just making a mess? Are they meant to be used once and binned?

Now I've got some of these microfibre blue pearl applicators, hopefully these will be better. But again, how would I go about cleaning it ready to use again, or is it best not to? Not easy getting polish out of it.