When I look through my makeup stash, to my horror, I have nothing from Loreal! The one and only Loreal makeup item was the Panoramic mascara which I’ve thrown out for like god-knows-how-long.

I hated Loreal Pure Zone Toner. I don’t remember the exact name, because after using it, my face is sticky and oily, and after applying my moisturizer on it, it’s even worse! The oil control is purely crap!

The only stuff I have from Loreal is their Loreal Elseve Hair Mask and Loreal Hydrafresh Aqua Essence, which I will be reviewing soon.

I’ve always felt that other than Loreal’s range of haircare stuff, it’s cosmetics and skincare has failed me terribly, until I use the Loreal Hydrafresh Aqua Essence and Instant Freshness Toning Water.

So back to this post. Yes, this is a post on skincare again, unfortunately, because I’m an idiot for skincare and stuff. I strictly believe that no makeup will be able to salvage the most horrible skin and turn it into porcelain-like skin without heaping a pile of foundation and concealer and who-knows-what onto the face.

Therefore, skincare is always a top priority. Cosmetics are fun, but I hate the idea of piling stuff on the face to conceal things that you can actually avoid having on your face in the first place.

Loreal Hydrafresh Instant Freshness Toning Water

Another splendid drugstore item I would say. The price is slightly higher than Nivea’s Refreshing Toner, but that’s not the major issue here.

You see, I don’t really bother much with whitening stuff anymore as I think my skintone can only be this fair, and I have to accept it. I’ll never get porcelain-like skin like the Japanese or Koreans, because I have freckles, due to family genes and of course, my parents aren’t very fair to boot either, especially my dad. I can’t do much about skintones, but I definitely can prevent my skin from drying out or getting premature wrinkles in such a young age!

Therefore, I prefer skincare that’s moisturizing, yet light enough for my skin to absorb without turning it super oily. I used to think creams are better than gels or lotion, but then as I grew older, for combination-oily skin like me, creams are just too heavy, and instead of providing me adequate moisture, my skin is clogged and can’t breathe!

And I used to skip toner. Because it leaves a sticky film on my face and when I slab on moisturizer, my skin is so oily that I can fry an egg with it! But because my perception was changed because Nivea’s Refreshing Toner, I decided to try this out, since it says it rebalances the skin, which I assume it rebalances the skin’s sebum secretion and moisture level.

And I was not disappointed. Not even one bit.

It’s light, it’s fresh and leaves a nice feeling on the skin. You know it moisturizes your skin, but yet it doesn’t leaves a sticky film on your face, and preps the skin just nice for my next layer of moisturizer. I noticed the moisturizer goes on better on the skin with toner than without toner.

Oh, I do notice one thing, when my skin is extremely dry, if I put this on, my face stings a little. But if my face isn’t dry and is in it’s best condition, there’s no stinging feeling at all. I wonder why… But I suppose it’s a good measurement to know how my skin is doing, albeit the slight discomfort.

It’s definitely in my repurchase list. What’s there not to like?