The Regimen

How to Speed Your Skin Metabolism With a Toner

Woman touching her face with cotton pad

You’ve already got a cleanser, a serum, and a moisturizer with SPF. Do you really need a toner as well? Yes, you do. In fact, a toner is indispensable. It’s step two in your essential four-step regimen. A toner supercharges your regimen and speeds up results. Once you understand how the ideal toner is formulated, what it does, and which ingredients are best for your skin type, you’ll see why regimen step two—your toner—is unskippable.


Why you can't skip a toner

Makes your pores appear smaller. We all love that.


Removes the last traces of dirt, oil, and residue from cleansers or water. Yes, there are minerals in your water that can remain on your skin.


Removes dead skin cells to keep pores from getting clogged.


Regulates pH balance to keep the skin barrier healthy.


A well-formulated toner will have nourishing and antioxidant ingredients to protect the skin from stress and damage.


The big bonus of a toner is that in clearing away cellular and environmental debris, it paves the way for your corrective serums to be better absorbed into your skin, so you get the maximum benefit of your products.


What is a toner?

Let’s start with what a toner is not. It is not the astringent, drying, and stripping agent that you used to pick up at the drugstore when you were fifteen. In the days when toners were mainly designed as a way to remove oil from the skin, they ended up being a bit more like paint thinner, stripping away moisture and healthy lipids along with sebum. Today’s toners balance hydrating and nourishing properties along with astringency in formulas that address all skin types, not just oily or acneic skin.


Which toner is right for your skin?

If you have sensitive or rosacea-affected skin:

An ultra-nourishing, ultra-refining, ultra-soothing swipe of antioxidant bliss loaded with cell-renewing ingredients including mandelic acid to target acne, aging and discoloration; botanical elements to clear and calm; and rosehip oil to moisturize and protect against environmental stressors and signs of aging.

Key ingredients: Clinical Mandelic Acid, Niacinamide, rosehip oil, green tea extract, kiwi fruit extract, honey, white grape pomace extract, zinc ferment/saccharomyces extract, witch hazel

If you have normal or dull skin:

The perfect blend of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and astringent properties to improve any skin type or tone. Glycolic and lactic acids encourage exfoliation and cell renewal. Witch hazel protects, refines, and rejuvenates. A gentle, balancing toner to refresh, renew and refine.

Key ingredients: glycolic acid, lactic acid, witch hazel, urea

If you have oily or combination skin:

A glycolic and lactic-acid based formula that revives dullskin, minimizes pores and fine lines, boosts hydration and promotes clear, radiant tone and texture.

Key ingredients: glycolic acid, witch hazel, lactic acid, salicylic acid.

If you have acne-prone, unevenly pigmented, discolored skin:

Quick, clarifying repair and rejuvenation in simple, single-use pads. The nourishing and refining blend of anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory ingredients encourages cell renewal, fights signs of aging, promotes healing and brightens skin. Toss them in your gym bag or your travel carry-on for all-in-one skin prep and repair.

Key ingredients: Clinical Mandelic Acid, niacinamide, zinc peptides, lactic acid, salicylic acid, glycine

Naturally brightening, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory mandelic acid, plus healing and refining witch hazel supercharge this advanced formula for targeting acne, aging, and hyperpigmentation.

Key ingredients: Clinical Mandelic Acid and witch hazel


If you have dry, combination, dull, unevenly pigmented or aging skin:

Improve skin tone and texture with micro-exfoliating, hydrating, and nourishing ingredients that promote cell renewal, help fade excess pigment, brighten dull skin, and reduce fine lines.

Key ingredients: mandelic acid, witch hazel, lactic acid, fructose, urea, sodium pca

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