The Amorepacific Treatment Toner caught my eye because of the fancy ingredients. I’m not a huge moisturizing toner person, and usually go for acid toners. However, this was my first Amorepacific purchase and it had pretty good reviews so I thought I would splurge on this $50.00 toner.
My skin type
Oily, acne scarring on cheeks and chin.
What it’s supposed to do
From Amorepacific’s website:
Red Ginseng Root stimulates the skin’s metabolism to energize and revitalize the skin (I was not aware that skin had a metabolism π²)
Calms and soothes, reducing redness and irritation (I don’t have the redness issue, but helpful in calming irritation. I used this when I burned myself with The Ordinary’s Alpha Lipoic Acid)
Provides antioxidant protection (I could always use more of this)
The toner is also supposed to prepare and prime your skin for penetration of skincare products following the toner. No clue about the mechanism here.
Ingredients
So before I purchased the toner, I had a look at the ingredients (foolishly on the Nordstrom website and not the AmorePacific website), which was the deciding factor in purchasing:
Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Phyllostachis Bambusoides Juice, Butylene Glycol, Water, Peg/Ppg-17/6 Copolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Pinus Densiflora Root Extract, Tricholoma Matsutake Extract, Gentiana Lutea Root Extract, Artemisia Absinthium Extract, Achillea Millefolium Extract, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Gypsophila Paniculata Root Extract, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Hydrolyzed Ginseng Saponins, Theanine, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Propylene Glycol, Peg-5 Rapeseed Sterol, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Red 33 (Ci 17200), Yellow 6 (Ci 15985).
However, when I received my toner, the damn ingredients were different, and in different order! I was pretty mad about this but decided to keep it anyway. I feel like it went from many exotic extracts to just a few of them. Here are the actual ingredients listed on the box:
Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Butylene Glycol, Water, Peg/Ppg-17/6 Copolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Pinus Sylvestris Bark Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Opuntia Coccinellifera Fruit Extract, Theanine, Phyllostachis, Bambusoides Juice, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Glycerin, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Peg-5 Rapeseed Sterol, Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Disodium Edta, 1,2-Hexanediol, Ethylhexylglycerin,Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Red 33 (Ci 17200), Yellow 6 (Ci 15985).
How I use it
I use this toner with my Muji cotton puffs. I apply a pretty liberal amount on the puff and pat it gently into my skin. If my face doesn’t feel saturated enough, I repeat with another cotton pad.
How long I used it
I purchased and have been using this toner since the end of January 2017.
What I like about it
This is definitely a luxury product. I really love the packaging and it’s the best part about the product. The sleek and smooth packaging with touches of reflective silver on the top and bottom of the somewhat heavy, cylindrical, glass container is a very nice touch. I suspect that is part of the reason it is so expensive.
Also, as I mentioned above, when I got an acid burn from The Ordinary’s Alpha Lipoic Acid, and among other acids, I used this to give my skin a moisture boost and help heal that burn. I do think that this toner helped with the healing and peeling process, especially since I was using 3-4 layers of it.
What could be better
Everybody’s worth-it-meter is different, I understand that. Would I repurchase this? Nah. It’s just too pricey.
That said, I have had it for nearly six months and it’s not halfway gone. I don’t find the fluid particularly special; I was mostly interested in this toner because of the first and second ingredients, Panax Ginseng Root Extract and Phyllostachis Bambusoides Juice, and that water was third. Unfortunately, the bottle I received pushes the Bambusoides Juice much further down the list and curiously omits the Phyllostachis bit of it. I didn’t know what either of those ingredients were at the time, but I wanted them on my face.
The smell is very perfumey and was incredibly off-putting when I first started using it. In fact, I shied away from using this toner for a while because of the smell. I’ve never been consistent with it, which is likely why it has lasted me so long. That said, the smell has grown on me and it’s not so overpowering as I once felt it was.
Joy Factor
On a scale of 1-10, this toner is a 6. I reach for it purely because I have moved it to my vanity and because of the packaging. The packaging is what brings me joy, here.
Where to indulge
Amorepacific | Bloomingdale’s | Nordstrom | Sephora
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