Geek & Gorgeous Liquid Hydration Toner review

Are you sick of my toner reviews yet?! Here’s a good one though, from affordable indie brand Geek & Gorgeous. More in my Geek & Gorgeous Toner review!

Contents

The Brand Geek & Gorgeous Toner review: Description What it is Toners and me Ingredients Noteworthy ingredients Sustainability Application Texture Effect Comparison Geek & Gorgeous Toner review: Rating Availability & Price

The Brand

Ok, prepare to be impressed. Judit Rácz isn’t just the founder of skincare brand Geek & Gorgeous, but also the founder of Incidecoder, had the biggest beauty site in her country-of-origin Hungary, is the founder and CEO of Skinsmart, a skincare selling online vendor and was the CEO of Paula’s Choice Hungary. I mean, no biggie. G&G was founded in 2015.

Here’s what they say: ‘We create products with clinically proven actives in cosmetically elegant formulas that are fragrance (artificial or natural), colorant and drying alcohol-free. (…) Our philosophy is based more on maximizing what is good for the skin and minimizing everything else. Most of our products are Malassezia-safe and with only one exception, they are also vegan. We are 100% cruelty-free.’

Geek & Gorgeous Toner review: Description

A silky facial toner spray with 5% Panthenol + Natural Moisturising Factors (NMF) to hydrate and soothe all skin types.
Geek & Gorgeous

What it is

A watery toner in a spray bottle that’s supposed to hydrate and soothe.

Toners and me

Ugghhhhh, how much time do we have?! Let me show you all the toners I’ve reviewed here:

When I lived in Asia some years ago, toners, first essences and essences came into my life, and I fell in love.

A word on terminology: if it has a watery texture, is hydrating and comes without heavy-duty actives, for me, it’s a toner. In my book (lots have been written about it!) a toner is made to hydrate the skin after cleansing and prep the skin for the following routine: I like the sponge analogy (a dry sponge can’t absorb liquid as easily as a damp one.)

I LOVE toners for the refreshing feeling and the sensory stimulus. Also, I love their hydrating and soothing properties.

More: what’s a toner and do you need one?

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Panthenol, Peg/Ppg/Polybutylene Glycol-8/5/3 Glycerin, Sodium PCA, Diglycerin, Urea, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Sorbitol, Lysine, PCA, Allantoin, Lactic Acid, Tocopherol, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate
Geek & Gorgeous

Noteworthy ingredients

I LOVE Panthenol. LOVE. It is an awesome soothing ingredient that promotes wound-healing, so it’s great when you break out or have a (you guessed it) compromised skin-barrier. There’re also some amino acids, Hyaluronic Acid and other nice and soothing or hydrating things. While this toner doesn’t come with any fancy ingredients, it is solidly formulated.

Sustainability

Nope. Nada. As accomplished as the brand is, I find brands that just omit sustainability from their efforts a bit last century, no?

Application

I do appreciate the spray bottle, although I wish the mist would be finer. I use this after cleansing, mist my face generously, and then apply my serum of the day, moisturizer and/or sunscreen.

Texture

Well, while the copy stresses the ‘silky’ feel of the toner, I find that a bit farfetched. This is a watery toner, and when I pat it into my skin, it feels nice and refreshing, but far from ‘silky’. I’d associate a thicker formula with that term.

Effect

It hydrates and refreshes my skin, but I haven’t seen any particular effects from this one. My skin is redness-prone, especially from manual influences – it’ll be red when I (gently!) dry it after cleansing. Maaaaaaaybe that redness dissipates quicker? I haven’t seen any long-term benefits yet, and don’t think that I’ll find any. It’s a toner. It does toner-y things, and that’s completely fine with me.

Comparison

The little whale is very cute, isn’t it?

Is it better than drugstore brand balea’s Hydration Toner that’s half of the price and comes in a simple bottle? While it has a bit more panthenol, no, not really. I guess the higher price comes from the fancier bottle, too.

It’s also similar to Isntree’s Hyaluronic Acid Toner, although that one has more Hyaluronic Acid. I don’t find those niceties make a true difference – they’re all affordable, watery, hydrating toners. Pick your poison.

Geek & Gorgeous Toner review: Rating

I honestly don’t know if I’d buy this again. It’s double the price of balea’s toner, and the spray bottle can’t convince me to shell out 4€ more for that pleasure. I don’t see a difference in their performance. Perfectly nice, and definitely more accessible when you’re outside of the European countries balea is available.