Beauty ponders

This wonderfully pampering toning lotion removes surface impurities while it perfects skin's surface—smoothing, softening and refreshing.Flecked with elemental gold, and with a luxuriously silky texture, it leaves skin with an invisible veil of moisture and helps maintain the optimum oil/moisture balance.

The toner has a lot of golden parts in it, they are visible inside the bottle but also when you put them on a cotton pad. However, in application they don't become noticeable so it didn't disturb me at all. This is probably Estées idea of luxurious. There's no smell to it, when looking at the ingredient list fragrance is also on the lowest part, this makes sense - I prefer no smell to heavy fragrance any day. Apart from the gold (it's really on the list, go see!) and the tiny bit of fragrance there are no irritating ingredients in this toner. The texture is liquid (surprise...) but thicker than other toners I've used in the past.

I use this toner after cleansing my face: I pour a bit of it on top of a cotton pad and pat/rub it gently on my face (you can also use it around your eye area). I immediately noticed the moisturizing ability of this toner: for once my skin didn't feel particular dry after finishing with the pad. Apart from that, it also feels refreshing as most toners do. After having used it for quite some time my skin definitely looked and felt better, it made my skin more glowy and that's always a good thing. However, with the winter and the cold my sensitive skin sometimes becomes even more sensitive and on those days this toner is irritating and stings a bit on my cheeks and mouth area. I only experienced this on the days when my skin really felt sensitive, which was about 15% of the time since I began using it. This is quite the turnoff for me, because on all other levels, I really like this product.

The goods: moisturizing, improves your skin with a glow, low on fragrance (good ingredients)

The bads: expensive price, can be irritating

Overall, I still like this product and would recommend it to those who don't have sensitive skin. I also read that if you're sensitive to jewelry, you should be carefull with this. If you want to try it, get a sample to be safe... The biggest obstacle on this product definitely is its price - it's Estée Lauder you know. Let's face it: it's expensive BUT it is so far the best toner I've ever used. Personally I wouldn't buy it again because my skin sometimes reacts to it and I don't like that feeling. I will continue my search and hopefully I'll come across something even better...

Toner recommendation - do tell!!