Review: COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner

// SKINCARE / KBEAUTY / AFFILIATE LINKS //

Finally, here is my review on the famous COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. I’ve read so many reviews about it that I knew I had to try it! I loved my Klairs Supple Preparation Toner, but since I emptied it quite quickly there was time for a new product to try.

COSRX is an affordable Korean brand “offering good quality beauty items for 10 years”. The brand name is composed of COS for cosmetics and RX for prescription. Brands like Ciracle and C20 (yes, the famous vitamin C serum) are also part of COSRX. One of the rather popular skincare lines from COSRX is the AHA/BHA skincare products. I’ve also bought the COSRX BHA Summer Pore Minish Serum and the COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch.

The COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner is an astringent toner with exfoliating properties, which prevents whiteheads, blackheads, and blemishes. The toner is thereby not only addressing troubled skin types, but also dry skin types promising hydration and exfoliation in order to fight flaking skin. The toner comes in a typical packaging for COSRX products. The packaging design is simple: the toner comes in a milky plastic bottle inside a cardboard box. the cardboard box contains very clear descriptions in English and Korean. I really appreciate the list of advice they put in English!

The ingredient list for the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner is quite short and all the ingredients are listed on COSDNA and are safe to use (click >>here<<). The toner contains willow bark water and apple fruit water as main ingredients. Both have a concentration of 10%. The willow bark water has astringent and anti-inflammatory properties, so it is really a useful ingredient. Apple fruit water on the other hand only has fragrance properties. It would have been great if there had been 10% of apple fruit extract instead of water because the extract has skin conditioning properties! Glycolic acid (an AHA) and Betaine Salicylate (a BHA) are the two ingredients which are giving the name to this product. BHAs and AHAs are chemical exfoliators, which work their wonders in low pH. But, these two ingredients are only in a 0.1 % concentration each, so the exfoliating effect is not comparable to high concentration BHA/AHA products.

As you can see above the concentration of the AHA and BHA is written on the label of the bottle. The bottle contains 150 ml and according to the description on Wishtrend the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner has a pH of 3.9 (I measured a pH of 4 with pH strips). The production and expiration date is printed on the bottle of the tube.

I’m using this toner in the mornings and evenings by spraying it on a cotton pad and blotting the cotton pad over my face, especially over my T-zone. After applying the toner I use Vitamin C serum or other BHA/AHA products.

I do love the spraying nozzle. It sprays a fine mist of the product, and it helps not to use too much of the toner accidentally. Also, it is very hygienic to use, because neither your hands nor the cotton pad touches the nozzle. the toner is a watery, clear solution with a hint of a fruity scent which disappears immediately. The toner also absorbs fast into the skin and does not feel sticky. It works super good with the OST Vitamin C21 serum, and after using it for a month I feel my skin around my nose and forehead feels smoothened. Since I don’t have a lot of troubles or blackheads/whiteheads I cannot say anything about its effects on those problems, but I feel that it works well with my skincare routine. And most important, the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner didn’t break me out either.

I’m personally very happy with this toner, and it looks like a perfect addition for my skincare routine. I love the feeling of it being not sticky and I like the short ingredient list. Also, it works great with my vitamin C serum and makes my skin feel smoother. If COSRX would change the apple fruit water to apple fruit extract I would love this even more! You can read another positive review on the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner on Moi Sanom’s blog 35th Of May >>here<< (interesting for troubled skin types). Also, take a look at this comparison review between the COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner and the Mizon AHA BHA Daily Clean Toner by Cat from Snow White And The Asian Pear >>here<<. I didn’t try the Mizon toner myself but seems that for her the latter works better. It is a good product worth trying, but as you can see it can be different from skin to skin how good this works. The COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner retails for 16 US$ Wishtrend and Beautytap. Also check out my page for coupons and discounts >>here<< to save some bucks!