The Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner > Reviews (10)

Before buying this product I have tried lots of different toners from different brands ranges and price ranges. I had two favourites from my experiences one being Biore toner and another Body Shop one from the Vitamin E range they do. As The Body Shop had given me a favourite before I thought I would turn back to it after not being completely amazed by a Lush version.

I sent my other half off to work one morning with my Body Shop gift card which had five pounds on it and a nice shiny gold coin so that he could pop into the local Body Shop store which is just round the corner from where he works.

I had decided to try the toner from this range of their products as it is meant to be the range best suited to my skin type. The Body Shop sells nine skincare ranges; WISE WOMAN regenerating products for mature skin, MOISTURE WHITE a brightening range, SEAWEED returns oil balance to oily/combination skin

, VITAMIN E protecting products for all skin types, ALOE is soothing for dry/sensitive skin, TEA TREE offers blemish protection for oily/blemished skin, VITAMIN C for giving back natural radiance to all skin types, KINETIN for revitalising all skin types and JOJOBA moisture balancing products for normal/dry skin.

Each range then has a variety of products that you can pick and chose from to make up a beauty regime. Some of the ranges have lots more products in than others. The largest ranges are Vitamin E with 20 products and Tea Tree with 16 whereas the Kinetin range is just made up of four products.

The Seaweed range is made up of seven products; Seaweed Clarifying Night Treatment £9, Seaweed Clarifying Toner £6, Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash £6, Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream £8, Seaweed Mattifying Moisture Lotion SPF 15 £9, Seaweed Pore-CleansingFacial Exfoliator £6.50 and Seaweed Purifying Facial Cleanser £6.

The Body Shop has done this Seaweed range for some time but it has recently had a bit of a facelift, I cannot comment on the former toner as I had only tried the scrub and face wash. They were good with results but stank!

The best part is if you have a few products you already love you can mix those with products from the range that suits you. The Body Shop say that if your skin looks shiny on the T zone, with healthy looking cheeks, occasional blemishes and has visible medium sized pores in the T zone that your skin is combination/oily and so needs oil balancing products from the Seaweed range.

I have the typical skin they have detailed about. My pores are reasonably visible which I hate and I have normal skin on my cheeks that can get rather dry at times where I need harsher products on my T zone. The thing is none of us want to use two different face washes, creams and toners because out skin isn't uniform all over our face do we!

I have always found that combination skin aimed products go one of two ways, they can either be too harsh for the drier parts where they are trying so hard on my T zone or they are not good enough at controlling the oily T zone but my cheeks feel great.

Which is better? I wish I knew!

This toner was worth a try that is all I knew!

My other half returned home that night with my little bottle to hopefully save my skin battling over which product to use!

The bottle is made of clear plastic so that you can see the toner itself. That night I thought it was completely clear, in poor light it looks to be. The next morning where it was in good light on my bedside table I could see it is actually ever so slightly green but very clear.

The bottle has a flip top lid for ease of use. There is a large label, which is in shades of turquoise with a line pattern on as the background for the information. It has The Body Shop logo and says "SEAWEED CLARIFYING TONER combination/oily skin. Pore-minimising toning liquid to remove impurities and reduce excess oil."

This bottle is 200ml, enough to last about three months.

The back of the label has lots of information. There is the 'made with passion' information. " You can't get more environmentally sound than the seaweed in here. Wild harvested off the shores of southwest Ireland, it is an entirely natural product, grown without chemicals or fertilizers. And, as it re-grows fully within two years, it is a sustainable crop too."

The Body Shop says about this toner "Removes excess traces of cleanser, makeup and grime, and refines the appearance of pores with Community Trade seaweed. Oil free. Leaves skin purified and shine free."

Also on the back of the label there is the full list of ingredients (shown at the end of this review), against animal testing, made in the UK, recycling information and trademark information.

After looking on their website at their write up on this product I thought it worth adding what they say about three of the ingredients "Our Community Trade Bladderwrack seaweed has a very high mineral content, skin protective antioxidants and nourishing vitamins to balance skin tone, purify and clarify the complexion." You can see how that can benefit skin and be good for combination skin.

"Algae and cucumber extracts to balance and hydrate the skin whilst reducing oiliness and refining pores for a clearer complexion." I think this shows that they have thought through what to use to get the best results. Some products have ingredients like this listed on the front and have little to do with what the product is for just so that people think that it must be good and boost their sales. These aren't even written on the bottle itself.

The ideal beauty regime is to cleanse tone and moisturise both in the morning and at night but different lifestyles change the products you need to cleanse and moisturise but not toning. If you wear makeup you need a cleanser that is going to remove that as well as the daily dirt and oils from your skin. A toner is to remove the last traces of dirt, makeup and of the cleanser so that your skin is left completely clean and ready to make the most out of any moisturising product then subsequently apply.

I cleanse in the shower each morning using a face wash, at the moment that is Lush Coalface.

I am finding this very drying so only use it every two to three days on the days in between I am using my other half's Body Shop cleanser for men. I find that after cleansing I feel clean but with the Coalface my skin is very tight and dry. Every time I cleanse I use this straight after. Just a few drops on a cotton pad smoothed all over my skin.

Even after Coalface the difference is immediately apparent in the way my skin feels and looks. It no longer feels tight or as dry. You can see that it isn't as dry but there is no shine whatsoever it is left feeling as clean as possible without feeling stripped like some toners do. My pores are also much less visible.

This does leave your skin feeling very tingly and is not best used to close to your eyes because it contains menthol. I kind of wish it didn't because although the sensation is nice on the rest of my face I like to use it on my eyelids and now can't.

At night if I use makeup or not I still use the same products, Babyface from lush smoothed all over my skin the wiped off. Babyface is a solid cleanser made from natural oils so leaves rather a lot of grease on my skin. This cleanser removes all the grease and any last traces of makeup leaving my skin free to breathe again.

It only takes a few drops to get my face well toned and over soaking the pad with more than that is just a waste. The pad only looks like it has water on it where this is so clear with only a tiny hint of colour.

The flip top lid makes it very easy to use and means that you don't get any waste as you don't spill any or have dribbles down the side of the bottle.

The smell is lovely! It is very fresh and clean smelling and to be honest it doesn't have a stinky seaweed smell at all not like the other products I tried before the range had its facelift. It doesn't smell overtly feminine just clean. The smell does stay on your skin slightly but it is delicate and not overpowering.

I have found the results from this toner to be very good and am extremely pleased with it, in fact I would go as far as to say that it is now my favourite toner I have ever tried! I am finding that after using this toner my pores look much better and if I put makeup on they are still less visible and it really does make a difference.

I have to say that although the results on pores are good they do not last all day, after about six hours their appearance is back to normal and the lack of shine goes. It can't work miracles but it does have good results.

I haven't found that it only works on either my oily T zone OR my drier cheeks it has worked on both leaving my skin feeling great all over which is exactly what anyone with combination skin like me is looking for in any product.

At six pounds I don't think it is bad value at all, we would all love really cheap products to work for us but in most cases they aren't quite as good if you haven't got 'normal' skin. It works out at two pounds a month which is not so bad. Certainly cheaper than some ranges such as Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Purifying Toner 50ml £20.

00 Murad Clarifying Toner £15.50 No7 Beautifully Balanced Purifying Toner Oily/Comb £6.75

I really cannot sing this product's praises enough! It is excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone with combination skin. I will be trying other products from the Seaweed range and hopefully I will love those just as much.

It has to get a full five stars for great results and the fact that I will now be buying this all the time from now on.

If you like the look of this product, want to find out which products suit your skin type, want to find out more about The Body Shop or its products, want to find your local store or to buy online then take a look at their website www.thebodyshop.co.uk their delivery charges are not exorbitant and they are very quick.

Full list of ingredients for those with allergies or just like to know;

Aqua (Water) (Solvent/Diluent), PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil (Emulsifier), Trideceth-9 (Emulsifier), Phenoxyethanol (Preservative), Algae (Seaweed Extract) (Natural Additive), Glycerin (Humectant), Methylparaben (Preservative), Parfum (Fragrance), Propylene Glycol (Humectant), Disodium EDTA (Chelating Agent), Fucus vesiculosus (Bladderwrack Extract) (Skin Conditioning Agent), Butylparaben (Preservative), Ethylparaben (Preservative), Menthol (Fragrance/Cooling Agent), Cucumis sativus (Cucumber Extract) (Natural Additive), Isobutylparaben (Preservative), Propylparaben (Preservative), Benzyl Alcohol (Preservative), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Butylphenyl Methylpropional (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Salicylate (Fragrance Ingredient), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Citronellol (Fragrance Ingredient), Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone (Fragrance Ingredient), Tocopherol (Antioxidant).