Belif
Aqua Bomb Mist, $34 at Belif
Though this mist’s main purpose in life is to refresh your complexion throughout the day, it’s also designed to help balance your pH — which means you can use it as a toner. The mist is fine and adds a subtle glow to your complexion while giving your hydration levels a boost.
Whamisa
Organic Flowers Deep Rich Essence Toner, $40 at Glow Recipe
Lee name-checked this popular toner as a 7-skin method favorite and it’s easy to see why: With a slightly viscous texture and a delicate floral aroma, it’s quite the treat for the senses. Plus, it absorbs right away, plumping up your skin without leaving any residual stickiness.
Fresh
Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner, $44 at Sephora
This gentle hydrating toner adds an extra cleansing step to your routine while also moisturizing (thanks to ingredients like rose flower oil, glycerin and hyaluronic acid). And though not exactly picturesque, the floating rose petals add a luxurious touch.
Leegeehaam
Grow Hyal B5 Toner, $30 at Glow Recipe
With a crystal clear appearance and a near-scentless formula, this toner is almost like water — and just as refreshing. It has a light gel texture and a convenient pump, and thanks to humectants like hyaluronic acid and vitamin B5, it really helps add a little extra bounce to your complexion. Botanical ingredients like centella asiatica extract also ensure that it’s soothing and calming.
AmorePacific
Vintage Single Extract Essence, $145 at Sephora
Though pricey, we can’t help but love this TotalBeauty Award-winning toner. Just a few drops applied directly to the skin after cleansing make a world of difference, thanks to the soothing and brightening vintage tea leaf extract. A touch of glycerin also adds a bit of lightweight humectant moisture to the experience.
Whamisa by Glow Studio
Green Tea Serum Toner, $22 at Glow Recipe
With a watery gel texture and a formula packed with skin-loving ingredients like green tea and broccoli extracts as well as vitamins A and C, this hydrating toner is perfect for soothing and brightening skin.
Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins
Mega-Mushroom Soothing Treatment Lotion, $34 at Sephora
Formulated with botanicals (including the adaptogenic reishi mushroom), this toner has a calming, herbal scent. It’s instantly soothing and helps to lock in a little extra moisture after cleansing your face.
Sulwhasoo
Essential Balancing Water EX, $58 at Sulwhasoo
This Sulwhasoo pick absorbs quickly, adding a shot of hydration to skin (without leaving behind a tacky residue). It also happens to have a calming effect, so it’s great for if you’re experiencing a breakout or any other kind of inflammation.
Algenist
Hydrating Essence Toner, $25 at Sephora
This soothing formula features Algenist’s star ingredient, alguronic acid, along with witch hazel and chamomile. It’s supremely refreshing and leaves skin feeling oh-so soft.
Amarte
Aqua Mist Toner, $67 at Dermstore
This convenient spray toner can be used both as a post-cleansing step and as a hydrating spritz throughout the day. It’s packed with humectants like glycerin and hyaluronic acid and a nice mix of botanicals as well, including clarifying witch hazel, soothing prickly pear extract and calming chamomile flower extract.
Klairs
Supple Preparation Facial Toner, $22 at Soko Glam
With a pH level of 5, this toner is perfect for prepping your skin for the rest of your skin care routine, while also cleansing and hydrating. It’s a Korean skin care superstar on Reddit where many fans consider it an HG pick.
PCA
Skin Hydrating Toner, $40 at Dermstore
Just a few swipes of this hydrating toner is all you need for a gorgeously glowy complexion. Thanks to some exfoliating AHAs and antioxidant-paced botanical extracts, it’ll whip your complexion into shape in no time (albeit in a gentle, sensitive skin-safe fashion). Seriously, it’s one of the best toners in town.
Murad
Hydrating Toner, $30 at Sephora
This soothing toner is perfect for adding an extra spritz of hydration to your daily skin care routine. It helps to balance pH and also happens to have a deliciously refreshing citrus scent.
Jullai
Super 12 Bounce Essence Oil Toner, $37 at Glow Recipe
With a bouncy gel texture that soaks into skin, this toner handily doubles as a nourishing serum. It boasts an antioxidant-rich formula that’s packed with hydrating oils. It’s one of those indulgences your skin will thank you for.
Kopari
Rose Toner, $24 at Sephora
Here’s another multi-tasker: It’s a 1-2-3 punch of moisturizing ingredients like coconut and hyaluronic acid, clarifying ingredients like witch hazel and anti-inflammatories like rose extract — plus, it also doubles as a moisturizing mist.
Toner has long gotten a bad rap as an unnecessary step that leaves skin parched and overstripped — but that’s far from the case these days. Now, it’s all about hydrating toners that actually add moisture to the skin while balancing the complexion.
They’re especially popular in Asian countries such as Korea and Japan. And as Christine Chang, co-CEO and co-founder of Korean skin care destination Glow Recipe, explains, hydrating toners (often referred to “softeners”) typically make up “the first leave-on step of hydration after cleansing.” In terms of function, she notes that they’re quite different than the traditional American concept of face toner — they’re not typically used to cleanse (what with the advent of double-cleansing) and are “instead used to infuse the skin quickly and efficiently with liquid hydration, plumping it up for the next skin care steps to be effectively absorbed.”
So, what’s the best way to add toners to your routine? Well, they’re perfect for giving the buzzy 7-skin method a try. “Our favorite way to incorporate a hydrating toner is actually by practicing the 7-skin method, a method we had heard about from our editor friends and beauty gurus in Korea,” says fellow Glow Recipe co-CEO and co-founder Sarah Lee. “It’s where you put on a layer of hydrating toner 7 consecutive times.”
7 layers sound like overkill? “You can also adapt this method for days you don’t need as much hydration and alternate by using a 3-skin method, layering just three layers,” adds Lee.
No matter how you choose to wear them, we’re full-on toner converts now — and we can’t imagine our skin care routine without them. Keep reading for 15 of our faves, from K-beauty and Western brands alike.
[ Next: 7 Drugstore Face Masks Dermatologists Actually Use ]
This article originally appeared on TotalBeauty.com
The post It’s Time to Add Hydrating Toners to Your Skin Care Routine, Here’s Why appeared first on theFashionSpot.