Laneige Cream Skin Refiner – the best toner yet!

For years the Klairs Supple Preparation Facial Toner was my favorite, followed by the recent Tunemakers Concentrated Moisture Lotion, but now the Laneige Cream Skin Refiner takes the crown.

What is it

A hydrating cream-in-toner formula that provides ample moisture to the skin at the very first step of your skincare routine.

How I use it

After cleansing and any exfoliants, I pour a dime sized amount into my palms and massage onto my skin. Repeat again but just for the cheeks area.

Best suited for

Any skin type looking to add serious moisture to their skin without the heaviness

Ingredients

water, butylene glycol, glycerin, meadowfoam seed oil, 1,2-hexanediol, polyglyceryl-10 stearate, glyceryl stearate citrate, sodium stearoyl glutamate, inulin lauryl carbamate, glyceryl caprylate, ethylhexylglycerin, propanediol, disodium edta, camellia sinensis leaf extract, tocopherol
(full ingredients analysis)

Irritants

None, it’s alcohol-free, fragrance-free, and paraben-free!

Packaging

A frosted glass bottle. Beautiful, but not travel friendly at all.

Scent

None. This literally smells like nothing.

Texture

Like skim milk. Super lightweight, but you can feel the slip and moisture on your skin once you massage it in.

Finish

No noticeable shine after one layer, but depending on your skin type, it can start looking dewy with more layers. My combo skin is able to handle two layers without issue.

Available At

$25 at Althea Korea (get 20% off your first order with my referral link), $25.96 at YesStyle, $20.99 on eBay

Why it’s not your average toner

If you just go by the ingredient list, this toner doesn’t seem like anything special, and the only two antioxidants are listed last. But as I’ve come to learn about Amorepacific (Laneige’s parent company) products, they’re so much more than just sexy ingredients.

There’s a jar of cream in ever bottle.

Amorepacific spent 19 years researching and developing their Cream Blending Technology™, which can melt cream into a watery liquid texture, giving us the refreshing texture of a toner but with the moisture power of a cream.

Laneige compared the moisturizing effects of the Cream Skin Refiner to their Water Bank Moisture Cream, and the initial difference is pretty incredible.

From my experience with the brand, they do not mess around when it comes to product formulas. You can learn more about their meticulousness in my Amorepacific Essential Creme Fluid review, and you’ll know why I’m a big believer in their technology.

White tea instead of green tea

Both green and white tea come from the camellia sinensis (tea) plant, but the Cream Skin Refiner specifically uses the latter because it’s the less processed compared to green tea, which means higher level of antioxidants (source).

For example, white tea only uses the the buds and baby leaves of the tea plant (which have higher EGCG levels) and then naturally dried rather than steamed or fired (source). The white tea is then cold brewed, which also helps maximizes its antioxidant levels (source).

It’s truly multipurpose

Depending on your skin type, you can apply multiple layers of the Cream Skin Refiner as a toner to moisturize dry skin, or just one layer as your moisturizer for super oily skin. You can also lotion mask with this by soaking a few cotton pads and applying them on your drier areas. I personally like applying a single layer of this all over, then reapplying just on my cheeks between skincare steps to create that moisture sandwich. Yum.

Need more ideas on how to use your toner?  Here are 4 ways you can use them

Usage experience

I shared a first impression just a week ago on Instagram and I usually wait 2-3 more before posting a blog review, but the results from this product were pretty much instant: noticeably softer, smoother, and plumper skin. My skin looks like I’ve been sheet masking every night, and the results are even more noticeable when I actually do sheet mask!

The texture was so watery that I had to snap the photo in a hurry, so I apologize for the subpar image quality. But even with that much toner on my hand, no shine or stickiness whatsoever.

Which makes me feel like applying the Cream Skin Refiner first actually helps subsequent products absorb better and increase their efficacy. Keep in mind this is purely subjective, but the concept is similar to Albion’s milk-first-lotion-second approach: that if we restore the correct water and oil moisture balance to the top layer of our skin, it can help subsequent products permeate better. It’s not just marketing fluff either, according to dermatologists, the oil molecules can act like little Trojan horses to trick the skin into letting in active ingredients! (source)

Used alone it’s already fabulous, but I’ve also been mixing in my Tunemakers Ceramide 200 Essence to get that extra boost, and ugh my skin loves this combo so much that now it’s my favorite step of my skincare routine. So, so, so good.