DIY Aloe Toner/Face-Mist

Oh I love myself a good, nice face-mist - no matter what season! In winter, when my skin is drier and I like to squeeze a hydrating layer in between my skin-care-steps, in summer, when I just like the cool, refreshing feeling of a face-spritz during the day!

I started to make my own face-mists two years ago and back then I simply put some high-quality rosewater (nothing added) in an empty spritz-bottle. I loved it, but felt that it didn't actually do a lot for me (except the wonderful smell). So I umped it up a bit with adding glycerin to the equation and badawhoom it worked. But when my skin got into winter-patchy-dryness-mode, I was looking for an even more moisturizing toner and started to make my own aloe-vera-glycerin-toner! To be fair: this is not one of those antioxidant filled-superstars pumped with a thousand skin-problem targeting ingredients (don't get me wrong, they can be very beneficial), but rather a no-fuzz, easy to use on every day, occasion, skin-care-condition toner. As I pointed out in my SOS-skincare post, I like to keep the ingredient list short, simple and a 100% non irritating and this toner is just that. When I want to fight skin-aging, dark spots, acne,... I have my targeted treatments fitted to MY needs and can use them as often as I need and can tolerate and choose them based on the current status of my skin. I don't believe in shooting all possible issues in EVERY step of your routine, every day (a very american approach if you ask me) and like to have a few products where I don't have to think about over-exfoliation or if I can use this product with that one or how much science went into this and can rather use and benefit from them every day!

So how can you make your own one? There is nothing easier than that!

You need:

• 100% natural (and ideally organic) pure Aloe Vera Juice (not the gel obviously, but made from it). Aloe Vera has great anti-irritant and wound-healing properties. You can get this in most wholefood/organic supermarkets, I got mine at a drug-store (for those germans and austrians: DM sells it)!
• Glycerin (mine is plant-derived) is a humectant (=attracts water and binds it). You can get it in pharmacies, I got mine at a local cosmetics-supply-store, some might get it at their chemist or even drugstore, depending on where you live.
• a bottle to mix it in (ideally with a spritz-head) really any small bottle! 

How to mix it:

Pour the aloe-juice into the bottle (almost full) and add A LITTLE glycerin (5 to max. 10%). If you add more, it will be causing you problems and can make dryness even worse. Add less in the beginning and see how you are doing, you can add a little more, if you feel you need it, but be aware, that glycerin leaves a sticky residue on your skin and the more glycerin you add, the stickier your business gets! You don't have to be too strict about how much you add, but just don't add too much. Don't make batches too big, as a little goes a long way and you can mix it freshly every few weeks.

An example: if your bottle can hold 50 ml you can add between half a teaspoon to max. 1 teaspoon full of glycerin.

How to use it:

Shake it, put it on a cotton pad and swipe it all over your face, or mist it directly onto your face. The smell is really unsexy, but it is gone, after a few seconds!

When your skin is dry/normal/combination and you don't live in a rainforest you HAVE TO follow up with a light moisturizer as you need an occlusive (=your moisturizer) to stop water-loss, or your dry skin might get even drier, so just be aware of that!

What I like to do: use the Aloe-toner on a pad all over my face after cleansing and if my skin feels like it needs it, add it inbetween the other steps (after exfoliation,...) by just spraying it all over my face. I always finish my routine (get my full skin-care routine here) with a moisturizer.

A little extra-tip for summer time which is approaching thankfully:

• store the toner in your fridge to have a refreshing toner (not ice-cold, people) in the super hot summer time 
• take the little spritz-bottle with you, when you are out and about and spray it on your face and décolletage, or even arms/legs/whatever you can reach to refresh yourself and your skin!  Since this is very affordable you can go crazy with it!!
• This is great to use on a sunburn (which of course you shouldn't get in the first place, but hey, happens to every one who doesn't live in a cave or takes off their pullover, 'cause the sun is SO soothing after a long winter and can surprise you and you feel like a little flower that finally gets some love and you are not a crazy person who brings their sunscreen everywhere, everyday)

Ok, guys, this is it for today! Please leave me your comments on how you liked it, or questions below, instagram or tweet me pictures of your aloe-toner #beautyfoxlove, stay tuned for upcoming posts, have fun, enjoy, thanks for sharing & spreading the love and most importantly: be happy, love yourself, love your skin!

N.