Per My Good Friend Teri, "WTF is an Essence?"

Sometimes I forget that you guys aren't psychotic about skincare like I am. Good thing we're bff's so I can do all of this research for you.

So, after my blog post about SPF, Teri reached out to me and asked, "Ok WTF is an essence?! Is it like a toner?" So I figured if she doesn't know, she's probably not the only one.

So. Toner is specifically made to use after you cleanse your face. You put some on a cotton round and swipe it over your face after you pat your skin dry. It does two things:

1. Restores the ph balance of your skin which if thrown off, could make your skin either really dry or really oily.

2. Removes remaining traces of dirt and oil that cleansing didn't get rid of.

Even though toners and essences look and feel the same, they couldn't be more different. Application is different; your pour into your hand and pat into your skin. It's benefits are also really different:

1. Because skin tends to tighten up after you wash your face (you know that feeling...you're afraid to smile because your skin feels like it's gonna crack) adding an essence essentially loosens your skin after washing to allow the other skincare you use to really get into your skin and be as effective as possible.

2. Has anti-aging, brightening and hydrating properties, similar to a serum.

Because I have dry skin, I don't actually use a toner. I don't need a step that could potentially dry my skin out even more. So unless you have super oily, acne-prone skin, you can probably skip the toner.

But girl, use an essence even if you have oily skin. Here are some ones I've tried that I've loved.

The OG of essences, SKII:

However, what I use instead of Miss Pricey AF up there is this 👇🏼

(I've used both and saw no difference between either, except SKII is about 70 bucks more. Because of that, I'm on my 5th bottle of the Missha Time Revolution.)

Because I don't have a ton of experience with toners, all I know is:

1. Stay tf away from the ones with any alcohol in their ingredients even if you have the oiliest of skin

2. Witch Hazel is pretty good as a toner

However, if you are really oily and think you should use a toner, click here

Anyone have any experience with toner that can comment below to help my non-dry skinned friends out?!

(amazon link is an affiliate link)