Vichy 'Purifying Astringent Toner'.

I never used to buy or use toners, since I thought that they were a waste of money and time, and if you cleansed your skin properly, they weren't necessary.
However, I went a bit crazy in a couple of pharmacies about two weeks back, and bought a few different toners, I suppose just to see what I was missing out on, if anything. Also, since my skin is going crazy right now with acne, I thought I might as well give a toner a try to see if it could clear it up.

So this toner is by Vichy, and I have already tried and absolutely LOVED one of their suncreams, and so had quite high expectations of this product, simply because of what I had experienced with this other product.

This product is from the 'Normaderm' range by Vichy, which is aimed to provide a complete skincare regime for imperfection prone skin, which is why it caught my eye!
Now, I tried to find a comprehensive product description on the Vichy website, but the UK part of the site seems to be down for the moment, so here is a product description I pulled from escentual.com;

"Clear your imperfection-prone skin with the Vichy Normaderm Purifying Astringent Toner, a 3-in-1 unclogging solution that unclogs and tightens the pores.
The intensive formula ensures clear skin with salicylic acid concentrated at 0.5%. Totarol, a new purifying ingredient , inhibits the proliferation of propionibacterium acnes, which are the bacteria responsible for acne. Eperuline, a new soothing ingredient of natural origin, regulates inflammation.
Impurities are eliminated, and the appearance of pores are reduced for a more even skin surface and a matte effect."



I normally double-cleanse my skin with Hibiscrub (not conventional, I know, but my sister's dermatologist recommended it to help with her acne) both morning and night, which leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean. When using this toner it really helps to remove any traces of dirt/grime/grossness from my skin, and leaves it feeling even cleaner than before.

It does help tighen and minimise pores to an extent, but my pores are like craters (they are huuuge), so I was quite impressed that this product actually managed to close them to ANY extent! It did seem to even out the texture on my skin as well, leaving it looking really clean and radiant. I do notice that if you use a lot of the product of your skin (guilty as charged), your skin can feel a little bit tacky, but using just one layer seemed to leave no trace of product behind!

If you have sensitive or dry skin, this product is a no-no. I used it when my skin was feeling particularly sensitive, and my, it hurt like nothing I've ever experienced in my life! I experienced really bad stinging and it left my skin feeling quite hot and irritated. However, when my skin was back to it's normal oily self, there was no irritation at all and we were best friends.

After applying, skin did feel slightly tight, but not uncomfortable. That feeling did subside after applying my moisturiser on top. I don't find this toner dries my skin out at all, however, I do have an oily skin.
One thing that some people might hate is the smell. It is quite a strong smell, quite alcohol-y. That doesn't really bother me, since the way beauty products smell has never been an important factor for me to consider, but those who don't like strong smelling products, steer clear.

What I like about this product is that it contains salicylic acid. Now, what follows is what i have just pulled from Wikipedia: "It works as a keratolytic, bacteriocide and comedolytic agent by causing the cells of the epidermis to shed more readily, opening clogged pores and neutralizing bacteria within, preventing pores from clogging up again by constricting pore diameter, and allowing room for new cell growth." Now, because it encourages our skin to shed itself (ew gross), it is probably a good idea to use this product with a broad spectrum suncream just to prevent the new and sensitised skin from getting damaged by those sun rays.

I did notice that it seemed to calm the red angry spots down. However, since coming off acne medication altogether (I promise I will post an update this week), it hasn't cured it, or prevented any new spots from forming (boo hoo). I am sceptical to blame this on the product, because literally nothing has cleared up my skin apart from oral medication. It might be that the product isn't effective, but I am hesitant to blame this product for the lack of amazing results acne-wise, I probably just wouldn't use it again with the mind-set that it would clear my skin up completely. Which is what my mind-set was at the beginning, naively.
I think if you suffer from the odd breakout and have general oily skin, this product would be great for you. But if you suffer from acne that is constant (I'm not talking about the once a month hormonal pimples, I mean all the time!), then I would approach this with caution. It might work, but as I can vouch, it didn't work for me at getting rid of my acne!

This product actually cost me £5 from my local pharmacy, as it was half-price. I think that this product has had a wee rebranding in terms of the packaging, because the new bottles are clear, whereas this one isn't (as you can see in the photo - it's an opaque plastic). I'm pretty sure it's only the packaging that's changed, and the formulation of the product is the same. The new product costs around the £10 mark (every online place I look it's different!), and you can buy Vichy in most larger pharmacies.

Overall, a really good product, and really great value considering I got it for £5! I am not sure whether I would repurchase this, only for the reason that I do believe that out there, somewhere, there will be a toner to help reduce my acne. It did help to minimise pores and did reduce irritation and redness in my skin, but since my acne is something that is my main concern at the moment, I wouldn't get it again whilst I have this acne, maybe when my skin has cleared up!