Arcona Cranberry Toner

One of my biggest pet peeves is to under-pack, not so much clothing but more like toiletries. Why? Because I have a enough skincare and cosmetics for a few incarnations over and nothing boils my blood like packing too little for a trip and then having to buy even more to make do. When that happens, I just beat myself up with the thought of not bring the whole trunk full!!! Why, oh, why?!?!

Anyway, I didn't pack enough for this past trip, taking just one 30mL/1fl oz. travel sized bottle of Clinique Clarifying Lotion 1 (will review soon) instead of, well, the few I have here in SF. It was supposed to last for 2 weeks with morning use only, but I miscalculated and ran out half way. Sigh. Fortunately, this was a moving trip, and reuniting with the rest of my stuff I had "stocks" to fall back on ^.^ I decided it was time to try the 30mL/1fl oz. bottle of this Arcona Cranberry Toner from the Dermstore 2012 Black Friday Special Mystery Black Bag.

This product boasts a 4-in-1 function in removing makeup, cleansing, toning, and moisturizing! Sound promising, only the last time I used a multi-purpose cleanser/toner (ahem - Caudalie Cleansing Water), it didn't work out too well. I couldn't figure out why at the time (still no clue...), but the Caudalie Cleansing Water got my skin all nice and clean, only to turn it super oily a short while later no matter how well I moisturized after cleansing/toning. I was afraid the same would happen with this Arcona Cranberry Toner. Actually, I was even more iffy because this one also claims to remove makeup and moisturize O.o

This Cranberry Toner is a runny liquid that you need to shake before dispensing. It somewhat irked me that there was a layer of pearly shimmery particles that settled at the bottom of the bottle, and while shaking it up gave the toner pretty pearly swirls, I didn't care for pretty looking toners - I wanted one that does what it claims to do. To my relief this toner did work quite well, as in it cleansed and did not turn my face oily. I didn't tried to remove makeup with it. That would have been silly since I have bottles of cleansing oils lining up to use that will do a much better job. As for the moisturizing aspect, it didn't do much for my dry skin at all. Again, I didn't care for this either because I was already layering several products, Japanese style ^.^' I was happy though that this toner layered well underneath those several products and I didn't experienced any reaction or clashing.

Throughout my use, I only found one fault with this product. It was strongly scented with a fake fruity cranberry scent. I didn't dislike the scent, but I didn't like it either and am merely tolerated it. The thing was, the scent lasted quite a long time and I could still smell it on my face(!) after an hour, and underneath all the products I layered on top, each with its own scent! I'd read online that this is also the chief complaint for most people, that this toner is too strongly perfumed, and I couldn't agree more. The full size is on the pricey side, $32, but I wasn't going to buy the full size anyway.