All-Natural D.I.Y Rosewater Morning Facial Toner

I definitely feel like the why I made my own toner is far more important than the how. As you’re about to see, the how was actually insanely easy, and not at all the point of my journey to this now essential part of my morning skincare routine. Read on to learn more about why you should keep toner in your beauty arsenal, why you should specifically be using roses, and why you should make your own products before you look to buy things you don’t need. Or, Pin now and read later!

I have always been pretty good at my night-time skincare routine, but I tend to neglect my skin in the morning, hoping that a splash of water in the shower is good enough. I of course subconsciously have known that it is not good enough, but it took me until now to finally do something about it!

I wanted to use some different products than I use in my before-bed ritual for the sake of saving time in the morning, but also because a lot my existing products are specifically meant for night. They can be quite heavy or include lavender, a relaxing oil. Using these in the morning would be the equivalent of drinking sleepy-time tea for breakfast!

In my search for energizing, morning skincare products, I came across rose oil. Rose essential oil is known for its youthful, confidence-boosting properties as well as its soothing, oil-controlling, hydrating physical benefits. Sounds perfect, right? But wait, it gets better! Roses are anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, meaning they both prevent and reduce the appearance of acne and other skin ailments. I knew I had to incorporate roses into my morning skincare routine!

A little bit of digging later, and I found out that it is actually quite common to use roses in toners. If you aren’t familiar with facial toners, they are liquid solutions that remove oil and traces of dirt and grime on your skin. After cleansing, you can spray the toner directly on to your face or on to a cotton pad to then dab on your skin, paying extra attention to the infamously oily and acne-prone T-zone. Toner shrinks pores, helps maintain your skin’s pH balance, and adds an extra layer of protection to your skin. With the right ingredients, toner can also reduce the red appearance of acne trouble spots. Basically, toner is magic.

I use an apple cider vinegar and lavender based toner at night, and I was ready to commit to a rose based toner in the morning once I found the perfect product.

You should know that product shopping takes a long time for me. It happens a lot that I’ll find a company that will fit one of my standards but fall short in another department. But I have an extreme moral dilemma in saying something is “good enough”— it’s worth it to me to hold out for a company that does it all right. I’m not interested in owning a product that is natural and wasn’t tested on animals if it was made in a dangerous factory where human beings were treated like slaves. Ya know?

This issue on top of the fact that I recently spent a bunch of money on a few really good skincare products lead me to think that maybe I should just hold off on the new toner. Then I remembered the “buyerarchy of needs”, a diagram made by Sarah of SarahL.com, and realized that I wasn’t acting very sustainably by searching to buy a product at all.

Duh, Radiance. You should be D.I.Y-ing this shit!

And the recipe hunt began.

Turns out rose essential oil is super expensive, and I do not really have a need for an entire bottle, so that option was out. I began looking into methods for making my own rose oil, and I found the magic secret: rosewater. And, it’s incredibly crazy easy to make. There are literally only two ingredients: roses and H2O. And if you have a stove and a pot, you can make it at home. Does it get any more pure than that??

It still was weeks before I decided to try my hand at making the toner. I wasn’t too fond on going out and buying flowers for myself, but lucky me, on our anniversary earlier this month my boyfriend surprised me with a bouquet of white roses. Score.

When they started to wilt and die this week, I was excited to give them new life in my skincare routine. It felt awesome not to have to just throw them away (don’t you just love when you knock out two conscious living birds with one stone?)! Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… below is the simple recipe for my all-natural D.I.Y morning toner:

What you’ll need:

• Roses of any color, ideally organically sourced so as not to be treated with any pesticides

• Your choice of water (some people like to use distilled water when it comes to their face. I, however, find tap water not to be an issue, as we use it on our face and body in the shower anyways).

• A pot

• A lid cover

• Mason jar

• Small spray bottle

Putting it all together:

• De-petal your roses and place them in your pot. I used a dozen roses, which yielded me about half a mason-jar of pure rose water.

• Add your choice of water to the pot. You’ll want to use enough water to cover the rose petals, but just barely (as not to dilute them).

• Cover the pot and let the rosewater simmer on medium to low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the petals lose color. Take care not to let the water boil excessively— be gentle with your concoction!

• Once the petals have noticeably lost color, turn off the heat and let them sit for a few minutes. Put a strainer over a large bowl, and dump the contents of your pot into the strainer. All the roses will be caught, and your pure rosewater will make it through and into your bowl.

• Transfer the pure rosewater into the mason jar. Since I used white roses, mine came out a naturally gorgeous yellow!

• You will NOT want to use this water directly onto your face. It is much too potent! In your spray bottle, combine 1 tbs of pure rosewater for every 4 tbs of your choice of water.

• If you choose, you can then add any skin-loving essential oils, such as frankincense, tea tree, ylang ylang, lemongrass, or geranium!

Voila!

I will be testing multiple recipes on my search for my perfect skincare routine, but this simple recipe was a great place to start. Subscribe to my email list to stay updated!

#beauty #diy #ethicalfashion