This is my first official blog!! A few people have said I should get a proper blog up and running, so here it is.  I will continue to review products on Instagram, keeping them short & to the point and making sure I keep my pros & cons.  For any one wanting a little more detail you can head over here and have a good old read!

Without further a do, my first product is:

ORIGINS UNITED STATE BALANCING TONIC
Claims:

This toner claims to be a tingly-cool, re-texturizing tonic which refreshes, refines and re-balances faces with dry and oily places. Exfoliates away flakes, pore-clogging debris and smooths rough spots. Laminaria de-shines T-zones without stripping. And Soy Protein protects moisture levels to prevent parching. It claims to reinstate skin’s proper pH for a continuously comfortable feeling. A lot of claims.

My skin has an oily T Zone but can be dehydrated around my cheeks and eye area, so this sounded like a great product. I cleansed as normal, then put a small amount on a cotton pad and swept it over my face. The first thing I noticed was the smell, it’s quite a strong alcohol smell, which was a bit over powering. The second thing is the packaging. There is no filter in the lid, as you can see in the image. I kept accidentally pouring too much out!

The toner felt very nice on my skin, not drying, but refreshing and cooling. I enjoyed how my skin felt after use.

I do think it has helped my skin throughout the day when it came to controlling shine, I found I didn’t apply as much powder to keep my skin matte.

PROS:

1. Made my skin feel soothed and wasn’t dried out
2. Seemed to balance shine throughout the day

CONS:

1. Easy to pour out too much by accident…please change the lid origins!
2. The alcohol smell is quite strong so might not be for everyone