I promised to review the white plus renew skincare products that I use a little earlier, so I am going to start now from the toner. It's called skin refiner because Koreans usually call toner by different names like skin refiner or skin softener. This is because they have different ideas of what a toner should do, and I think skin refiner sounds better than toner anyway, certainly more fancy.
This is not the usual consistency of most toners, which would be liquid with a fluid consistency like water. This one is more like a gel consistency, which I found quite pleasant once you are used to it. It's hard to describe the sensation when you apply it. It is rather cooling and pretty moisturizing. Think of aloe vera gel. It's quite similar. One of my readers told me that she actually use the skin refiner as a light weight moisturizer and I can totally see how it makes sense. The gel consistency makes one bottle lasts around 7 to 8 months, which is quite long lasting for me. Someone once told me that of the white plus renew line, the whitening power comes from this refiner and night cream. I don't know whether it's true since I've been using them together and don't plan to separate them.
Like most Korean beauty products, this comes with a pretty jasmine scent which I grew to love. There's quite a bit of a debate about how to use Korean and Japanese toners since they come in sizes that is similar to the moisturizers, and whether it should be used on a cotton pad. I think that it is best applied when you shake some out of the bottle onto your palms and then pat into your face (since Korean toners aren't meant as a catchall last step to cleansing). But here's a big confession, I use it on a cotton pad directly after cleansing. Why? Well, I don't like to wipe off the water off my face after cleansing. I like to let it just sink in. It would be better if you pat dry, but i usually don't have the time. I just wipe my moist face with the refiner on the cotton pad. This sort of prevents any wasting of the product since my face is moist and the cotton pad is more likely to absorb the water on my face than the gelish content of the refiner.
A few reader told me that she likes my bullet point kind of review so that they can skip all my blathering if they want to :) So:
Pros:
1. Very moisturizing for a toner
2. Very soothing: I never really learnt what people mean when they say a product is soothing until I used this product
3. Very smooth application
4. Lightening fast absorption
5. I think it makes my moisturizer absorb better/faster
Cons:
1. Sensitivity: If you are very sensitive to scents, the scent this carries might irritate your skin or your nose
2. Gel texture: I think it's a pro, but it can be a con at first when you are not used to this type of toner
Overall: I love this product. No skincare item can be absolutely perfect for one's skin unless you customize it, but if I had to choose an already made product, it is this one