These days, I've been going through a serious phase of embracing Asian beauty products, especially from Japan and South Korea. I'm totally stepping up on my "korean-inspired skincare routine" game and by now I've been doing it for almost a year. So, today I have a review of a toner that is quite long overdue given at how much I've worn it in the past months. It's from Mamonde, a brand that is currently being endorsed by South Korea's popular actress, Park Shin Hye. Although 'Mamonde' is a word originated from French (Ma= I, Monde= The World), let's us learn how to pronounce the brand name just like the Korean does!!
In hangul Mamonde is written as;
마몽드 = 마(ma) → 몽(mong) → ë“œ(due), and the korean way of saying it, is "ma-mon-duh", the 'duh' is more like 'the' sound not 'DUHHH'. The brand is under Amorepacific, that housed a lot of other popular k-beauty brands such as Etude House, Innisfree, Laneige, and IOPE. My interest towards their well-raved Rose Water Toner mostly sparked after seeing Sunnydayhe talking about it on Youtube.
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| www.mamonde.com |
Features
-Moist Rose Water Toner with 90.89% of rose water instead of water.
-Soothing and moisturising toner
-Free from synthesis pigment, animal ingredient and mineral oil.
-Damask rose water 90.89% from Bulgaria
-Low temperature, supercritical pressure rose water extract processed for the minimised change of active ingredients
How To Use
1. Post-cleansing: Use it with cotton pad as a toner after cleansing.
2. Mist: Use it as a face mist by transferring the toner into an empty cosmetics spray bottle.
3. Sheet Pack: Wet the toner on sheet pack for soothing pack.
Packaging
The plastic bottle is unsqueezable, making it feels sturdy. It's in pink colour, nothing special but I do like the transparency because I can see how much product I've got left out of the original 250ml.
I don't know about others, but mine doesn't come with seal wrapped bottle and I bought it straight away from their Myeongdong outlet. It has a pink sealer though indicating the product is new and unopened.
Manufactured date in Y MM DD format printed on the bottom of the bottle.
Ingredients
Mamonde highlighted that their rose water toner contained 90.89% of Damask Rose Water instead of just water. Other ingredients are;
Butylene Glycol, Prunus Mume Fruit Extract, Nelumbo Nucifera Flower Extract, Glycerin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Carbomer, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Tromethamine, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance.
[CosDNA- link]
Discussions
1. Now, let's us take a further look into their main ingredient; Damask Rose, scientifically known as Rosa damascena. In some countries, this species of roses is grown in a very large quantity for exportation since it's known for its water and oil extracts. Bulgaria and Turkey are the current main producers of rose extracts in the world and Mamonde uses the one grown in Turia Village, Bulgaria.
2. Traditionally, rose water can be obtained by distillation process of the flowers whereby they use a heat source to "cook" the rose petals + water mixture. Water (liquid) is then brought up to its boiling point and turned into 'vapour' before going through the cooling process that changed back the vapour into liquid phase again. That liquid consists of oil on top (rose oil) and water at the bottom (rose water).
Image: Cultivation and Utilization of Aromatic Plants by H. Panda
Low-temperature process (below 30 degree Celsius) is preferred by Mamonde Lab and I've read that it can be archived by steam distillation. At high temperature, some of the chemical compounds that are found naturally inside rose petals such as Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Methanol (CH3OH), Acetic Acid (CH3COOH) and Acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) can be destroyed hence resulting in a low quality of rose water.
Note: For further reading, [this] paper would help you to understand more about Damask rose, including the history, benefits and it's scientific research. Also if you want to learn more about how different pressures and temperatures would affect the extraction of Damask rose, click on [this] journal.
3. The next ingredients consist of emollients and water-binding agents that give moisture to the skin. They are butylene glycol, Prunus mume fruit extract, Nelumbo nucifera flower extract, glycerin and ethylhexylglycerin. Then you have something like carbomer and hydrogenated castor oil that act as viscosity controlling agents. Tromethamine is a pH adjuster and also help to stabilise the formulation. Phenoxyethanol acts as preservative and fragrance is present as the last part of the ingredient list. Biasa company tak akan reveal part fragrance tu and just put it as 'fragrance' so company lain tak boleh tiru~.
Image: www.kew.org
Trial Period
6 months. This is my current daily toner.
How I Use it?
I used to apply this rose water toner with cotton pad as suggested by Mamonde, but then I thought why wouldn't I apply it with fingers to save cost? It is possible because this is a hydrating toner (draws water, gives moisture), not something exfoliating (removes dead skin cells, which you'll be needing cotton pad). So fingers it is and I just gently pat the toner onto my skin.
The ways I use it according to my korean-inspired skincare routine:
1) cleanser ⇾ Mamonde Rose Water Toner ⇾ serum ⇾ moisturiser
or
2) cleanser ⇾ first treatment essence ⇾ Mamonde Rose Water Toner ⇾ serum ⇾ moisturiser
or
3) cleanser ⇾ pH adjusting toner/clarifying toner ⇾ AHA/BHA chemical exfoliants ⇾ Mamonde Rose Water Toner ⇾ serum ⇾ moisturiser
Verdict
This is not a stand-alone rose water toner which I think it can be good or bad, depending on skin's sensitivity. Good because it's packed with a lot of skin conditioning agents, bad because some of the ingredients such as plant extracts, fragrance or even the rose water itself could be irritating to some people. Thankfully, the toner hasn't yet broke me out or causing burning sensations to my sensitive skin.
Besides hydrating, I think the main aims of this toner is that it should be refreshing, calming and soothing. Rose water is already known to be therapeutic because of its aromatic scent and I personally love it. Idk how to explain but you know...it just makes me feel alive.
The consistency looks just exactly like water because that what it technically is but this rose water has a minimal greasy feeling due to glycerin. It absorbed into the skin quite fast, not the fastest I'd say but it's still within seconds. I'd give this Mamonde toner 3/5 for its moisturising effect. My skin doesn't feel dry after toning and I really do like the feeling that it gives afterwards.
Strong selling point- the scent! hahahah jk but best gila kot?! rasa nak peluk bawak tido je botol toner ni with the lid open so I can sniff it, lol.
Besides hydrating, I think the main aims of this toner is that it should be refreshing, calming and soothing. Rose water is already known to be therapeutic because of its aromatic scent and I personally love it. Idk how to explain but you know...it just makes me feel alive.
The consistency looks just exactly like water because that what it technically is but this rose water has a minimal greasy feeling due to glycerin. It absorbed into the skin quite fast, not the fastest I'd say but it's still within seconds. I'd give this Mamonde toner 3/5 for its moisturising effect. My skin doesn't feel dry after toning and I really do like the feeling that it gives afterwards.
Strong selling point- the scent! hahahah jk but best gila kot?! rasa nak peluk bawak tido je botol toner ni with the lid open so I can sniff it, lol.
Price wise- I honestly think it's pricey in the Malaysian market, RM69 for a 250ml bottle.... what??! and it's a hydrating toner anyway, so I'm sure you can find something that has almost similar ingredients but with a cheaper price range. This makes me wonder if I could use the regular bakery shop/hypermarket air mawar (rose water) that's being used in culinary as a toner. I mean, it's just water + rose extract + propylene glycol, probably not moisturising as the Mamonde ones, but it's still rose water.
Nevertheless, Mamonde Rose Water Toner is something Ilike love💗. Don't talk about the pH, because I ain't got any pH strip available but I assume all toners should be acidic or at least ph-balanced (okay, update! the pH is 5! thanks Syzahmd for testing it!). Would I repurchase? Most likely but I'd definitely going to stock it up if I ever visit South Korea again because I got mine only at 15000 won (around RM56) for 2 bottles, making each bottle priced at 7500 won, definitely not as expensive as it is in Malaysia. Would I recommend? depending on what kind of toner you're looking for. I like mine to be just a simple hydrating, alcohol-free ones, so a yes, but if you prefer your toner to be in the moisturising side or something that has an exfoliating effect, then this probably wouldn't be a good option. :)
Content: 250ml
Links:
Personal rating: 4/5 :D
Nevertheless, Mamonde Rose Water Toner is something I
Product Info;
Name: ROSE WATER toner
Brand: Mamonde
Type: Toner
Country of Origin: Made in South KoreaContent: 250ml
Shelf life: 12 months after opening
Limited Edition: No
Price: RM69.90 (250ml), RM99.00 (500ml)
Availability (Malaysia):
(1) In store- Mamonde Malaysia [Locations: AEON 1 Utama and AEON Mid Valley]
(2) Online- althea.kr. New to althea? Sign up using my referral link and get RM20 credits instantly for your first purchase.
(1) In store- Mamonde Malaysia [Locations: AEON 1 Utama and AEON Mid Valley]
(2) Online- althea.kr. New to althea? Sign up using my referral link and get RM20 credits instantly for your first purchase.
(1) Official Websites:
Malaysia- http://www.mamondegarden.my/
Korea- http://www.mamonde.com/
(2) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mamonde.MY/
(3) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamondemalaysia/
Malaysia- http://www.mamondegarden.my/
Korea- http://www.mamonde.com/
(2) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mamonde.MY/
(3) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamondemalaysia/
Personal rating: 4/5 :D
6 Comments :
cute bottel.. love at first sight.. hehehe
tgk botol pn dh rase segar. kalau pkai lg segar ni
hahahahah betul! completely agree~ botol baru dia pun cantik tau!
I think I got mine in their previous packaging, *still, it's cute* haha.
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