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I needed something to help with cleaning and refreshing my sensitive combination skin. This skin toner is made with essential oils from (mostly) Mountain Rose Herbs. I measure everything in a dual-scale (metric+imperial) glass beaker. Drops are via reducers attached to the bottles of oil, or by tiny 1/8 ounce glass dropper. (Sorry about the mix of metrics, but, ah well, that’s how things are sold in the U.S.) Although I’m not a fan of strong scents, I’ve added quite a bit of bold floral and herbal oil to counter the very earthy smell of the calendula (like artichokes), carrot seed, and camomile (like garden soil). The rose and neroli oils lend a sweeter note, so they’re optional.

Usual Disclaimer: Test on a small patch of skin several times to see if you react negatively, etc. My experiences and the ingredients have not been blessed by the FDA, etc. YMMV etc.

Skin toner, unmixed. The deep blue chamomile oil lends a pale aquamarine hue to the toner.

You can obtain food-grade aloe vera gel (Aloe barbadensis) and pure hyaluronic acid serum from a good health food store, as well as online.

Ingredients

• 0.5 to 1 ml vitamin E oil as a minor carrier and preservative (tocopherols, antioxidant)
• 12 to 15 drops carrot seed oil (Daucus carota)
• 10 drops blue camomile oil (Matricaria recutita)
• 10 drops lavender oil (Lavandula angustifolia)
• 10 drops peppermint oil (Mentha piperita)
• 5 drops rosemary oil (Rosmarinus officinalis)
• (optional) 2 to 5 drops rose absolute 7% in sweet almond oil (Rosa damascena in Prunus dulcis)
• (optional) 2 to 5 drops neroli (orange blossom, Citrus aurantium) oil

Method

The above clocks in under 5 ml total of oils. The following water-based liquids are poured up to a certain measurement on the beaker:

• Up to 10 ml mark with pure hyaluronic acid serum (5 to 6ish ml added)
• Up to 20-25 ml mark with cucumber hydrosol (Cucumis sativus; 10 to 15ish ml added)
• Up to 40 ml mark with calendula hydrosol (Calendula officinalis; 15ish ml added)
• Up to 60 ml (2 ounces) mark with aloe vera gel (20ish ml added)

Swirl gently to stir and pour into a 2 ounce glass bottle. Close firmly with screw cap or cap with glass eye dropper, then shake shake shake. Note that this toner never completely emulsifies; also, the aromas take about a day or two to meld. Shake well before (topical only!) use.

If the scent is still strong for you — especially if using as a spray or mist! — dilute with more aloe. Even dilution up to 50% with aloe (1 ounce the above recipe, plus 1 ounce aloe gel) works, at least for me. I store the undiluted toner in the fridge until I need it.