Gimmick or Gold: Hyalmide’s Pore Delete…

My pores are constantly conspiring against me. It can often seem that way, for sure. I’ve dealt with breakouts, I can cope with dry patches; but something that forever haunts me is my pores. I’ve read repeatedly that once your pores are enlarged they’re irreversible- I refuse to accept that. I’ve tried my fair share of serums and treatments- and while they help, nothing can quite erase them. So I turned to countless pore minimizing primers and nothing works for me. It’s honestly my biggest struggle beauty wise. Having so many pores leaves my cheeks constantly looking so textured and bumpy-looking. It’s god awful. When a product came along called “Pore Delete” I was definitely intrigued. When I realized it was under the same umbrella company that The Ordinary is under- I was sold. I decided to wait for a special offer on ASOS and I scooped it right up.

The product was obviously giving off very gimmicky vibes. It claims to be a next-generation prismatic liquid for immediate visible blurring of pores, shine and textural irregularities—a real-life mimetic of how a photograph is blurred in photo-retouching software applications. So let’s see if this really deleted my pores….

I was instantly confused by this. The directions on the bottle said to pat it into your skin after foundation and before powder. I didn’t know how to feel about patting something onto my foundation- I can’t even get away with using liquid highlighters without my foundation separating. The alternative was to wear it alone on clean skin, and we all know I need my foundation.

So despite every single instinct of mine, I began to pat it onto my foundation. This was easily the most uncomfortable sensation I’ve ever experienced while doing my makeup. It felt super sticky and tacky and I felt like as I was bouncing it on I was moving my foundation around. It never dried to a matte/smooth finish, it just stayed tacky while I moved onto my eye makeup. I was definitely already put off. When it came to putting concealer on, I was done. I began to blend in my concealer and there was a clear patch where it would not apply. There was a line across my cheek of where the Pore Delete had been applied and where my concealer was. It was visibly disgusting, and it felt it too.

Now, I have never been one to remove my makeup mid-process, no matter how much I dislike a product. I kid you not, I had somewhere to be and I still had to take the time to remove and start over. I still haven’t been able to give it another try.  The experience was so traumatizing.

If you’re wondering whether despite the sensation it did help with my pores- the answer is no. it didn’t even mattify, and my pores were possibly more visible because of the strange texture on my skin. I’m confused because when swatched it applied beautifully. It completely dried down matte and that patch of skin on my hand was visibly blurred.

Hopefully if my skin is in a better place I’ll try this out on clean skin and see what it does- or maybe one day I’ll experiment and see if it’s possible to wear it under foundation. But it’ll take a while for me to talk myself into giving it another try…

Let me know what pore minimizing primer you swear by!