Hydrating Toners

After experiencing five days of extraordinary heat in London I thought it was necessary to share with you one of my summer skin essentials: the hydrating toner. All of these have multiple purposes: They can be used after cleansing to hydrate and purify the skin, to help set makeup or for a top up in the afternoon to help 'revive' the skin. 

The Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic contains naturally active, botanical ingredients including a pure source of Vitamin E. These help to revitalise and refresh the skin. I find this 30ml bottle so handy to keep in my bag, ready for those vital 3pm spraying sessions. 

As you know from previous posts, the Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Mist is not only a luxurious item but one that I could rave about for hours. The first time I tested this product I had never experienced so many compliments about my skin! It looked noticeably healthy: glowing and dewy, just what I like. The only annoying thing about this product is the price. I am nearly on my last few sprays and I'm not sure if a toner is worth £46 (I know, I hang my head, and purse, in shame!).  Nevertheless, it does probably have the most instant results of the trio.

La Roche Posay Serozinc, however, is the most refreshing of them all, mainly due to its spritzing power. If you're on a budget then I would put my hands up and tell you that this is the one! Whilst it is 'targeted' for oily and blemish prone skin I would advise to ignore this. I would not put my own skin under this category but it has still helped my skin. This product is especially great if you're a city girl as it kills bacteria. 

Another tip, leave these in these fridge and you will have an extra cooling experience!

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Toners

One thing I have't talked about in a while  is skincare. But this post on acid toners has been waiting a while to pop up. When we see the word acid we perhaps get a little scared, of course why would we want to put acid on our face?! However, the % of acid in these toners is relatively low and therefore safe enough to cause some impressive results on our skin.

The whole process of acid based toners was introduced to my by the goddess of skincare Caroline Hirons. She believes that toner should be the second step in our routine; it should balance the ph levels of your skin after cleansing, exfoliate, hydrate and, most important, help for the next steps of your routine (serum and moisturise) to penetrate more thoroughly.

Now before I learnt this information my every other day routine would be a gritty exfoliator. What I then learnt from Hirons is that this can help to spread infection if we have a spot and does not restore the ph level on our skin. Acid toners are applied on a cotton wool pad and then just smooth them over my face and neck. 

Since introducing this step I can honestly say that I've seen improvements in my skin like no other. My skin now doesn't experience crazy blemishes, it feels smoother and almost more radiant. The two toners I switch between are the Clarins Gentle Exfoliater Brightening toner and the Pixi Glow Tonic. Now I feel almost embarrassed to admit that I can't really detect anything different between these two products apart from the smell. If I was 'suffering' a period of bad skin however, I would perhaps be more inclined to use the Clarins one as, from experience, this has always helped to clear my skin. I tend to put these toners in my nightie routine, as suggested by Hirons, and I only use them about 3 times a week. 

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