Review: Luke Charcoal Nose Cleansing Strips

Alrighty, guys. So, the fact that I’m reviewing this product probably seems a bit silly. Why? Well, one, because pore strips are pretty widely regarded as a poor idea (with regular use, they can actually stretch/enlarge your pores and cause broken capillaries). Two, because I don’t know of anyone who’s ever actually bought these. Jolse just seems to throw one in with every single order, which is why I ended up with a bunch of them. In fact, though, that’s why I decided to do this review: because I do use a pore strip every so often (maybe like twice a year?) and I wanted to know whether this was a freebie worth keeping, or if I should just throw them out and stop letting them take up space in my sample bag.

Product Description: Each packet contains a single nose strip, which has a sort of fabric-y texture on one side and is smooth on the other (the part you actually apply to your face). The idea is to get your nose wet (or mist the strip with water, if you happen to have a clean spray bottle lying around), place the strip on your nose, wait 15-20 minutes, and then peel it off. Ideally, the strip will pull gunk out of your pores as it’s removed. This one also contains some extra ingredients (aloe, green tea extract, licorice extract, etc) that I guess are supposed to condition your nose skin in the process.



Upon opening the packet, the first thing I noticed was that the strip was pretty small. Now, granted, most Korean women are going to have a much smaller nose than me (I’m mixed-race, half Middle Eastern, so my nose is sizeable). However, it wasn’t just narrow, it was short, to the point where I basically had to choose one half of my nose - top, or bottom - that I wanted to apply it on. Okay, whatever. I wet my nose down, and stuck the strip on there.

…except that it wouldn’t stick. Parts of it were goopy, others were totally dry. I guess it wasn’t wet enough, so I ended up applying more water to the back of it, kinda like a temporary tattoo. Eventually, I got it to more or less stay put. However, by then, the product on the inside had kinda been “activated” by the water…and oh, lordy, did it smell horrendous. A definite overwhelming dusty charcoal smell, but with something medicinal and nasty underneath (maybe that’s the licorice?). The overall effect was like Febreze had made an aerosol room spray called “Abandoned House Attic” and someone had zip-tied the trigger down on it and thrown it into the room with you. Still, I was determined to see this through at this point, so I left it on and decided to wait the recommended 10-20 minutes with the help of some conference papers I needed to read.

After 10 minutes, I was starting to get concerned because the strip wasn’t really drying down. After 20 minutes, only the edges were dry, and at this point I was desperate enough to try aiming my blow-dryer at my face (on the “cool” setting, don’t worry, I’m not that out of it) to try to speed the process along. Spoiler alert, that didn’t work either. By 30 minutes, the strip felt at least mostly dry and I couldn’t deal with the smell any longer and decided enough was enough.

My original intention was to post one of those gross-but-satisfying “hey, look at all the gunk this strip pulled out of my pores!” pictures for you guys. Alas, that was not to be…because it didn’t do a damn thing in that regard. In fact, if anything, I think it probably put more stuff into my pores. Why do I say that? Well, even on the edges, where it had been dry for over 10 minutes, the strip just left behind a few patches of sticky black residue on my face. On the bridge of my nose, I was left with a big stripe of black goop. Needless to say, I immediately redid my cleansing routine and admitted defeat.

Overall: I think it’s rather telling when the best thing I can say for a product is, “well, it didn’t give me an allergic reaction”. Seriously, guys, next time you get these in a Jolse haul…just throw them away. Or burn them. Or bury them. Whatever. I don’t know why anyone would subject themselves to that process, especially for such a total lack of results. If you’re like me and indulge in a guilty-pleasure pore strip once in a blue moon, there are so many better options. If my scale included a 0 review, that’s what I would give these abominations.



Review: 1/5

1: “I will never use this product again and intend to immediately throw it away or return it”

2: “I’m not a big fan of the product, but I’ll probably use it once in a while”



3: “I’ll use up what I have, but don’t plan to repurchase this product”

4: “I really like the product, and will keep using it unless I find a better replacement”

5: “I absolutely love this product, and will probably never look for a replacement unless it’s discontinued or the formula changes”