Review: Dr. Brandt Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner Blackhead Extractor

I have to admit, the thought of running a vacuum cleaner over my pores has crossed my mind a time or two.  Or four.  The chances are, if your skin becomes as easily congested as mine does– you have too!  If it could be that easy, I wouldn’t have to employ a small island nation’s worth of skincare products to keep my skin in check.  I can deal with a few raised pimples here and there, but blackheads drive me absolutely INSANE.  I can’t look at my nose too closely in the mirror for very long or I’ll be writing my posts from an insane asylum.  I wonder if they have free wi-fi?  I’m sure you won’t be surprised then when I tell you I scooped up a sample of Dr. Brandt Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner Blackhead Extractor with a Sephora order last week– with a name like that, who wouldn’t?

Let’s talk good stuff first.  I like the texture of the product, it’s in a silica base and it glides on the skin the way most foundation primers do.  I just like the sensation of that, call me weird!  Now this is just a theory, but my educated guess makes me think the reason it’s in a silica base is to enable the ingredients to stay suspended over the affected area and do their thing.  Shortly after, it developed a cooling sensation where I had placed it on my nose, chin, and forehead.  After a few minutes, what was once white had turned light blue.  I just had this vision of Violet Beauregarde, “Violet, you’re turning violet, Violet!” If you knew the amount of cracking myself up that goes on around here… like I said– I wonder if they have free wi-fi?  After 10 minutes, I rinsed it off and here’s what I thought:

I noticed an immediate visible lessening of blackheads on my nose, no joke.  My pores were not invisible by any stretch of the imagination, and it didn’t remove all of my blackheads.  I wasn’t really expecting it to erase them entirely, let’s just be realistic here!  But honestly, the difference was indeed noticeable.  Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner does have a decent amount of alcohol in it, with both glycolic and salicylic acids.  It’s pretty drying as a result and made my skin feel super tight after rinsing.  I suppose that’s what gives the appearance of smaller pores, it’s not going to actually shrink the dimension of the pore for all of eternity unless you want to walk around feeling that dry and tight all the time, no thanks!  But a lot of gunk purged itself from my skin, and believe me– I’m thankful for that!  The directions state that it can be used 2-3 times a week as needed, but due to my experience I’d personally use it two times a week, max.  In my opinion, I’d rather use this a few times a month than stand in my mirror with a blackhead extractor.  Which I don’t recommend doing, by the way!  All of that squeezing and pressing on the skin is so damaging, and Vacuum Cleaner is the lesser of the evils for me.  Now here’s where it gets a little tricky– it’s $45 for an ounce.  OUCH.  Believe it or not, I’ll probably still purchase it, especially since I have my 20% off  Sephora V.I.B. Holiday Shopping Event promo code ready to go and I’ve done worse things when it comes to spending money on products.  That takes it down to $36, which I can live with!  I’ll take it from there if I see a cumulative benefit and assess  just how far an ounce goes.  I’ll only be using it on small areas anyway, I don’t think this was meant to slather all over your face like a mask.  It’s definitely a “less is more” kind of thing.

I’ve seen a mixed bag of reviews on this, and they seem to be either “It didn’t work at all”, or “It worked extremely well”.  I can say for me personally, I did see enough of a benefit after a single use to warrant a purchase.  Keep your fingers crossed!