CUSkin PH Balancing Toner: Simple and Effective

CUSkin is a Korean brand of skincare that is making its way into the rest of Asia. Right now, the brand is known mostly for their BB Cream, which I've reviewed before. Of course, in Asia, as you might expect, the BB cream steals all the spotlight, so with all the hype about the BB cream, I had actually forgotten that the brand has other skincare products, one of them being the humble toner.

The CUSkin PH Balancing Toner is supposed to help balance your skin's natural PH, although after using it for awhile, I can't confirm that for sure. But as a toner, it does do a pretty good job. The toner itself comes in a plain, functional, white box. No bells, whistles, or frills here - everything is kept simple. The ingredients list is printed on the front of the box itself.



The toner bottle has a similar design to the box, and is helpfully packaged as a pump dispenser, which is great - no contamination of the product, and no spills or messes during application. More brands should package their toners in pumps, for clumsy people like me who are prone to spilling things.

The toner itself is a clear, colourless liquid that looks and feels a bit like water. It also has a very nice fragrance, and smells a bit like rose, probably due to the rosewater inside. I liked this toner, it did feel like it moisturized my skin, and didn't leave any sticky residue behind, unlike some toners I've tried before.



So I like this product. But I did notice that the ingredients list on the box and the bottle were different from the ingredients label pasted behind the box. My guess is that the list on the front of the box is a list of the main ingredients, while the stuck-on label behind the box is the full list.

Here's the list on the front of the box:



And here's the label behind the box. As you can see, the ingredients list is longer here:



The discrepancy isn't very huge by any means, and the key ingredients, hyaluronic acid, and glycerin, appear in both lists, and are both very good ingredients for a toner. It's just that I do personally happen to be very persnickety about ingredients, because I'm the kind of girl that reads my ingredients labels before buying a skincare or makeup product. I don't think it's a big deal, since the full list of ingredients is on the back of the box, and that's already a plus point when it comes to Korean skincare. (You know how it is with Korean skincare - they rarely think to translate the ingredients into English for those of us who don't read Korean, which can be frustrating.) It seems to me that the list on the front of the box is a listing of their featured ingredients, while the complete list is behind. I just thought I'd point it out for my more observant readers.

So would I recommend this? Yes, and why not? The CUSkin PH Balancing Toner doesn't have the hype of the CUSkin BB Cream, but in my opinion, this is a better product. The toner is simple and basic, with reliable ingredients that have been shown to work. If that's what you're looking for, then the toner is worth checking out.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)