Why choosing the right cleanser and toner is important

How you care for your skin – with the food you eat, how much sleep you get, and the beauty products that are best suited to your skin – will show on your face; either as dull, tired skin or a youthful radiance. Clean skin is key to a healthy-looking complexion, and it’s your face cleanser and toner that helps you start and end each day with a clean canvas. So what is cleanser and toner and what exactly does cleanser do for your skin?

What does face cleanser do for your skin?

If you're looking to step up your skin care routine, proper cleansing is the best place to start. A gentle facial cleanser frees skin of dead surface cells, make-up, excess oil, bacteria and pore-clogging debris, allowing skin to breathe. The vital first step to any beauty routine, cleansing revs up your skin’s circulation to boost radiance, and preps it to receive the full benefits of the treatments to follow.

Which face cleanser is right for me?

While using a facial cleanser might seem fairly straightforward, cleansing incorrectly, with a cleanser that is not ideally suited to your skin type, can cause excessive dryness, oiliness, and even breakouts. Here’s what to know: cleansing your face more than twice a day can strip your skin of its natural oils resulting in tightness; not cleansing enough can lead to a build-up of oil, resulting in clogged pores, blackheads and blemishes.

Clarins has a gentle foaming cleanser for every skin type. If your skin is normal or combination, consider Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Cottonseed. If you need a facial cleanser for oily skin, opt for Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Tamarind and Purifying Micro-Pearls. Being good to your skin by choosing the right facial cleanser is key to maintaining a healthy-looking, radiant complexion.

How to apply a face cleanser:

1. Before cleansing your face, wash hands thoroughly to avoid exposing your skin to additional dirt and debris.
2. Remove eye makeup. Clarins’ Instant Eye Make-Up Remover gently dissolves long-wearing and waterproof formulas.
3. Warm a small amount of your foaming face cleanser between your fingers and add a little bit of room temperature water. Apply to damp skin.
4. Using the natural weight of your hands, distribute the facial cleanser evenly over your face and neck.
5. Lift off your hands quickly to suction out pollutants and impurities. Repeat 7 times on the face, 7 times on the nose, 5 times on the neck.
6. Finish with gentle circular motions all over your face and neck.
7. Splash with room temperature water and pat dry. Water that is too hot or too cold can irritate the skin.
8. Follow with the Clarins Toning Lotion that is right for your skin type.

Clarins cleansing tip:

To help minimize the look of aging skin, remove your make-up before bed to free pores of trapped makeup, impurities, excess oil, pollution and skin-dulling dead cells. But don't overdo it. Washing too much strips the skin of wrinkle-fighting natural moisture and oils.

What is face toner?

Toning lotions are water-based products enriched with active ingredients, like botanical extracts, that benefit the skin. Camomile softens and soothes sensitive skin—Aloe Vera moisturizes, stimulates the circulation and encourages healing—while Marshmallow calms skin irritation or inflammation. Face toners are also a great aide in your skincare routine because skin that is moistened by face toner, is able to absorb serums and moisturizers better than dry skin.

What does face toner do for my skin?

Clarins has an alcohol-free toner for every skin type. If your skin is normal or combination, consider Toning Lotion with Camomile, while oily skin will benefit from Toning Lotion with Iris. A non-drying, alcohol-free toner removes every last trace of facial cleanser, leaving dry and sensitive skin types soft and dewy, and oily skin unclogged and purified for renewed radiance and clarity.

How to apply your toner

Use Clarins toning lotion once or twice a day, after cleansing your face but before applying your moisturizer. For oily and combination skin, concentrate on the T-zone—your forehead, nose, and chin. To apply, pour the lotion onto a cotton ball, fully saturating the cotton with the liquid, and gently wipe the toner over your face, neck, and décolletage.