I’ve been testing out the cult favourite Mamonde Rose Water Toner for a month now, as my trusty Klairs Supple Preparation Unscented Toner is at the halfway mark, so I’m saving it while I try other products that have been sitting on my shelf.
In this post, I will be reviewing the Mamonde Rose Water Toner. As always, I’ll first talk about the product description, ingredients and directions of use, but you can skip down towards the ‘My Thoughts’ section to read my personal review of this product.
Description
This toner contains 90.97% rose water, instead of regular water for more soothing hydration with each swipe. The rose extract is sourced from flowers that are hand-picked at dawn, when it offers the most hydrating and soothing benefits.
The toner also effectively removes dead skin cells and improves skin texture for clearer, refreshed looking skin.
- pH 5.5-7.5
Ingredients
Rosa Damascena Flower Water(90.97%), Butylene Glycol, Propanediol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Tromethamine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, Purified Water, Sucrose, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Indole Acetic Acid
*Free of animal ingredients, mineral oil, polyacrylamide, imidazolidinyl urea, triethanoamine, silicone oil, synthetic pigment
How to use
There are 3 ways in which you can use this toner:
1 | After cleansing, use a cotton pad soaked with the toner in gentle sweeping motions, then pat more as needed into the skin using your palms.2 | Transfer the toner to a spray bottle to use as a refreshing and hydrating mist.3 | Use as a DIY sheet mask by soaking cotton pads and placing it on the areas of your face that need deep hydration.
The product packaging states the following directions in Korean:
After cleansing, take an appropriate amount of the product onto a cotton pad and wipe across the face, following the skin texture. Lightly tap on the remaining product to absorb.
My Thoughts
Packaging & Quantity
First of all, this product seems to have changed its formulation and changed its packaging. The packaging used to look a lot more floral and stated that the toner contained 90.89% Damask Rose Water, however, the upgraded version that I have has a much more elegant packaging with a single rose and states that the toner contains 90.97% Damask Rose Water.
The toner comes in a few different sizes, I opted for the 250ml as there was a good deal on at the time of ordering which you can read about here if you’re interested. The toner is in a pale pink see-through plastic bottle that is squeezable and has a picture of a Damask rose on it along with product info. It’s quite pretty to have in my bathroom and seems to be the most feminine looking skincare product I own at the moment.
The only problem I have with the packaging is that the cap is not very secure and seems to leak from time to time if not standing upright.
Texture/ Consistency
The toner is a clear thin watery liquid and drips instantly. I tried to save it while taking this swatch photo so I could use it on my body after, but I failed, It’s just too watery and dripped onto my bed ? I also noticed that it absorbed into the back of my hand really quickly - that’s how thin it is. An odd thing though is that although it seems to be very and runny thin, it’s not actually thin enough for my portable face mist machine and clogged it up instantly when I tried using it that way.
Scent
This toner has a very overpowering rose scent to it; considering it has 90.97% Damascan rose water in it, I’m not surprised and was actually expecting this kind of scent, BUT, it also contains extra fragrance as the 10th ingredient in the list which I’m not too pleased about as my skin doesn’t like artificial fragrances - this makes me wonder if the strong rose scent is from the rose ingredients or from the artificial fragrance?
If your skin can handle fragranced products and you like the smell of rose, then you will love the smell of this - I know my grandmother would love the scent as rose is her go-to.
Results
I’m on the very edge of being convinced that this toner has been causing me to breakout. Every time I use it, my reaction is the same, firstly shocked by the overpowering scent but then distracted by how soothing it feels on my skin, then the scent settles a bit but still lingers for quite some time and my face starts to feel a bit dry and itchy probably because the thin watery consistency isn’t hydrating enough for me (even after 3-7 layers) and possibly the strong fragrance is irritating?, then a few hours later or the next day I feel like my pores are a bit clogged and pimples start emerging within the next few days. This toner doesn’t contain any active ingredients so I know my skin isn’t purging. You can read my post on skin purging vs adverse reactions here. Breakouts aside, the toner does do a good job of removing any leftover dirt or residue after cleansing, but most toners do this anyway.
My boyfriend and his mum don’t seem to have a problem with this toner, but they both said it’s just an okay product, not the best.
If you read other blog reviews, you will notice that so many people really like this product and have not broken out from it - I’ve just been unlucky.
As with anything, the best way to really know if it’s suitable for you is to test it out and if you have similar skin to me then keep my experience in mind just in case - If you can, I recommend getting the trial kit rather than the bigger bottles, so you can test out the different versions before committing to anything.
Will I repurchase?
No ? My skin is hating me at the moment so I will stay away from this. I got 2x 250ml bottles of this so I’ve given one to my boyfriend’s mum and I’m keeping the one I opened to use as a body perfume until it runs out.
I have the trial kit of the flower toner series from Mamonde, which has all the other versions of this toner included in it so I’m going to test those out at some point, and see how each of them compare to the rose version. Each one has a different benefit, so maybe there is something more suitable for me, we’ll just have to wait and see.
I was actually advised by a member of staff in Olive Young, to try out Lirikos products as their toner has a very short and beneficial ingredients list - good thing I have samples of Lirikos that came with my Mamonde purchase, so I’ll be trying that out next.
Where to buy?
I bought this cleanser online from a Korean website called TMON. It is also available at Aritaum, Olive Young & LOHBs in Korea. It can also be found at other online stores such as amorepacificmall, sokoglam and stylekorean.
I’d love to know if you have tried this product before and what you thought of it, so feel free to leave a comment ?