I was always skeptical of toner. I thought- "What does it actually do?" I was convinced it was just another one of those useless things that corporations came up with to sell more products and make more money. But as part of my collaboration with Belmondo, I received some of their toner, and now I'm a total convert. So why do I like it?
#1 It's refreshing- especially when straight out of the refrigerator, and especially in the summer months!
#2 It can bring an extra somethin' somethin' to a dull complexion by minimizing pores and smoothing things out.
#3 If you use the right ingredients for your skin type, it can help with problems like dryness, excess oil, or acne.
After thinking about all this, I was really excited to tinker with a few recipes of my own!
All those herbs made my kitchen smell wonderful!
I decided to incorporate mostly herbal bases, because I've been using them for years, and believe in the medicinal healing properties of the ones that I used-
chamomile, mint, and rosemary. Taking these herbs internally has always been wonderfully beneficial for me, so I was interested to see how they wold work topically.
Also as always, I love these recipes because you can use things that you might already have at home-
MATERIALS NEEDED
+ Fresh Mint
+ Fresh Rosemary
+ Chamomile
+ Cucumber
+ Grapefruit
+ Witch Hazel-
I used Thayer's
+ 6 tea cups for brewing/ mixing
+ 1 teapot
+ 1 strainer
+ Three small bottles or jars (1-3 oz.)
like these
PREP WORK
+ Boil about a half cup of water per toner solution (so if you're making three toners like I did, then you need 1 1/2 cups.) Put two heaping teaspoons of herbs in each cup.
+ When the water boils, divide it evenly over each set of herbs... kind of like you're making tea!
+ You want the solution to be as strong as possible, so let everything steep until cooled.
+ When cool, use a strainer to strain the solution into a new cup.
+ Squeeze the juice from one grapefruit.
+ Juice (or dice into strips) one cucumber.
*Note- you can use tea balls if you don't have a strainer. However, with tea balls there will usually be loose little herb bits floating around. Nothing wrong with that... if you're using a spray bottle, it might clog it up.
Rosemary Witch Hazel Toner
+ Add 1 Tsp of witch hazel to your rosemary solution.
The witch hazel has a strong smell, and some people prefer just the rosemary alone, so you can omit it. However, it is the classic toner ingredient, and a lot of people use it straight on their skin. If you have oily skin, you can add more, and if your skin is dry, add less.
Chamomile Cucumber Toner
+ Add 1 Tbs of cucumber juice to your chamomile solution.
+ If you don't have a juicer, you can always just dice up some strips and stick them in to infuse overnight! I tried this, and found that it made the toner look a bit like pickles. Haha! If this is cool with you, go for it!
This is a soothing toner for sensitive skin- the chamomile is an anti-inflammatory, and the cucumber reduces puffiness.
Peppermint Grapefruit Toner
+ Add 1 Tbs Grapefruit juice to your peppermint solution.
Aside from being two invigorating scents, both of these ingredients are good astringents, and will help with acne problems.
These can be store in refrigerator, for up to a week (I usually do longer ;) Plus, the cold spritz makes all the difference in the world!
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