THANK GOD IT'S FAVOURITES: Pixi Glow Tonic

Toners can be a bit of a controversial topic in the beauty world. Some people swear by them, and some people think they’re nonsense. I’m somewhere in the middle - I don’t swear by toners, and some of them definitely are nonsense, but I do swear by this one: Pixi Glow Tonic.

The description of this product on Pixi’s website (where it is £18) is refreshingly concise. It calls itself an exfoliating facial glow tonic, which already wins points from me for lack of waffle. It’s all-natural, too, which for me isn’t the most important thing about the products I use but is always nice all the same.

When I first bought this, it was having a bit of a cult moment – all over the blogs, all over the magazines – so I was actually a little bit wary. Not that I don’t trust rave reviews, but everyone knows skincare varies from person to person and I was kind of expecting to be let down.

I have never been happier to be wrong.

In a previous post, somewhere way back in the SF archives, I mentioned Glow Tonic offhand and called it angel juice. I stick by that absolutely. I am firmly of the belief that toners aren’t worth anything if they’re not exfoliating, so we were already off to a good start just with the description. The packaging, also, is lovely – Pixi has this hippy-dippy retro thing going on, and I love it.

Because it’s a natural product (made of aloe vera, ginseng and fructose) it has a really pleasing, planty sort of smell – not floral exactly, but very cleansing. It’s a lovely thing to smell first thing in the morning, especially if before that your face smelled of gin and shame.

I have waffled on before about how it’s really important for me that skincare is pleasant to use, and this really is – even aside from the smell, it’s super gentle, it feels gorgeous going on and even immediately after application I feel like my skin looks a bit brighter and more awake. You know the way you look right after you splash your face with really, really cold water? It’s like that, only you don’t have to splash your face with really, really cold water, and also it lasts.

It definitely works as an exfoliator, too. My skin’s really sensitive, so sometimes any kind of physical exfoliator is out of the question, but I’ve never, never had a problem with Glow Tonic. It’s especially nice around the nose, where it can be really hard to get rid of dry patches.

I just can’t say enough good things about this product. The price might be putting some of you off, but let me just point out – I’ve had this product since about June, so five months-odd, and I use it every day, give or take, and I’m barely halfway through the bottle. Budget buy it might not be, but at least there’s a bit of wiggle room in terms of price-per-use.

If you’ve used toners before and been a bit let down, I really think you should give this a try. It’s in its own league. The angel juice league. That’ll catch on, right? It doesn’t sound weird at all.