Review: Etude House skin mal:gem (Fresh; Oil Control Toner)

Etude House skin mal:gem (Fresh; Oil Control Toner) (250ml)

Description: 맑음[mal:gem] — the Korean word for cleanness, clarity and pureness. Skin Malgeum hypoallergenic toners promote clean, clear and pure complexion with moisturizing and pore cleansing formulas.

*Fresh: Controls excess sebum while providing enough moisture to keep the skin matte. Bamboo extract and sebum control ingredient keeps the skin clean and fresh.

Directions: Dispense solution onto toner pad and use pad to wipe all areas of face and neck.
*can be use as a facial mist or facial mask
(PS: I won't make any comments about the facial mist and mask method since I have not tried it.)

The toner comes in a matte bottle with a plastic twist-off screwed cap and the opening is perfectly sealed with a foil. The fluid can be easily pour out from the opening of the bottle.

I usually moisten a cotton pad and gently swipe it all over my face. It gets absorbed into the skin after a few minutes without leaving any sticky residue.

Consistency & Color:
Light and watery. Colorless.

Scent:

It smells citrusy when sniff directly from the opening of the bottle. But when pour it out on hand and sniff it, there's a mild hint of floral scent to it. I might be wrong though... lol. I'm bad at describing scent. hah. :x It does not smells bad anyway.

Oil-Control:
It DOES control sebum but of course, not to the extend that you will be totally free from oiliness the whole entire day. My skin still feels oily throughout the day and I still need to blot my face with oil blotters however, I noticed that the amount of sebum has been significantly reduced compared to what I would normally get.

Moisture Test on the back of my hand:

Before applying the toner, my skin moisture level measures 33.3%
After applying the toner, my skin moisture level measures 41.2%.
After 10 minutes later(toner got fully absorbed), I took the measurement again, it dropped to 40.6%

Moisture gain is 7.9%.

The difference on moisture loss after 10 minutes is only 0.6%.

which I concluded that this toner is pretty moisturizing.

**Above result is just for the application of a toner.**

With application of a moisturizer, I believe the skin will be perfectly moisturized!

Likes:

- 5 free formula: Free of Paraben, Artifical dye, Benzophenon, Mineral oil, Animal material

- controls sebum

- pore cleansing

- moisturizes

- gets absorbed into the skin

- not sticky at all

- does not cause breakouts

- leaves skin feeling clean, fresh and cooling

- the scent

Dislikes

- does not help to shrink the pores...

Seriously, there's nothing much I dislike about. :)

Verdict?: I have already finished using this toner and it does works as what it claimed to do — "controls sebum yet at the same time provides moisture to the skin". It leaves the skin feeling clean, fresh and cooling upon application. On the downside, I don't think it helps minimizing the pores though...I didn't see a difference in the size of my pores. 

Anyway, this toner is perfect for Summer season, for people who live in hot and humid country and also for people who have oily skin.