Beauty product of the week: Swisse Rosewater Balancing Mist Toner
Image: Facebook user Swisse Skincare
If you sit in air-conditioning all day, this mist is a dried-out skin saviour.
Why we love this product
Anyone who knows me will know that I love face mists. More than that, I love rose-based face mists. I've tried dozens. It's hard for me to go to Priceline or David Jones without walking out with a new iteration of a rose mist. And the one I'm crushing on right now is from Swisse. In the last six months, I've tried four and this is by far my favourite.
Why rose mist you might ask? Why not lavender or aloe? Well, rose mists are made from a base of rose water and it's one of the best products you can use if you sit in an office all day like me.
Rose water is made from rose petals. We commonly use it in perfume. It's the same liquid we use in cooking to make things like Turkish Delight and meringues. And for thousands of years it's been used medicinally and therapeutically.
In addition to smelling fresh and pleasant, rose water is packed with anti-oxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. So, it's an effective product to use in skincare. Rose-water-based products are fabulous to use if you have any skin irritations like acne or eczema – it can calm down any redness and other symptoms of inflammation.
But the key reason why I love rose water is because it's very balancing. You've probably heard this term thrown around before and what this actually means is that the pH of rose water is similar to that of your skin. When the pH levels of your skin are thrown off and the acid mantle is disrupted, you open your skin up to a number of skin irritations. Dryness, too much oil, infection, congestion, irritation, cracking and more can be symptoms of a disrupted pH.
Human skin naturally sits around a pH or 4.5 or 5.5, and anything from air-conditioning to using beauty products with a pH of 6.0 can throw your skin out of the delicate balance. But rose water has a pH of 5.5, just like your skin. So it can help to pull your skin back into balance and restore the natural pH levels.
Image: Swisse
It may surprise you to know that one of the key pH disruptors is actually air-conditioning. Whether the air is being cooled or heated, air-conditioning strips the moisture from the air, disrupts your skin and then dries it out. And I sit in aircon all day.
This is how I eventually discovered rose mist. One or two spritzes a day keeps my skin fresh, hydrated and in check. It stops my skin getting too oily and it stops it from getting too dry. I religiously keep one (or two) on my desk.
The Swisse iteration I'm using right now is infused with aloe, rose hip and vitamins C and E. So it's like a quick shot of hydration and protection for the skin. It smells divine and keeps you cool on a hot day. And since this particular mist is so light and fresh, I spray it on a beauty blender before I use it to apply my foundation. I find it gives heavier foundations a fresher, glowier look. And it also helps prevent breakouts. My skin is fairly intolerant to most foundations and adding a bit of the Swisse mist seems to protect my skin.
If you work in an air-conditioned office and you don't have a bottle of rose mist on your desk, you should consider it. And this affordable option is definitely one of the best.
Affordability
At $12.95 for 125mL, I think this is a bargain. I've tried more expensive products that worked less effectively, so I think you get what you pay for here.
Where to buy
You can buy this one from the Swisse website but I prefer to pick it up at Priceline or Chemist Warehouse.
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