A new order of goodies recently arrived on my doorstep from New Directions Aromatics, so I’ve been spending the last few days playing with my new toys. One of the things I’ve been just itching to make ever since I placed the order was a vitamin C toner. I’d included witch hazel and some pure vitamin C in my order after reading about how good vitamin C is for your skin. It’s supposed to help with collagen production, reduce age spots (not that I have any yet, but hey, that’s not permanent), and firm things up. Groovy. It’s a key ingredient in a lot of expensive anti-aging serums, so I’ll probably experiment with one of those in the near future, enlisting my mother as my guinea pig.

I’d also ordered some solubilizer, something I’d been holding off ordering figuring I could survive without it, but now that I have it, I can’t stop thinking of uses for it. It’s a viscous liquid that allows you to easily create emulsions that are mostly water, so it’s great for things like room spray, where you want a teaspoon or so of essential oil to disperse evenly throughout half a liter of water. Is it natural, strictly speaking? Err… not really. But Skin Deep says it’s fairly safe, and I really don’t use much of it.

For this toner, I used it to disperse a bit of Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) and essential oils of tea tree and lavender throughout. It’s definitely optional, but you should probably leave the Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) out if you don’t have the solubilizer since Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) is quite a thick, viscous oil and it will probably just float around as a clump. The essential oils can be somewhat effectively dispersed by shaking before use.

I love how clean and fresh my skin feels after using this toner. I like to use it after washing my face, just before I go to bed. I’ll report back on the vitamin C and see if it’s all it’s cracked up to be. But for now, this toner is lovely to use, and is a great little pre-bedtime luxury. And, if you don’t have pure vitamin C, you can use some citrus juice in its place—preferably orange (it’s the highest in vitamin C out of the citruses), but lemon or lime will probably work as well. Or, better yet, crush up a vitamin C tablet and use that. Just try to choose one without too many fillers.

Vitamin C Toner

80g | 2.82oz witch hazel
40g | 1.41oz aloe vera juice (or just more witch hazel)

20 drops bee propolis (optional)
¼ tsp vitamin C or 1 tbsp orange juice or 1 crushed vitamin C tablet

5g | 0.17oz solubilizer (optional)
2g | 0.07oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) (optional)
10 drops tea tree essential oil
20 drops lavender essential oil

Combine the witch hazel, aloe vera juice, bee propolis, and vitamin C in a lidded 120mL (4 fl oz) bottle. Shake to combine.

In a small cup, stir the solubilizer, Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada), and essential oils together. Add to the bottle, cap, and shake to combine.

To use, wet a cotton pad with the toner and wipe across the face.