DIY Pore Strips

Biore pore strips are pretty neato. Because who doesn't love to see all that nasty shizz you just yanked out of your pores? I know I do! I never get the little black peaks, though. I don't have much of an issue with black heads. I'll have some white peaks, though.

(Oh my god. Really? That's disgusting. BTW, not my face. Photo courtesy of Scooter and Jinx. )

Biore pore strips will run you around $8 for a pack of 14 strips. Alternatively you can mix a couple common household products and slap that on your face for the same effect. True story.

Inspired by Michelle Phan/Rice Bunny, I decided to make my own pore strips. It's not really so much of a strip. It's more like a mask.

Ingredients:

Okay, so I used Knox flavorless gelatin. You can get a box with four packets at Walmart for around $1.50 (at least that was the price here). Then I got a small thing of milk. We don't drink a lot of milk. I also picked up a Walmart brand duo foundation/concealer brush for around $2.50, since I think I tossed out my e.l.f. one a while back when the ferrule disconnected from the handle.

(Photo from Bargain Basics)

Preparation: mix one ounce flavorless gelatin and one ounce milk. Heat for, like, 15 seconds? in the microwave (watch the video. That will give you the deets.) Use a foundation brush that you don't care so much about and brush that mixture onto your face -- once it has cooled some. Not too much. Or else it will solidify.

I prepared the mixture. It was goopy and smelled funny. Kind what you would expect from flavorless jello and milk. Gross.

(It should look like this before you microwave. Photo from skincare.about.com)

Application:

I brushed it onto all of the typical pore strip areas: around my nose, on my chin, and on my forehead. It was pretty warm, but not painfully hot. It began to dry quite quickly and it felt just like I had a thick layer of a peel of mask on my face.

Results:

After waiting for it to dry completely, I started with my chin and pulled that off. So much fun. I don't know about you, but I lurve pull of masks! I could see a few white peaks. And I could definitely feel the lack of sebum. Nice.

Next, I continued onto my forehead, and finally, my nose.

Caveat:

Now, Michelle claims that this will not be painful, since it's natural and not a synthetic glue. Because I tear up when I pull Biore pore strips off the tip of my nose. The sides of the nostrils, I'm fine, but once I get close to the tip. Oooooh, it stings. Yeah. A bit.

This was no different. It felt just like a pore strip (same is true for the rest of my face, but it never is painful for me to pull pore strips off my chin). I don't even know why I coated the tip of my nose. I have no issues there!

Also, I ended up throwing away a ton. It doesn't keep -- it will congeal. One packet of Knox will have enough for your entire dorm hall to do DIY pore strips.

(Or your extended family. Whatevs. Photo from Beepifer.)

Total cost: $5.48+tax

Result: Enough pore-declogger for my entire graduating class.

Bottom line: If you like pore strips or peel-off masks, totally recommend trying this. You will get the most bang for your buck if you do it with friends, or if you only use 1/2 a packet of Knox at a time (scale down the recipe to 1/2 tbsp of milk and 1/2 packet of Knox.) This can really be a a money saver and it truly works.

And then afterwards, make yourself some strawberry milk. Yumz.

P.S. Michelle isn't being terribly original. Here is a blog post from 2009 explaining how to do the same thing. And she wasn't original: she links back to who she found it from. What Michelle has that the Bargain Huntress has not, however, is power in the form of a huge captive audience.