Review: Skin Relief Soothing Toner (Commleaf)

This product was sent to me for review purposes.

If you use Instagram at all then you will definitely know Commleaf. They are a natural, cruelty-free k-beauty brand that has been making waves on social media for their super aesthetic glass packaging and (of course) the beautiful quality of their products. StyleStory has recently become the brand’s official Australian partner and so have newly added this incredible range to their website.

Since I have personally not tried Commleaf before (but have been frothing over photos for so long) they sent me over a couple of new additions to their store – including two products from this brand! I am still in the process of testing it all, since I am really taking my time to get a thorough review of things lately, but I wanted to start off my Commleaf journey with their Skin Relief Soothing Toner.

This is a very highly rated product on the StyleStory website and is currently retailing for AUD$63.95 – which is pretty expensive for a k-beauty brand! However, they are an indie brand with some amazing packaging design as a safe, cruelty free formula so if this price tag is something that fits within your budget – read on!

Let’s get to it!

Product Description

The Skin Relief Soothing Toner is – as the name suggests – a highly soothing toner from the Commleaf range. It is targeted towards people with sensitive, damaged, irritated skin or those who are struggling with blemishes and break outs. In general, the product works to soothe, rebalance and hydrate skin but here are the specific benefits (taken from the StyleStory website):

• Provides hydration to dry skin
• Protects the skin from the external environment
• Soothes and comforts sensitive, weak and damaged skin
• Helps to control sebum production and dead skin cells for cleaner, clearer pores

This toner achieves the above claims (fairly successfully, I might add), through using a number of ‘star ingredients.’ There are all on a 1~2 scale on CosDNA so it is generally safe for sensitive skin use though keep note that it also contains Butylene Glycol, a very common moisturising ingredient which is also a low hazard comedogenic ingredient. Note if you have any sensitivities before use but it should be fine.

The main ingredients in this toner are:

• Centella asiatica extract (my personal favourite and a great one for soothing skin) – helps sooth sensitive, damaged and tired skin by enforcing skin’s barrier.
• Green tea & Aloe vera leaf extract – Provide hydration to soothe dry skin.
• Eucalyptus Leaf oil – Anti-inflammatory: reduces inflammation; Antiseptic: heals wounds from acne, psoriasis, or eczema; Antibacterial: kills off a bacterial infection, preventing inflammation.
• Sodium Hyaluronate (Another favourite – this works best if you live in a humid environment as it draws in moisture from the air) – holds 1,000 times its weight in water making it such an effective moisturizer: When applied to skin, it helps retain moisture.
• Jasmine extract – very effective in evening the tone of skin as well as reducing the appearance of age spots.
• BIODTOX – Contains vitamins from citrus fruits, broccoli and aloe to protect the skin from the external environment and assist with pore care.

Packaging

And then we have the packaging – the packaging! This is definitely Commleaf’s biggest selling point and is also what caught my eye in the first place. Their aesthetic is quite artsy, making use of a matte uncoated paper stock and a watercolour print. It looks very feminine and almost crafty, but the small hints of silver foiling and the interesting cut of the unit carton (see above photos) give it a very high end luxe feel. You can tell that a lot of effort has been put into making their products a real experience.

Opening up the box, you find the real beauty of this product – the heavy, high quality glass bottle packaging. It has been designed to have the most fascinating shape, that sort of curves and waves all around the sides to give it a truely unique and artistic quality. It is still very practical though and the bottle stands and stores easily. I just love how different the style is and it really makes Commleaf stand out amongst all other brands.

There is also some great attention to small details on the bottle too – from the raised design on the cap to the subtle brand logo on the side of the bottle. It’s so beautiful and I feel like any Commleaf product (especially in their glass packaging) would be loved as a gift. It is really the epitome of an Instagrammable design.

The overall packaging of the Skin Relief Soothing Toner is – honestly – absolutely exceptional. The design is super creative and the quality is top notch too. The only issue would be that this bottle is not travel friendly at all; it is quite heavy because of the thick glass and, to be honest, I wouldn’t travel with any glass anyway. I would recommend decanting this if you do want to take it anywhere.

Personal Experiences

So I used this toner over an extended period of time, generally as part of my evening routine (since I don’t have much of a morning routine anyway). My immediate first impression was that the toner has a very strong eucalyptus scent – although I usually hate this scent, I actually don’t mind it in this product and find that it will dissipate once applied anyway. The toner also has a very watery consistency, so a little goes a long way if you’re soaking cotton pads.

It has a very refreshing finish, helping to immediately minimise oil and soothe any redness over skin. The toner leaves zero residue and absorbs very quickly too. It leaves you with a nice, hydrated finish that is lightweight and ready for you to layer on the rest of your routine.

In the long term, I find that this is good in reducing break outs. Since I did get a few hormonal pimples in this time period, using this toner helped them to fade quicker. I feel like this is because the toner helps to control sebum production and remove dead skin cells (as per the claims). However, I did still notice some blackheads even with regular use. Hydration wise, this toner did very well at giving an instant boost of hydration that lasted well through the night. It was very soothing on my skin too and did help to reduce redness and irritation – especially now that the weather is much drier in Sydney.

However, to be very honest, I’m not sure that it did substantially better for my skin than other soothing toners would. Although I like this product, I wanted something a bit more from the formula. For reference, the Soroci Morning Drizzle Bucket Mist (which is a beautiful daily toner that I smashed my way through) is only AUD$25.95 – less than half price – and is also a great hydrating formula, although with a vastly different formulation.

In the case of this product, you are most definitely paying a premium price for the packaging; the formula is nice but not substantially better than average kbeauty brands. Is it worth it though? I feel like the overall bottle design of this Commleaf product is actually unique enough that I would pay the extra for it – although this is really a personal opinion and will also come down to your own budget and priorities.

So, here’s the verdict!

SO WHAT IS IT?

A hydrating and soothing toner with centella asiatica, green tea and aloe vera

THE GOOD

• Absolutely beautiful packaging
• Eucalyptus scent is quite calming but also dissipates
• A little goes a long, long way
• Lightweight with no residue
• Very hydrating with lasting results
• Helps to soothe and calm redness in skin
• Works to minimise break outs and clear pores

THE BAD

• Expensive – you’re definitely paying for the packaging
• Not travel friendly
• Doesn’t fully prevent break outs or acne even with longer term use

RATINGS

• PRICE POINT | 2/5
• PACKAGING | 4/5
• CONSISTENCY | 5/5
• SCENT | 4/5
• FINISH | 5/5
• HYDRATION | 4/5
• SOOTHING | 4/5
• PORE CARE | 3/5

OVERALL RATING? 7.75/10

WOULD I RECOMMEND?

As I previously said, I do like this toner and the packaging of this product is absolutely stunning! However, I feel like the formula is quite average for this high price point and would only recommend checking this out if it falls within your budget. Otherwise, there are plenty of other more toners on the StyleStory website that don’t break the bank.

WHERE TO GET IT FROM

This toner was sent to me by StyleStory for my review. You can check it out there for AUD$63.95 at this page for the Commleaf Skin Relief Soothing Toner, or check out the Commleaf page to see all of their offerings!

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