Radiant skin always turns heads, but achieving that coveted glow can feel like a challenge. The secret lies in selecting the right ingredients, using them with care, and incorporating them into your daily routine. A good toner is your skin’s best friend on this journey. It helps balance pH of the skin, maintain hydration, soak up moisturisers, and keeps irritation, redness, and oiliness at bay.
According to Dr Garima Tyagi, a dermatologist at SENS Clinic, a well-formulated toner works as a skin-prepping step to improve the skin’s overall performance. “By lightly hydrating the skin and tightening the appearance of pores, toners help create a smoother, more refined surface that reflects light better, resulting in a natural glow. Modern toners infused with botanical extracts, antioxidants or barrier-supporting ingredients also help calm stressed skin and protect it from environmental aggressors. When used consistently, a toner supports better skin balance and resilience, which is essential for long-term radiance rather than temporary brightness.”
eugene barmin
Homemade toners have an advantage as they use natural ingredients to provide the healthy, glowing benefits. However, certain precautions need to be taken before making them. “While DIY toners are gaining popularity, the biggest mistake people make is assuming that ‘natural’ ingredients are always safe, which is not necessarily true. Improper dilution, poor storage or mixing incompatible ingredients can disrupt the skin barrier and lead to irritation or breakouts. Homemade toners should be simple, skin-type specific and used within a short time frame. Consulting a dermatologist before experimenting, especially for sensitive or acne-prone skin, can help prevent unwanted reactions and ensure skin safety,” suggests Dr Tyagi.
Here are five homemade toners for achieving a glowing complexion. Store the toners in a dry spray bottle and keep them in a cool place.
Rose Water + Aloe Vera: Rose water in itself is a great skin toner. It helps hydrate the skin, clean pores, lowers redness, fights acne bacteria, and provides a glow. Aloe Vera, too, hydrates your skin, lowers redness and dark spots, and provides firmness to the skin. Mix both and apply on skin for instant glow and pH balance.
Rice Water + Witch Hazel: Rice water is known to hydrate the skin, lower irritation, dullness and unevenness, fight ageing, and add glow. Witch hazel has a natural astringent property. It also reduces inflammation and ageing. A toner with rice water and witch hazel brightens and hydrates the skin, controls oil, minimises pores, and balances pH levels. To make this toner at home, take half cup of rice water and add a teaspoon of alcohol-free witch hazel.
Green Tea + Honey: With its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, green tea reduces skin damage, fight signs of ageing, promotes cell renewal, and lowers redness. It also has antibacterial properties that helps treat acne. It can even skin tone while brightening and hydrating it. Honey has natural properties to keep skin moisturised, lower skin damage, and antibacterial properties to fight acne. It aids in hydrating and brightening the skin. To make a toner, take a generous amount of honey and mix with cooled, brewed green tea.
Aloe Vera + Cucumber: As mentioned earlier, aloe vera helps maintain the skin’s natural glow. Hydrating cucumber helps reduce redness, tighten pores, remove dullness or puffiness, and smooth out any unevenness. Combine two tablespoons of cucumber juice with two tablespoons of aloe vera juice, add a small amount of water, and blend well before use.
Basil: Basil helps reduce the appearance of pores, deeply cleanses the skin, lowers acne and redness, and controls excess oil. Rich in antioxidants, it also helps prevent premature ageing and removes dead skin cells, leaving the skin brighter and more even-toned. To make this toner, boil fresh basil leaves in purified water, strain the liquid, and let it cool. Store it in a spray bottle in the refrigerator for use.
