This toner should be prepared when the spruce tips are at their best. The effect of this toner is based on the spruce tip glycerite so it should be prepared in the spring at the spruce tip time. Glycerites will be preserved well at least 6 months, perhaps even longer.
Spruce tips are very antibacterial and regenerates the skin. Spruce tips also contains slightly the same ingredients as spruce resin. Therefore, spruce tips should be used in skin care to regenerate the skin.
Spruce is also really rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is a very important vitamin for the skin and is especially suitable for toners.
Spruce tip glycerite
For facial toner, you need spruce tip glycerite. You have to make it yourself, because spruce tip glycerite or hardly any other spruce products can be bought ready-made. I think that’s pretty strange. After all, we live in a land covered with forests full of spruce. Find here the recipe to spruce tip glycerite.
Glycerite is needed in facial toner for 5%. Glycerine aka glycerol is a very moisturizing ingredient but only if it is mixed with a sufficient amount of water or other liquid. The rule is that at least as much water as glycerol should be in the product. Otherwise, the glycerol begins to absorb moisture from the skin and the effect is drying.
100% water-based ingredients
When you start making a facial toner, you should first think about what could be the water phase to which you make the toner. I recommend you to choose distilled water instead of tap water. Distilled water differ from tap water in that all minerals have been removed.
An herbal infusion can also be prepared as a base liquid for facial toner. See instructions for making an herbal infusion here.
Choose the hydrolates you like
Boiled water and glycerol alone make a very useful facial toner. Personally, however, I hope for a little more cleansing feature from the toner. That’s why I like to use only hydrolates to make facial toners. The hydrolate added to the facial toner should be 20-100% of the total volume of the product. The product is much better preserved if you only use hydrolate. Most hydrolates already contain a preservative.
For spruce tip toner, I wanted to use birch hydrolate. Birch hydrolate, as a product from a tree, somehow feels like a very natural choice. Of course, you are free to choose lavender hydrolate or rose hydrolate, for example.
Ingredients for spruce tip toner
In this recipe, the ingredients are calculated for a 100 gr dose only. Of course, you should first make only 100 gr because you still can’t know if the product suits you at all. The dose is easy to double in the future if you like the toner.
You may not need any preservative at all if you make only a small amount of toner and store it in the refrigerator only few days. However, if you want to store the toner in room temperature, you should add a natural, safe preservative like Preservative Eco.
ingredients
- 5 gr spruce tip glycerite
- 53,5 gr birch hydrolate
- 40 gr distilled water
- 1 gr Preservative Eco.
- 0,5 gr essential oil to scent, optional. When glycerite is present in the toner, the essential oils are well soluble in the liquid.
Measure all the ingredients into a larger bottle and shake well. Personally, I always like to mix all the toners in a bigger bottle properly and then pour the toner to a smaller bottle using a funnel.
You can pack facial toner in a spray bottle, if you want to apply it directly to your face. The spray bottle is also handy if you want to get a layer-type moisture.
However, keep in mind that when layered, the toner should be very mild. So, if you are going to spray toner, for example 5 times in a row, dilute the toner with water so that one bottle becomes 5 bottles of toner. If the toner is not diluted, there will be 5 times the amount of strong plant chemicals on the skin. This can irritate and sensitize the skin.
How do I use a spruce tip facial toner?
Apply spruce tip facial toner in the morning on cleansed skin. I think this facial toner suits best for daytime use. You can wipe your face and throat area with a cotton wipe gently moistened with facial toner. Also try spraying facial toner on your face. Allow the toner to be absorbed deeper into the skin to bring in the desired moisture. Then apply a day cream to protect your skin.
In this way, fresh and skin-treating toner is easily created from natural products. I hope you liked the guide and got excited to give it a try.
Tell us again about your experience, how this toner has worked for you!