Acid toners?? I keep reading about these - are they any good and recs?

[WildBillfemale]

Are they for specific problems?

I use them for my acne prone skin and find that it makes a noticeable difference. I like the REN one- sorry, the name escapes me!

Thanks - are acid toners advertised as such? I see many brands of tomers all stating which skin type they are intended for but none that have 'acid toner' on the label.
Is it a case of reading the ingredient list?

You are looking for the magic words glycolic, lactic, mandelic or salicylic acid. The first three are AHAs so it may say AHA instead. Salicylic is a BHA.

Basically they're all good for both acne and anti-ageing as they chemically exfoliate your skin. BHA is oil soluble so better for blackheads as it can dissolve into the pore.

Unhelpfully the product may not actually say toner on it - traditional 'there to remove the last of your makeup' toners were mainly alcohol based and gave a tingling sensation which was sold as 'tightening pores' when it did nothing of the sort. There are still masses of pointless toners out there.

I love love love Paula's Choice 2% BHA. She also does AHA products as well.

LRP Effaclar range is acid based as well and lots of people on here have recommended Bravura London or Alpha H which are brands totally based around acid products. When I'm feeling really cheap I use SR Skincare which is really no frills but fab.

It's important for the acid to work correctly that the product is at the correct pH which the Paula's Choice one's are - not all things sold as acid are actually that acidic in the formula.

However on holiday I've just bought a cheap tube of 4 hour spot gel and used that all over as they're acid based too. Or some Clearasil pads. If you are spending loads of cash on your acid you are being ripped off

I liked Paula's Choice too - but run out and it's a bit ££.

I've been using a little of the Palmer's Anti-aging Smoothing body cream on my face every few days. It's in a bottle that looks like the normal cocoa butter one, but it's packed with AHA and BHA. I scanned the ingredients and can't see anything nasty in it and it works: my rosacea spotty patches are better and it doesn't irritate my sensitive skin, which lots of things do. Stinks a bit though and I'm guessing it might be quite strong, so I only use it v sparingly.

It's fantastic on legs and arms for smoothing and brightening skin also.

You need sun protection after using AHA or BHAs as they reveal delicate new skin underneath.

True you should use sun protection - but then if you're interested in your skin, you should be using sun protection anyway!

Liquid Gold is fab, my skin always looks plump and even toned the day after I've used it.

I love pixi glow tonic, that's my favourite out of all the ones I've tried

I have been using Pixi glow which is nice, but recently switched to REN clarimatte clarifying toner. It seems to be making a big difference.

Aha- it was REN clarimatte that I was trying to remember. PIXI glow tonic is on my "to try" list.