Last Summer, I came up with the toner recipe. I ran out of the toner that I usually use and realized that it would probably be easy to just make my own. I keep a lot of the ingredients on hand, so it was just an easy experiment. I have read on different websites that people use apple cider vinegar or witch hazel when they want a natural toner. I have tried both of those and haven't been impressed. The scent of the apple cider vinegar turns me off. The witch hazel, by itself, isn't impressive. Witch hazel is a great ingredient for recipes with essential oils because it keeps the oils from separating. I thought about ingredients that are great for skin and aloe vera was at the top of my list. I chose the gel for this one because it is thicker and adds a velvety feel.
I used my old 4 oz toner bottle (no need to invest in a nice bottle for an experiment). I filled 1/2 of the bottle with aloe vera gel and the other half with witch hazel. The next step was to pick out oils. I happen to know which ones are great for skin. I chose 4 of the oils for my experiment:
Frankincense Essential Oil: known for supporting skin regeneration, which is great for wound healing and wrinkles as well as scars and stretch marks.
Geranium Essential Oil: often used topically to help with tissue regeneration, which aids with cuts and wounds. It also helps to balance oil for skin and scalp issues and can be used as a moisturizer.
Lavender Essential Oil: can be used to soothe and promote skin healing for sunburns, burns, scars, cuts, wounds, and blisters.
Melaleuca Essential Oil: known for being a great oil to support the body when dealing with cuts, wounds, skin conditions, and more.
Several months later, when my facial cleanser ran out, I felt confident that I could make a better one of these too. I knew exactly what ingredients I wanted to use.
For the cleanser, I used a foaming pump bottle. I added unscented castile soap, aloe vera liquid (the gel is nice, but clogs the pump), witch hazel (keeps it mixed), and vitamin E oil. I used the same oils, but added an additional one.
Cypress Essential Oil: this is good for promoting circulation.
At this point, I knew that I was happy with the recipes, so I decided to invest a little money into the bottles and even make labels, which I am sharing with you for free too. You can save them and upload them to Moo.com to have them printed with a professional vinyl coating. (check out all of the free labels on our blog here: Labels).
Here is how they turned out:
