little white truths

Ren claims/product details:

• Incorporate this gentle, skin-resurfacing toner into your daily skincare regime for a brighter, smoother and more luminous-looking complexion with refined pores
• A highly effective exfoliating toner that visibly brightens, evens skintone, smooths and minimises pore size while being gentle enough for daily use
• Formulated with a hard-working blend of lactic acid and willowbark extract, which work harmoniously to smooth, tone and tighten pores 
• Also infused with an azelaic acid precursor to brighten, combat uneven skintone and boost luminosity for a positively radiant complexion
• RRP $49 AUD for 250ml

This is a good toner and I recommend it. You also get a lot of product in the bottle so it's lasting me ages, meaning it's better value than you might first think when you see the price-tag.

It's a standard fluid toner that's pale orange in colour and it has a slight chemical scent. You apply it to a cotton pad and run it over your skin after cleansing, and while I'm sure you could use it twice daily if you wanted to because it's not super potent, I've opted to use it at night and just use a standard toner in the morning.

Note that the packaging is a little different: once you open the cap, there's a wide 'button' that you press your makeup pad down on, which dispenses product and soaks the pad. While I like this idea in theory, in practice the mechanism is sometimes too forceful - so occasionally some product shoots onto the floor. I'd be just as happy with standard packaging to be honest, but perhaps that's just me.

I've been using mine for around four months now and it's working well for my skin. Note that introducing it meant I had to put aside my HG Alpha-H Liquid Gold for a while, and when I first did that, I broke out along my chin - I think because the Alpha-H is stronger than this one, and also my skin needed to adjust to the change.

After about two weeks of using this, my breakouts cleared up - and note that I get breakouts along my chin unless I'm using a decent toner, so we can say that this is decent, it's just that the Alpha-H works more quickly.

What I love about this is that it feels like it's clearing the gunk from my face, and the makeup pad certainly comes away dirty whenever I use it. It has that slightly astringent feel as it pulls away the dirt and impurities from my skin, and I can also feel it clearing away dead skin cells. But despite how effective it is, my dry skin has been able to tolerate it well.

After use my skin is left looking brighter and feeling smoother, and this has also helped keep my face clear over time so I don't have as many breakouts as I do when I'm not using a product like this. I also think it clears the path for my skincare to absorb better, because it has a resurfacing effect so it's removing the dead skin and leaving the newer skin ready for skincare.

Overall I think this is a great product that meets its claims and I recommend it. It's not too expensive when you consider how much product you're getting so I think it's a good investment - especially because I don't need to use it twice-daily in order to get its full effect. On top of that, it does a great job of keeping my face clear and looking healthy, and while it's not as potent as other treatment toners I've used, it's still effective.

Worth trying.