Having a toner in your skincare routine is a complicated answer. But a toner helps to hydrate the skin and eliminate any traces of makeup that has been left over after washing your face. In my teens and early to mid twenties, I didn’t use a toner because of my oily skin, I had more than enough hydration. But when I started using a toner with glycolic acid, I used it every evening and I found I got great results from adding a toner to my skincare routine. Now in my late thirties, I use a toner pretty much the day and night so I can get the extra boost of moisture, especially in the winter. In the summer time when my skin is more oily, I only use at night. That is my toner story.
So, again do you need a toner in your routine? It’s honestly up to you. But if your skin is more on the combination to oily type, you may not need one unless you want it to treat something like acne or keeping the skin matte. For normal to drier skin, you may want to add a toner just so you can have the necessary moisture your skin needs. But keep in mind that as you age, your skin will need different things like my skin story in the last paragraph, I never touched a toner and now I can’t live without one. So listen to your skin and what it tells you.
It has been a much milder winter this year, so I went for a toner that helps to balance out my skin and help to just lightly hydrate my skin. And since I’m going the k-beauty route, I chose a toner from a very popular skincare company and here is my review for it.
Innisfree balancing toner with green tea
So this toner comes in a 200 ml bottle, the cost of it is $25.00. It is specifically for combination to oily skin to help balance out the oils and help keep it matte. It has a gel like consistency but absorbs very quickly into skin. There it is no parabens, no alcohol but it does have a fragrance that is not overwhelming.
The specific green tea they use comes from Korea’s Jeju island that is rich in 16 hydrating amino acids and the way they get the ingredient from the tea leaves is pretty specific. According to the Innisfree website, the leaves are plucked and steamed for 30 seconds to keep nutrients and the nutrients are stabilized and double squeezed in order to reap all benefits of this tea. And other ingredients include polymers too give it a gel look like consistency, preservatives to keep it safe to use and fatty acids to give you a boost of light hydration.
This toner is definitely really good for my combination skin and I would definitely recommend it. The gel like texture didn’t feel heavy at all and sunk into my skin very quickly. The scent in this toner is not that strong and is pretty subtle. It kind of smells like green tea. I use it twice a day when usually I would use a toner once a day but it is so light that I don’t have to worry about it leaving my skin feeling greasy or have that heavy feeling.
My only issue with this toner is that the actual active ingredient is literally the last ingredient on the list. Now, I don’t know if the green tea extract is a very active ingredient and you don’t need a lot but I also don’t think you need to put it as a last ingredient in the product and then advertise that it’s a green tea balancing toner. Other than that, it is a very light and hydrating toner that is great for oily and combination skin. I would definitely recommend this toner for anyone who is looking to just balancing their skin.
Thank you for being patient with me as I’ve had quite a bit of a journey and it’s been a rough one. I hope to be more consistent with my blogging now that I have taken some time off. See you soon on my next post.