Skincare Review | Cosrx ~ AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

Hello beauties! Today I'm gonna share with you about my experience with Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. If you have used this product too, do share with me your opinion about it and did your skin love it?

I bought this product after knowing that our skin pH need to be lowered first before applying any chemical exfoliant. There are two options given, either use a low pH cleanser at first to clean our skin or just use pH adjusting toner directly after cleansing our skin. As I did not know the pH of my cleanser, and actually I did not even felt bothered to know hahahaha, so I decided to just buy and include this pH adjusting toner in my skincare routine, Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner.

Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner.

Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner is described as a mild and efficient toner with pH approximately 4.00~5.00 to create clear, smooth and supple skin. But still, I would like to refer this toner as a chemical exfoliant so that you will not get confuse. **okay it is actually me who is always getting confuse 😂**

📍 Packaging:

It comes in a transparent plastic bottle with black spraying nozzle.

📍 Capacity:

Its capacity per bottle is 150ml. Now, this product has been upgraded into new packaging with 280ml capacity, quite large!

📍 Texture:

It has a clear watery texture, just like water.

📍 Scent:

I find it is unscented!

📍 Application:

It is absorbed fast into my skin. Post application, it is very very very lightweight on my skin, I do not feel anything on skin, my skin even feels refresh, a bit hydrated and soft.

Packaging.

Texture.

📍 Claim:

• Daily and mild exfoliation toner

- Contains 0.1% of AHA and BHA, this gentle exfoliating toner gets rid of built-up dead surface skin cells and leave you with smoother skin.

- Care your blackheads and whiteheads daily and gently before they gets bigger and worse.

- It's mild enough to be used everyday routine.

• Last step of cleansing & prep stage for next skincare

- Toner which creates a clean base as a extension of cleansing step and restores ideal pH of skin for any skincare products that follows.

- This toner can be used to prep for the skin care, to create smoother surface for makeup and low pH maker for the next skin care step so that the following products can be absorbed easily and effectively.

• Watery texture with fresh finish

- This lightweight, watery type toner with exfoliating ingredients and hydrating ingredients reveals newer, fresher-looking skin but also leaves toned, fresh and clean feeling.

📍 Key message:

• Clearing
• Hydrating
• Low pH 
• Refreshing
• Softening
• Smoothing
• Hypoallergenic
• Dermatologist tested
• Cruelty  free
• Parabens  free
• Sulfates  free
• Phthalates  free
• Alcohol  free
• Artificial fragrance free
• Vegan

Packaging.

📍 Highlighted ingredient:

• Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Water 10% 

- Clearing pores & Get better skin texture

• Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Water 10% 

- Evening skin tone and texture

• Glycolic Acid (AHA) 0.1% 

- Refining skin texture

• Betaine Salicylate (BHA) 0.1% 

- Remove dead skin cells & Clear clogged pores

List of ingredient.

📍 How to use:

1. After cleansing, soak the cotton pad with the toner and gently wipe onto face, avoiding the eye and mouth area. **but laziness has made me to just spray the toner directly onto my skin, but hey it gives a spray, why bother to use cotton pad? hahaha**
2. You can use the toner as a "Toner Mask." Soak 2 - 3 cotton pads into the toner, and then stick them on desired area. **do you think I do this?😂**
3. For daytime use, follow with a broad-spectrum sunscreen rated SPF 30 or greater. **of course, even greater!**

📍 Tip:

1. It is suggested to use COSRX's chemical exfoliators with a cotton pad for maximum results. Gently wipe your face with the cotton pad.
2. The use of both physical and chemical exfoliation will create maximum effect on the skin. **but be careful, do not over exfoliate!**

📌 Review of Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

I must say that I am too lazy to use cotton pad for application of any watery product onto my skin 😂 but I do not think it will affect the result of the product applied. The choice is ours, whether we want to use cotton pad or not, as long as our skin is cleansed very well before applying next skincare or makeup products.

About this product, as the concentration for both AHA and BHA are 0.1%, I really didn’t expect beyond. I had tried this product alone at first before using it with other chemical exfoliants. So here are the results when using it alone:

• Clearing pores and get better skin texture - Very mild on my skin
• Evening skin tone and texture - No effect on my skin
• Refining skin texture - No effect on my skin
• Remove dead skin cells and clear clogged pores - Not really on my skin
• Cares blackheads and whiteheads - I do not suffer from these hehehe

But I have not disappointed as they have already claimed that this product is mild in exfoliating the skin, that is why it can be used everyday, not like other chemical exfoliant. For me, this product is not too efficient but it is really safe especially for those who are starting to introduce chemical exfoliant in their skincare routine because it will not leave the skin a feel tight and causing over exfoliation.

One thing that come across my mind is, as long as I know, both willow bark water and betaine salicylate are good soothing ingredients for inflamed skin. But, this product actually gives a little bit in which very bearable tingling sensation along with a little bit redness on acne wounds. But do not afraid, I just tell you here so you can be careful when using this for the first time. It is nothing bad for me, I even did not experience any break out when using this toner.

It is good to say that I aim this toner just as last step of cleansing and prep stage for next skin cares. On the other words, to restore the ideal pH of skin before going for my my actives or pH dependent products so the products can be more efficient on my skin. When buying this toner, I have already bought and introduced chemical exfoliant products to my skin in order to treat tiny bumps and acne. Therefore, to make those two products be more efficient, I need this toner to lower pH level of my skin first before applying them. And yes it works better than before!

How it works? In order for the actives to pass through the oily stratum corneum and get deeper into the skin, it need to be in uncharged form / free acid form, not in dissociated / ionized form. To get free acid form, pH level need to be in low as the lower the pH level, the more free acid form be there then absorption rate will be high so as the efficiency. Hope you get it!

📌 Pros:

👍 Can be bought with price starting from RM35, I think it price is affordable .

👍 Plastic bottle packaging, do not easily broken down when hitting hard objects.

👍 Transparent bottle, can be seen directly if it is going to run out.

👍 Nozzle spray for easier and quicker application especially those who are lazy *not me hahaha.

👍 Fast absorption.

👍 Lightweight post application.

👍 Skin feels refreshed, a bit hydrated and soft.

👍 Unscented.

👍 Helps to restore the ideal pH of skin.

👍 Helps for high absorption and high work efficiency of other products applied later.

👍 Very mild, low possibility for over exfoliation if used daily.

📌 Cons:

👎 Not efficient to be used alone as an exfoliant. Only good as a pH adjusting toner.

👎 Gives a little bit stinging sensation on acne wounds.

📌 Interested? Check it out here:

🍁 Cosrx Website

That's all for today. 

Thank you for reading my review! 💗

💐 Review of Cosrx AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner on Instagram - Gimme 💗