So you’ve cleansed your face and you feel clean as new. What’s next?
Toning should be a crucial step in everyone’s skincare routine because it smoothens the transaction between cleansing and moisturising. Cleansing is all about getting rid of the bad stuff, the second part of your routine should focus on replenishing your skin with all the good stuff.
If you’re only familiar with the western market, then you’re probably mistaking a toner with a chemical exfoliators. How do you differentiate them? If your “toner” is alcohol-based or has a pungent smell, it’s probably a chemical exfoliator. If it’s an odourless, slightly-watery consistency, that’s a toner (or what the Koreans call “skin”)!
How are the two different? You may already know that an exfoliator helps remove dead skin cells, right? So you often associate an exfoliator with a scrub. Now, that’s called a mechanical exfoliator — the ones that have micro-beads or organic beads (eg: St. Ives) in them. Chemical exfoliators share the same function as the latter, but uses acid and enzymes to dissolve the glue-like lipid that holds together dead skin cells. That is why, when you use chemical exfoliators, you often see dark, dirt-like residue on your cotton pads. Exfoliators are very important to make sure you get every last bit of gunk from your pores to prepare your skin for all the other skincare goodness to come.
However, as good as exfoliators are — you can imagine how badly effected your pH levels would become after so much acidity on your skin. A toner is just the right thing to fix that problem. I know this is all very new information for many of you reading, so I’ll make this simple for you. You’ve got two sponges, one’s dry and the other is moist. Try pouring serums, moisturisers and sunscreen on it – which sponge do you think will absorb the products better and faster? Mhm, the moist one. Similar to your skin, you have to prep it from within before piling up the heavier skincare.
So how to use an exfoliator and a toner? You can use a cotton pads for both. Do take note that when using an exfoliator, you’d want to make swift strokes from the bottom of your face upwards (your tiny facial hair grows downwards, so you’d want to go the opposite direction of the growth to get every single pore).
With a toner, you can either use a cotton pad and tap it into your skin. Alternatively, and this is the step I personally use, you can just use your fingers and tap the product into your skin gently. The key word here is: tap the product in. Do not scrub it into your face aggressively because that’s just going to make the product slip and slide.
The kings and queens of skincare, the Koreans, created this trend not too long ago called the The Seven Skin Step. What that is is applying layers of toner 7 times! Seems a bit much, right? But that’s what they apparently do to achieve their glowing, moisturised complexion.
Here are some of my recommendations based on experience, and some that best-sellers in the market right now:
Exfoliators
(The Ordinary Toning Solution – RM80, Thayers Witch Hazel – RM54, Clinique Daily Exfoliator – RM99, Mario Bodescu Glycolic Acid Toner – RM124)
Toners
(Pyunkang Yul – RM69, Klairs Supple Toner – RM63.50, Innisfree Green Tea – RM62, Son & Park Beauty Water – RM130.50)
The Beautip 