So I’ve been fortunate enough to have been selected by Jolse to review a toner!
God I do love toners, toners are life, they’ve been such skin savers for me, so I was really excited about trying this out.
Anyone interested in purchasing, you can find it here (opens up new window)
Ingredients
This product really boasts its ingredients - it’s a zero water toner with a relatively short ingredients list:
Seawater, Methylpropanediol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Trehalose, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Aloe Vera Leaf Extract, Betaine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Allantoin, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol
This toner is 90% deep sea water that adjusts the pH balance of the skin and the formula is mild and soothing. Also contains other ingredients like my fav centella asiatica, and aloe vera leaf extract to add to the calming and soothing nature of this toner.
I’ve not looked too deep into what sea water brings to the skin that much, but it looks like it helps with retaining the moisture in the skin and helps with skin issues like acne.
Texture
I wish I took a better picture of the texture…
Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve used such a thin toner - if you’ve been following for a while you’ll know that my favs have always been the thicker ones from Whamisa and even the Tiam B5 toner. This one is back to what majority of toners are like, watery, but the water base is different from many toners on the market.
Because the texture is so thin, i find that on occasions when my skin is more dehyrdated, I need more than 3 layers of it in the morning, but it can also be easily absorbed.
I’ll be honest, my skin prefers thicker toners I’ve used before compared to this toner. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad toner - it does everything a toner needs to do and is great for people with sensitive skin as it’s fragrance free as well. It’s got the calming element, but I do wonder how much the other extracts are working in this toner.
Efficacy
So I think I’ve delved a little of how I found this toner in the last section.
Unfortunately I don’t think I’ve tested this enough to really see what the slightly longer term results are. This is my AM toner to put the hydration back into my skin and ready for sunscreen and makeup. My sunscreen are pretty good moisturisers as well and really helps keep my makeup from slipping.
Can I say that this toner has improved how well my skin takes makeup? Not exactly. Does it work? Yes it goes. As well as I want it to? Maybe not.
I’m really on the fence with this one because I know that I’m being a little unfair on it.
My skin is dehydrated, it likes fermented skincare, it’s occasionally sensitive, and I get hormonal acne. I live in a more polluted area and commute on trains where the air is…not great. The climate is also drier here and we are still in cooler months.
I can definitely see this being a great toner for the summer and especially for places where it’s more humid because it’s less burden than thicker toners on the skin. It really does make the 7-skin method easier to complete as it gets easily absorbed.
However, if you have dry skin or very dehydrated skin, this might be a little too thin for you and I would probably go with something with bit more richness in it, or other extracts to really hydrate your skin, then paired with a good moisturiser.
Toner on its own I find hard to retain moisture, so although it’s been said this helps to retain the moisture/hydration in your skin, I would definitely not skip moisturiser (who does anyway?)
This is meant to be low pH (pH 5.8) which helps strengthen the skin barrier and protects against free-radicals. Because it’s not actually LOW pH, it’s only slightly acidic, I can layer this on my skin without worrying too much - there is no AHA or BHA in this so absolutely no problem to layer!
This toner is also a behemoth size of a toner - which is great if you want value for your money. It also means you can do a lot more with it, like soaking cotton pads in this toner and use on face like a mask. Or even just use those lil pills that expand into a mask when you soak it in water. This would essentially be a good base for a mask and would be something I’d be interested in trying (adding other serums to mix my own cocktail!).
There are plenty of anti-inflammatory ingredients within this toner, so if you are prone to acne that isn’t cystic, then this would be a good entry toner to use because it’s lightweight and calming.
I’d be interested to see what this product would be like in hotter months, but for now it’s not at the top of my re-purchase list only because of my own preferences, not because this product was a bad one.