Friday, December 3, 2010

What to do with old toners?!?! + last week to enter giveaway

Are you confronted with the dilemma of "what to do with skincare products I don't love but don't hate either?" We all do. So what do you usually do with these products? Give them to your mom/sisters/friends? Or you leave them alone?

I have at least one bottle of toner which I don't like but I don't hate either, not to mention the deluxe samples of other toners, lol. (The blue bottle in the pic is my HG by the way!) So what do I do with the rest? I turn them into facial masks - read on!
*This method is suitable for toners that your skin don't have adverse reaction to. If you feel like the toner is breaking you out or causing allergy, you shouldn't try this method.*
There are those 'dehydrated and compressed' cloth-masks that come in the form of 'pills' (like the pills you eat when you're sick). These are widely available in the drugstores in Asia. When you soak them in any water/liquid, they will expand and unfold into a mask like this:
(image taken from this page on Muji.com) I believe you can find these in drugstores or in Sasa.

The idea is to soak the compressed mask 'pill' into the toner, soak it up fully. I usually use a few cotton pads instead of the mask pill, but they're the same. Anyways, you get the idea :)here I am using one cotton pad to demonstrate.
Pour the toner on it, pour A LOT :P
MUCH MORE toner is needed here! The idea is to soak the cotton pads and the 'pill' up!
Repeat the process if you're using a few cotton pads, or if you find the mask too dry. Repeat until you can literally squeeze the water from the mask, like this:
Next step: put the drenched cotton pads or unfolded mask onto your face. Any part of the face you like. I usually will pour more after I put these onto my face. Well, if that's a toner I don't love or hate, it'd better be used up quickly and effectively LOL Allow the cotton pads/mask to stay on your face for 10-15 minutes. If you feel like going for more, repeat the process. And most importantly: take a deep breath and relax...(I do this when I'm about to fall asleep in bed XD)
I found this method to be super economical - in a way that you don't need to spend extra money on buying face masks, cotton pads/dry mask pills come in bulk for a cheap price. It's also a good way to put your unloved products to use, instead of letting them go to waste. For those who travel a lot, it surely helps especially at times your skin needs an extra boost of hydration, not to mention all you need is the toner you're already using regularly and some extra cotton pads. You can use toners of different purposes, a 'hydrating' toner for times your skin is dry, a whitening toner if you feel like having a whitening essence booster, you could use anything, really.

I usually use separate toners for T-shape and U-shape part of the face, depending on the weather :) I have been following this practice for a few years and I love how you can pour, slap and fall asleep, haha! Hope this helps!

P.S. It's the last week to enter my giveaway!

47 comments:

  1. Wow this is genius!! Very helpful post as I have a lot of toners I dont use. Thanks!

    Zeng of TheBeehive

    PS: We are having a giveaway. Open to all. Hope you guys here could join~ Love love.

    http://thebeehivebyzeng.blogspot.com/2010/11/thebeehive-and-monday-macys-christmas.html

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  2. what a great idea!! thanks for sharing!

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  3. I totally love it but i dont get the pill thing would you please explain to me
    xoxo

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  4. @Adelicia:

    the compressed mask sheet pills look like this :)

    http://www.muji.us/store/compressed-facial-mask-sheet.html

    they come in dry format, and when you soak them with water/toner they will sort of inflate and unfold into a face-mask! :D

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  5. Daiso has these compressed masks too! At only RM 5 for 5 or 10 depending on which package you buy..

    How many tubes did you go through before the Annasalbe one stopped working? Which acne cream are you using now? I'd love to hear your recs!!

    I may always review blushes in my blog, but I don't use them much IRL. So yeah, it was good using blushes for a while haha xD

    Btw, how's the weather in HK now? Good?

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  6. I've been wanting to try this method ages ago but been contemplating doing it, I think I need to try it soon. Thanks for sharing :)

    ryc: I've never heard of Sewame brand! Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try to find it :)

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  7. meh we don`t have those mask "pills" , great idea though!!

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  8. Oooh this is a great idea! I have so many samples of toners that I don't really use and as you said, wallet friendly too! :3 It's rather unfortunate that dehydrated masks/pills are not as accessible where I live though I think :|

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  9. wow this is such a great idea! thanks for shareing :) <3

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  10. Wow this is sooo helpfull and is a brilliant idea....I'm gonna look high and wide for these...I've got olay ones like this and they work wonders....thanks xxx

    nilufarloves.blogspot.com

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  11. Great idea!! I've seen those pills at my local Asian dollarstore but I never knew what to do with it =/

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  12. Hi!
    I just want to let you know that if you want to have 5 extra entries in my giveaway, you can go here and read how: http://becksmakeupcorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-announcement.html
    Thank you!

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  13. this is a fab idea! thankyou for sharing huny :) Have heard so much about these mask pills, must try, would they ship internationally?

    Aysh xoxo

    trulymadlybeauty.blogspot.com

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  14. Ah! I forgot that you could do this lol Maybe I'll try it with my hada labo lotion when my skin gets really dry in the winter time (don't get me wrong I really like that toner but it's just for extra moisture :P)

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  15. Great post! Lulu of Luluchinadoll told me about this year ago and I started using cotton pads this way as well (at least with hydrating toners, not drying American ones). I like doing this with Kuan Yuan Cucumber Water, not a bad toner but I have a lot to use up! :)

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  16. I use cotton pads this way as well. It really work.. and it's better to do so before you use a mask. Later on the mask can absorb better. =)

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  17. you're such a genius! i have 2 bottles of old toners at home. i should try this!

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  18. thank you!! i hope your giveaway goes well :]

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  19. You really are determined to finish a lot of products! hahaha! I really like this idea, cause i have a few bottles of unused toners as well! you're such a brainiac when it comes to these things. :D

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  20. wow, Jen! that's terrific! i couldn't say more...

    re: the lace bodysuit; i actually intend to copy this look:
    http://lookbook.nu/look/767137-Give-me-the-green-light

    now that i have the perfect top, it's gonna be easy :)

    you can always layer it with a jacket, too.

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  21. I was going to do a blog post about this topic. You beat me to it, but I hope you don't mind that I still do a post about it!

    I do this DAILY. But I dampen my cotton pads or pills with distilled water first, so that I don't waste toner! This is pretty popular in Japan!

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  22. Oooooh so that's how to use the mask pills. I saw them before while I was on vacation in HK, thought it was weird but didn't really think too much on it. lol! Thanks for sharing!

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  23. @Jen

    Hi Jen! thanks for liking Wish lip and cheek stain's hint of sheen! I think that product will suit you, too :) And it's just ~2USD!

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  24. Okay wow this is kind of ingenious! I never really thought before to make my own face masks like this!

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  25. GREAT idea I love it!

    Dermalogica GIVE AWAY!! http://whimsicalbrunette.blogspot.com/

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  26. wow..never thought of doing that! thats a clever idea! thanks for the comment hun, btw..im asian lol.i love BB creams, and i agree they kinda are heavy during summer!

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  27. pretty pretty please do something about the email subscription. I so love your blog. Can you add the email widget? just a request. My google reader is not working properly.
    Please...

    XX

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  28. interesting I've never heard this way of a face mask before. I usually try to use up my toners though haha it's one of those things I feel bad buying when I'm not done the orig bottle

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  29. That is so cool! If only I knew it when I had this crappy toner that I forced myself to use up, lol!

    xx

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  30. such a cool idea
    I'll remember it if I have a toner that I don't want to use anymore :p

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  31. I used to do this but then I got lazy. I never thought to use it for leftover toner though! Great idea =D

    (Haha...I never noticed that the shadow looked like lipstick! Oh and about the reading, I was referring to everyone's blogs =)

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  32. Thanks for the Tip.....and I still didn't get to meet any bloggers....I'm far away from everyone...:(

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  33. such a useful tip :)
    definately going to try this!! x

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  34. Sometimes I do use my toner as facial mask, but I do not have unused toner at home. Haha XD That's because I finished up my toner very fast that I don't have time to restock it at all.

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  35. That's a good idea, but I try to finish all my toners... hehe~

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  36. I'm missing your posts, Jen. I hope all's well :) Sending you hugs and kisses from here!

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  37. Hi Jennifer,

    Thank you for your nice and supportive comment on my blog. I feel better now! :)

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  38. Great idea! I will definitley doing this now!
    please check my blog im having a give-away!

    tsaundersbeauty.blogspot.com

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  39. yeah~ I was so surprised by some of the brands on this list! Sasa.com actually has a nice selection of The Face Shop cleansers :) I didn't know Sasa was an actual store ^^ ehehe I thought it was just an online shop~ ah, live n learn~

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  40. yeah it is really fun :)

    xo Christine

    http://christineiversen.blogspot.com/

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  41. WOW that's an amazing idea! My toners don't really do anything for me.. My Simple toner doesn't even taste of anything. I'm suspecting them to have sold me just water in a green bottle. lol. I got a Body Shop toner - useless crap. Bsh! They should stick to making body butters and hand creams, cause they f'ed up their skin care completely -__-"

    Thanks so much for your comment <3

    HAHAA, Danish people and their liquorice, huh? I LOVE it! Mostly the salty stuff, cause I'm like my dad and his mom like that ; D But I do know a lot of people who definitely don't like it. I do! : D I'm not that fond of sweet liquorice, but I do have a few sweet liquorice-products that I like. It's just very limited. I like it salty. xD

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  42. this is an age old japanese technique..

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  43. Thanks for the info! I need to pick up some of those pill masks! :)

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  44. I will be doing a review on the MAC 188 :)

    xo Christine

    http://christineiversen.blogspot.com/

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  45. Thats a great idea. Did that with the lipsticks :)

    xo Christine

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LOVE to hear what you think <3 I'll try my best to respond to every comment!