I've tried the nose packs from Ilso and liked them and was curious to give this a try. It felt like this was the bigger, bottle version of the nose pack and all I'd have to do is to supply the cotton pads and cotton swabs myself. I think the trick is to leave the cotton pads on the nose wet for a long time to give the softener enough time to do its thing to really loosen up the sebum. I left my nose soaking (?) for about 20 minutes and it seemed to work well. Convenience-wise, I prefer the ease of using the stick on and peel off nose packs, but the benefit to this one is that I can use it on other areas of the face so I guess it's worth it to invest a little extra time.
I didn't expect this to do much, but it actually cleared the pores on my nose. Its not going to get me that flawless look, but that's not natural anyways. I have oily skin and large pores so it can get rather noticeable.This stuff is unique. You instructs you open your pores with warm water so I just use it after a shower. You will need cotton pads! You soak the product onto cotton pads and essentially using it as a mask. Place the soaked pad onto the areas you want it to work on so for me I did my nose. You leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Afterwards you can a blackhead scraper or cotton swabs to squeeze out gunk. Then rinse your face. I did immediately notice my pores looking so much more smaller but it was essentially a mask so my skin is most likely plump from the hydration. But this look did stay the next day! The second day my pores did go back to normal but it does look less noticeable.This product is pretty gentle and doesn't feel or smell harsh. I really have no complaints! I definitely would recommend it but as I mention before you do need cotton pads and something to scrape gunk out. The bottle is a moderately decent size. This may not be the quickest or easiest way but its gentle. I think it would be better for your skin and pores than nose strips or blackhead vacuums.