Cream Base Comparison

All of our milky toners (& more) to date.

This post has been a long time coming, but milky toners are all the rage these days and brands keep launching new ones so we kept pushing back the post. But not today. We’ll likely just come back to this guide in the future, add new additions, and re-share for your reference. So, let’s dive right in:

Very Thin, Easily Absorbed Textures

Some of the following absorb with minimal trace, leaving just a hydrated feel to the skin, while others can linger on the skin and potentially grease up throughout the day.

• Byoma Hydrating Milky Toner: ($15/5.07 oz.) almost watery as it has some transparency to it, but very light on the skin and not emollient. Absorbs very quickly and completely with a non-greasy, non-shiny feel and finish.

• Paula’s Choice Enriched Calming Toner: ($26/6.4oz.) has quite a few botanical oils and antioxidants for a robust liquid base composition. There is a slightly emollient feel and finish but does not get greasy throughout the day, making it ideal for drier skin types looking to layer up on the liquid base without risking shine.

• Slurp Labs Preparation B5: ($48/1.69oz. currently on sale for $38) this is a serum/liquid base hybrid with a very impressive ingredient composition. If you’re looking to skip steps and have one product that not only hydrates/preps the skin for further products but also delivers a hefty dose of lipids and soothing ingredients on its own, definitely keep this one in mind. Of everything on this list, this may be our favorite product simply because it’s so multipurpose and actually makes a noticeable impact on redness and other signs of irritation.

• Laneige Cream Skin Toner: ($36/5.7oz.) very fluid, comfortable feel on the skin with a similarly “semi-transparent” quality as Byoma, but quite emollient. We find it gets quite greasy in humidity.

• The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner: ($14/3.4oz.) a thin liquid but with a semi-dry texture. We realized we needed a lot of this to feel adequately hydrated so it’s not a top recommendation for us.

Midweight Textures

Some of the most comfortable and easily layerable options here. Ideal for drier skin.

• Dr. Ceuracle Vegan Kombucha Tea Essence: ($25-38/5.07oz.) a silky cream liquid texture with an oil and watery-essence component. When combined, it makes for a very hydrating layer, but can also get a bit greasy throughout the day. Our bottle also expired faster than expected, just a side note.

• Paula’s Choice Advanced Replenishing Toner: ($29/4oz.) this one has more of a thin gel component to a still creamy fluid base. There is slightly greater emphasis on barrier replenishment in this toner compared to the Paula’s Choice Enriched Calming Toner, but otherwise, they perform virtually the same throughout the day. If you’re more prone to irritation versus general dryness, this may be a better option between the two.

• MAKE Beauty Micro Ferment Rice Essence: ($30/5oz., currently on sale for $21) a true gel-milk texture, this is a deeply hydrating option that uses rice extract and a touch of jojoba oil only, so it’s ideal for anyone looking to control greasiness throughout the day or maintain skin balance in humidity. It’s not as lipid-rich as other options, so you won’t find this makes a huge impact in sensitivity/irritation, as it focuses primarily on hydrating the skin for extended periods of time.

• Equal Rxn Cactus Ceramide Fortifying Milk: ($24/4.1oz.) this is similar to MAKE’s essence but with a slightly thicker texture (we weren’t sure if we should keep it in this category or below), but it feels very light on the skin while deeply hydrating overall (it just absorbs very quickly on application). There is an airy quality to it—when you pump the product out, it maintains it’s shape quite a bit—so it performs more like a gel base than a milky one. This is a great option for humid climates and oilier skin types, but because it leans more toward a gel, dry skin can layer this many times without having the product feel heavy, get greasy, or linger on the skin surface.

Thicker, Heavier Feel Textures

Don’t let the category title fool you, these are some of our favorite textures to use because they actually tend to be less emollient (greasy).

• Ilia The Base Face Milk Essence: ($58/3.4oz.) this is our favorite hydrator on the list, but not our favorite barrier-replenishing/soothing cream toner, if that makes sense. It has our ideal balance of emollient-to-hydrating ingredients with a creamy base that doesn’t feel heavy and despite it adequately hydrating our skin and preventing dryness throughout the day, we don’t find that it gets greasy at all. It also works very well with makeup.

• Rhode Glazing Milk: ($32/4.07oz.) this actually has a somewhat thin texture, but a surprisingly weighty feel, so we still categorized it here. It leaves a velvety, almost matte finish on the skin that has a nearly powdery quality to it. Feels like a lightweight moisturizer once applied, but we don’t often enjoy this one at night. If you’re looking for oil control and something to reduce the need for a thicker moisturizer in a later step, this is a phenomenal option (so we love it in the summer!).

• Prequel Half & Half: ($26/5.7oz.) a thick liquid with zero gel/airy component to it but lots of weight. This is a uniquely hydrating and moisturizing product with a lipid blend that rivals that of Slurp Preparation B5. It takes some time to dispense out of the bottle because of how rich the formula is, but once applied to the skin, it truly feels like you’ve had a cream marinated into the skin for a while. If you are specifically looking for something that will allow you to skip moisturizers, we totally recommend this. It works as a base layer as well, but there is a higher potential for greasiness once layered under other products, especially a cream and/or sunscreen.

Outliers

• Naturium Barrier Bounce: ($24/1.7oz.) we did not initially consider this a cream “toner” but we often find ourselves applying it like one when we’re extremely dry. This is an oil-gel emulsion with heavy emphasis on soothing and replenishing the lipid barrier. It can be used in practically any step of your routine due to its fluid, yet still weighty texture, but when applied like a liquid base, it leaves a very dewy (re: kind of greasy—it doesn’t get greasier throughout the day, but it maintains that initial shine for hours) finish on the skin that just maintains moisture like nothing else. We would only recommend this to people living in very cold climates or those of us dealing with a highly compromised skin barrier for a short period of time. Otherwise, it works as a great multi-tasker that can be mixed into creams for a softer emollient benefit.

• Eadem Cashmere Peel: ($42/5.07oz.) this is a thick gel-cream liquid base that feels on-par with MAKE and Equal Rxn, but it acts as a treatment toner to gently exfoliate and brighten skin as well. It’s still gentle enough for us to comfortably use it during the day under a more minimized routine or at night with our regularly scheduled products, but it’s not quite as hydrating as we would like to be.

• Slurp Labs Decalt: ($58/5.07oz., currently on sale for $46) another treatment toner, this is a milky bi-phase option (similar to Dr. Ceuracle) with a gentle BHA/PHA component. This is a long-time favorite product of ours and we treat it like a regular milky toner either day or night, often times alongside a retinoid we’re acclimated to, as it is the ideal low-concentration BHA option for us to get away with some mild decongesting benefit and oil balance while still housed in a comfortable, cushy fluid medium.

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