Etude House Wonder Pore Freshener Review

The Etude House Wonder Pore Freshener is a simple toner meant to work miracles. Okay, not really, but it does claim to do plenty of good for your skin.

It claims to:

Deep clean pores

Control sebum

Maintain the ideal pH balance (4.5 ± 1)

Tighten pores

Brighten skin tone 

Prevent enlargement of pores

Prevent skin troubles

It's also six free, so it doesn't include: parabens, mineral oil, artificial fragrance, artificial pigments, talc and animal ingredients.

I have the 250 ml bottle, which has the regular flip cap. I you buy the 500 ml, it has a push button dispenser on the top.

I bought this last winter, but to be honest, I've never used it regularly. It was always my wake up in the morning and I don't wanna splash my face with water cleansing routine (ie. I'd use it maybe every second or third day). Eventually, I stopped that as well, and just used a hydrating gel toner right after waking up.

Since it's summer and my skin has been getting increasingly oily, I've decided to use this twice a day, everyday like I would with a hydrating toner. One of the reasons for this is because of it's oil controlling properties, and the second is because I've started to realize how important it is to maintain the pH balance of the skin. Our skin works best in a slightly acidic environment, and many claim that a pH of 4.5 is the best for our skin, so that it's not overly oily, and not overly dry. And, as you can see, Etude House claims this toner will keep your skin's pH at that perfect level.

Even though I've only been using it for a week, I've definitely noticed an improvement in my skin, mainly around my nose where I'm very prone to blackheads. While this doesn't get rid of deep blackheads or anything (I just bought the Skin Miso system from Wishtrend to try out in a week or two), I've noticed a significant reduction in blackheads around my upper nose bridge (I don't normally have them there during the winter, but I was noticing little dark dots coming up in the last month). I also noticed that it reduced the amount of blackheads around my cupid's bow area. I normally have a really stubborn one around my lip, and this has drawn it out and just made it disappear completely. Finally, when I do squeeze the blackheads out, I've always noticed that they'll appear again in a day or two. Apply this after squeezing... and there are no blackhead reoccurrences! You have no idea how happy this makes me, and it is a reason alone to try this out!

As my pores are already enlarged due to blackheads, I can't say anything about it's tightening abilities. However, I do think it works to tighten and clean the pore out very well after having extracted blackheads, so if your pores are enlarged due to daily oil build up, I think this would work amazing for you.

Finally, this claims to help prevent blemishes from forming. I am very blemish prone due due to being a girl and having fluctuating hormones (as you can see, I tend to disappear for a week or two as I break out so bad my boss asks if I need to see one of the surgeons we work with). I haven't used it long enough yet to see those effects, and I'll update if I notice anything dramatic. Given it's effectiveness against blackheads, I think if you used this long term, you would see a difference in the amount of blemishes you get, or perhaps how quickly they'll heal. If I notice a difference, I'll make sure to update.

Finally, I noticed that when this first came out while I was in Korea, it was promoted as being able to kill a nasty little parasite call demodex, which may cause acne and itchiness.

Pros:

Works extremely well on my smaller blackheads

Works to close the pores after cleansing and extracting blackheads

Cheap

Cons:

Doesn't work to tighten pores which are enlarged by blockages such as blackheads

Will need to buy it online unless you live in Asia

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