My New Favorite Natural Toner For Clear Skin

This gorgeous smelling natural toner is my latest creation, and boy is it a good one (if I do say so myself). I’ve been talking about toners a lot recently, especially in my how to make a DIY face toner.

So I thought I’d share my very best recipe with you. It’s a great toner for anyone with problem skin, particularly skin that is plagued by acne. But it’s great for pretty much anyone with oily skin, as well.

Acne, Eczema, and Burns, Begone!

As I’ve already said, this natural toner is great for acne-prone skin. While acne is often thought of as a teenager’s problem, many over the age of 21 suffer from ‘adult acne’. It can be debilitating, but this toner could help you out a lot!

The essential oils chosen for this formulation are perfect for fighting off the bacteria that cause acne, as well as helping to clear up existing pimples.

Have you ever had a pimple that seems to last for ages? They’re also pretty painful, too. The active botanicals, Aloe Vera and Allantoin, are both great for soothing and healing existing acne. But it can do more than just that. Facial eczema and burns are cleared up quite quickly by these ingredients, too.

This Natural Toner Reduces The Visibility of Pours

While toners don’t actually change the size of your pores, they do indeed make them less visible. How, you ask? By getting all of the gunk out, of course!.

Sometimes, especially during the summer months when pours expand at hotter temperatures, all manner of dirt, grime and makeup can get stuck inside these little craters. By removing this with a cleansing and toning routine, you say goodbye to blackheads forever!

And It Smells Gorgeous!

While the essential oils have been chosen to be super beneficial for anyone with acne, but they also smell amazing together!

The lavender and chamomile lend a floral, soothing fragrance to the formulation. And then just to sweeten things up a little, I’ve added sweet orange as well.

Together, the blend has a heavenly aroma that I just love. I might even use it in perfume, at some point!

Ingredients For My Natural Toner For Clear Skin

•  
• 53g Witch Hazel Hydrosol (alcohol-free)
• 30g Distilled Water
• 10g Aloe Vera Gel or Juice
• 4g Solubilizer (SymbioSolve)
• 1g Allantoin Powder
• 0.35g Lavender Essential Oil
• 0.35g Roman Chamomile Essential Oil
• 0.20g Sweet Orange Essential Oil
• 1g Preservative (Preservative Eco)

Notes

Hydrosol and Distilled Water

Some of you may be worried about the Witch Hazel, as predominantly this ingredient is suspended in some quantity of alcohol. However, if you can find pure Witch Hazel Hydrosol (or distillate as I’ve often found it called) it should be 100% alcohol-free.

Witch Hazel with alcohol is probably very unsuitable as a substitute in this case unless you have very oily skin. Toners, in general, tend to be quite drying on their own so adding an ingredient that contains alcohol could result in overly dry skin.

Distilled water is included here just to bulk out the toner a little. This could easily be replaced with more Witch Hazel, although you could get creative and select a different hydrosol of your choice. Keep in mind that many hydrosols are quite strong in fragrance and so you’d want one that blends well with the Witch Hazel and the essential oils.

Active Botanicals

The active botanicals we’re using in this toner, Aloe Vera gel, and Allantoin powder, have been selected for their wonderful healing properties. Anyone with acne will know how painful it can be sometimes. While there isn’t an awful lot you can do about a pimple that is already present, these active botanicals can help speed up the healing process a bit.

Substitutes for these are varied, but you’re looking for anything that lends a healing touch to your toner. Be sure that they are completely water-soluble, though. Glycerites, dissolvable powders are great options, although I strongly advise skipping any tinctures in this recipe as they contain alcohol. Do some research and see what you can find.

Aromacueticals

The mixture of essential oils has been chosen to fight off the preventable causes of pimples, as well as to promote blood flow to the skin and soothe soreness from any preexisting acne, spots, blemishes, and even burns. The sweet orange also adds a lovely sweet note to the fragrance, while also have wonderful properties to restore skin elasticity.

Functional Ingredients

Lastly, let’s talk about two of the most important functional ingredients in this natural toner recipe, the solubilizer, and the preservative. The solubilizer for this recipe is totally optional but definitely recommended. As you’ll know from high school science class, oil and water do not mix in the slightest. Because this recipe contains both water and oils, using a solubilizer lets us mix oil and water together so they remain in a constant state. It’s a bit like an emulsion, but not quite.

If using a solubilizer doesn’t interest you, you absolutely can leave it out. However, it would be very important to ensure you shake the product thoroughly before each use.

Now, what about the preservative? Yup, it’s definitely important to use one. Because we have both oil and water in this product, using a preservative is absolutely necessary. We’ve created the ideal breeding ground for bacteria, but the preservative will prevent any microbial growth. Without one, we could run into some nasty problems that could cause skin infections and even, in some cases, blindness. Be safe; always use a preservative for toners that contain both water and oil.

How To Make The Natural Face Toner

Step 1: In a glass beaker, weigh out your Witch Hazel hydrosol. Follow this up with your distilled water. You can use the same beaker by hitting the T button on your digital scales. It is good to do this with every ingredient you add when possible, just to save on equipment and clean up.

Step 2: Add your Aloe Vera gel and give it a good stir. You may wish to use a whisk if you’re using a gel over juice, as it can be quite thick and harder to fully disperse into your hydrosol and distilled water.

Step 4: Go ahead and add your allantoin powder. It is very important to add your allantoin powder after your aloe vera gel, as I’ve found if you do it the other way around the particles on allantoin powder will bind with the aloe and won’t fully disperse. It looks a little like chunks of expired milk.

Be sure to give the mixture a good stir or whisk so that the powder fully disperses into your hydrosol, distilled water and aloe vera.

Step 5: In a separate beaker (you may wish to use a small glass vessel, as opposed to a beaker) mix together your essential oils and your solubilizer. Mix this as thoroughly as possible.

Step 6: Now, we need to add the essential oil/solubilizer mixture to our hydrosols and active botanicals. To do this, you can simply spoon it into your beaker. However, solubilizers tend to be a little sticky, so if you have a bit left in the second beaker, pour in some of your hydrosol, mix thoroughly and pour it all back into your main beaker.

Be sure to thoroughly mix everything together so it is fully dispersed.

Step 7: Add your preservative to the beaker.

Step 8: Transfer to your chosen bottle. I find a spray bottle works quite well, especially if you plan to use it as a toning mist as well as an ordinary toner for a little mid-day pick me up.

Otherwise, standard glass or PET plastic bottles will work just fine. If the glass or plastic is clear, I would recommend keeping it out of direct sunlight.

Your natural toner should last around 6 months with a preservative.