Hippies Have Sworn By This Toner For Years — Now I Do, Too

Soul-to-skin beauty brand, Heritage Store, knew about self-care before the term could even be hashtagged in an Instagram caption. Flashback to 1969: founder Tom Johnson, opens up the brand's OG brick-and-mortar near the shores of Virginia Beach. Cut to the 1970s: Heritage Store is the place to be for clean, vegan, dye-free wellness products. Finally, leap to 2022 and those bright pink rosewater-filled bottles are hydrating complexions across the globe, including my very own.

The moral of the story is, this brand knows the secret to creating timeless beauty products: simple, foolproof ingredients. Its 50-year-old main attraction, the Rosewater Collection, came into my life back in 2018 and has since earned a permanent spot in my bathroom cabinet — specifically the alcohol-free $12 Rosewater Toner. Read on as we uncover more secrets behind Heritage Store's everlasting best-sellers, and I give an in-depth testimonial for its humectant-filled toner that enhances every step of my skincare routine, below.

If you're not too well-versed in toner, worry not. Refinery29's former deputy beauty director, Rachel Krause, explained that the “...[toner regulates] pH levels that have been knocked off-kilter by certain chlorines or minerals in tap water," as well as, "[replenishes] lost moisture," and is most often the first step in one's skincare routine. Heritage Store states this toner is "not your average prep step," however, we think it simply goes above and beyond your average formula by priming, moisturizing, AND helping the skin absorb the rest of your regimen like a Scrub Daddy sponge. To achieve this, dispense the liquid onto a pad, and pat or swipe across a clean face.

We love a brand that keeps its ingredients list short and Heritage Store does just that. The Rosewater Toner features five elements: purified water, hyaluronic acid, aloe vera leaf juice, citric acid, and Damask rose flower oil. The best part? The product still works and isn't just aromatic bottled water. In an informative guide-to-toner YouTube video, professional Los Angeles-based aesthetician, Nayamka Roberts-Smith (@labeautyologist), dubs the toner her "affordable fave" thanks to its high volume of extremely hydrating humectants. I'm no scientist, but I can personally attest to the skin-plumping and moisturizing magic Heritage Store's toner does for my skin.

Hydration with a capital "H". This toner is the key to keeping my face oil-free, even, and bright — but, not necessarily on its own. If the rest of my products score the glowy skin-goal, then Heritage Store's Rosewater Toner passes the pH-balanced ball. I first splash it on my freshly washed face, then apply my chemical exfoliant, re-splash, wait to dry a tad, apply Caudalie serum, and repeat, repeat, repeat with the rest of my routine. Perhaps it's those moisturizing ingredients, the calming rosewater, the hyaluronic acid, or the wisdom that only decades of experience can deliver. All I know is that Heritage Store's rosewater helps melt my products into my skin like it was designed to do and makes me look good in pictures — which, embarrassingly shallow or not, is all I want.