This works great as a hydrating toner, and I hate it. Huh? More about it below in the Paula’s Choice Purely Natural Toner review.
What is it
“This antioxidant-rich toner with 98% natural ingredients replenishes and restores skin for a healthy glow.”
Paula’s Choice
Toner – what?
A short recap, for reasons soon to be clear: A-Beauty toners are supposed to hydrate, while Western toners are supposed to clean and regulate your skin’s pH (more here). Paula’s Choice here claims that this toner does both. Let me add to this: please invest in a good, working cleanser, because no, this doesn’t cleanse your skin.
Natural – what?
Paula Begoun is VERY verbal about that she’s against both fragrance and denatured alcohol in skincare products, while both are usually abundant in so-called ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ formulations. (Please note that both terms aren’t regulated whatsoever. Every Dick, Tom and Harry can call their products organic or natural.) When customers began to demand products that used different preservatives, because the standard ones weren’t deemed safe in popular opinion anymore, Paula’s Choice formulated a line-up of products called Earth Sourced that were supposed to be ‘98% natural’.
Ingredients
Note: This one has been reformulated recently. The US site still shows the ‘old’ ingredients.
The first three ingredients in the inci-list are water, glycerin and Leucostonoc, which is Radish Root Ferment Filtrate. It’s a preservative, and the main one in this toner. It’s supposed to be used in amounts between 2% and 4%. And here’s my main beef with this toner: to make it ‘natural’, you have to up the amount of a ‘natural’ preservative. You’ll end up with a product that’s mainly water, glycerin and preservative, and I feel slightly duped by that. Sure, the formula makes that up by adding a truly impressive mix of antioxidants into the mix, and let’s not forget that the percentage of an ingredient doesn’t tell us how effective it is. I still resent it in a – totally unreasonable – fashion.
Application
This is viscous enough that you can pour a bit into your palms and then press the liquid into your skin gently. No need to waste anything by applying it with a cotton pad. It has its own smell – very faint, and vaguely earthy. The milky liquid sinks in quickly.
Here’s what happened to me when I first used it: after application, I was rather surprised, because my skin felt rather tight. Could this ‘natural’, ‘organic’ toner dry out my skin?! Still, I couldn’t explain it: so many humectants, so many emollient oils – what could be the reason?! In the end, I realised that the culprit must be some kind of film former that was the reason that my skin felt tight.
(Remember those strange ‘immediately looking younger effect’ face masks that somehow form a film to tighten your skin? Something along those lines.) I suspect Xanthan Gum, which is on fourth position on the inci list and usually responsible for viscosity control.
Effect
Surprise: I used my skin analyser and realised the Purely Natural Toner gave me rather exceptional hydration levels:
In the morning before cleansing, my median hydration levels were around 39,5% (hydration) and 26,4% (oil), which is perfectly fine. I then applied the toner and waited for about half an hour until I measured again: my hydration levels were 50,4% with 21,6% of oil. (More on how the skin analyser works, plus and explainer of the numbers here.) But: those levels are excellent when it comes to hydration.
Long-term effects, like the ‘youthful glow’ advertised due to the AOX-rich formula, are rather hard to measure. I didn’t see any effects.
Worth it?
Ah well. After all the toners I’ve tried and reviewed in 2020 and at the beginning of this year, I’ve realised that toners are the step in my skincare routine that I want to have fun with. Sure, it has to be hydrating – that’s mandatory. And it has to be a nice skin feel.
But then, I want to play around with those buzzy skincare ingredients: prebiotic stuff, cica, propolis, snail… What I don’t want is a bucket full of AOX and then be told it’ll soothe my skin and make it glow, two terms that mean virtually NOTHING, because every skincare routine that works for your skin will do that. So there you have it: a product that simultaneously works and I can’t wait to empty and finally get rid off.
More toner reviews
Paula’s Choice Calm Soothing Toner
cosrx full fit propolis synergy toner
Good Molecules Niacinamide Brightening Toner
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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