Where does this toner go in my routine?

Straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp. Anything thinner than a toner goes on before it, and anything richer goes on after. If you are adding it to a routine you already like, give it a week on its own first, so what you see is the Allantoin and not three changes at once.

What else is on the list besides Allantoin?

Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract and Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid. The order they are printed in on this toner's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Allantoin sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Hyaluronate and Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans.

Anua

Birch Moisture Boosting Toner

Name: Anua Birch Moisture Boosting Toner
Brand: Anua
Price: 15.99 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

White birch sap at a declared 70 percent is the first ingredient of this 250 ml Anua toner, and no water appears on the list at all, with betaine sixth, allantoin seventh and cucumber fruit extract eighth.

Reviewed by Nurcan Saglam, licensed dermo-cosmetic expert (Paris)

No reviews yet

$15.99

250ml

$6.40 per 100 ml

Korean-market formula
Ships from California or direct from Korea
Korean barcode and batch code intact

Suited to: Congested skinUneven textureDehydrated skinSensitive skin

Helps with: Shoppers looking for Allantoin in a tonerRoutines that want Allantoin and Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract in one stepFilling the toner step with a Korean-market formula

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Key benefits

Allantoin, the active this toner is built around
Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract and Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract on the same list, plant extracts
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid and Hyaluronic Acid on the same list, humectants
Sodium Hyaluronate and Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans further down the same list
Allantoin named seventh on the manufacturer list printed on this page

Key actives

7Allantoinactive

Allantoin is a comfrey-derived compound used to condition skin and soften the outer layer so it feels smoother. It is one of the standard additions to a formula built for easily irritated skin. On this toner's own ingredient list it is named seventh.

All products with Allantoin

8Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extractplant extract

Cucumber fruit extract, mostly water with sugars and amino acids. It is used as a light hydrating extract with a fresh, cooling character. It is named eighth on this toner's list, alongside Allantoin.

All products with Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract

10Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acidhumectant

Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid is hyaluronic acid cut into much shorter fragments. The smaller the fragment, the further into the outer layer it can settle, which is why serums stack several sizes together instead of using one. It is named tenth on this toner's list, alongside Allantoin.

All products with Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid

11Hyaluronic Acidhumectant

Hyaluronic Acid is a sugar chain the body already makes, and one gram of it can hold several litres of water. In a formula it is a humectant that pulls water to the surface of skin and holds it in a film, which is what makes skin look plumper while it is there. It is named eleventh on this toner's list, alongside Allantoin.

All products with Hyaluronic Acid

16Gardenia Florida Fruit Extractplant extract

Gardenia Fruit Extract is the traditional East Asian yellow dye plant. In skincare it is used as an antioxidant extract, and it can tint a formula. It is named sixteenth on this toner's list, alongside Allantoin.

All products with Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract

Inside the formula

70%

Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice base, as declared

Ingredients declared

No fragrance

on the list

7Allantoin10Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic16Gardenia Florida

7Allantoin
10Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic
16Gardenia Florida

Where each key active sits on the declared ingredient list, by entry number. Position is proportion: the further forward, the larger its share.

1 of 3

Anua Birch Moisture Boosting Toner

24 of 24 explained

Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice (70%) plant extract: Betula Platyphylla Japonica Juice is Asian white birch sap, tapped in spring. It is over 98 percent water with trace minerals and sugars, and Korean formulas use it in place of plain water as a hydrating base.
Dipropylene Glycol humectant: Dipropylene Glycol is a glycol used as a solvent and a light humectant. Its main job is keeping the rest of the formula dissolved and the texture fluid rather than adding hydration of its own.
Vegetable Glycerin humectant: Glycerin is the most used humectant in skincare. It draws water into the outer layer of skin and holds it there, and it is one of the very few ingredients whose hydrating effect is settled science rather than marketing. Higher amounts feel tacky, which is why it is usually blended.
1,2-Hexanediol humectant: 1,2-Hexanediol is a glycol used for two reasons: it holds water like glycerin, and it makes a formula harder for microbes to live in, so less traditional preservative is needed. Korean formulas use it heavily for that second reason.
Methylpropanediol humectant: Methylpropanediol is a small glycol used to hydrate and to help water-soluble actives penetrate the outer layer of skin more evenly. It leaves almost no tack, which suits watery textures.
Betaine humectant: Betaine is a sugar-beet-derived humectant that cells use to hold water. In a formula it hydrates and takes the edge off cleansers and acids, which is why it often appears alongside them.
Allantoin active: Allantoin is a comfrey-derived compound used to condition skin and soften the outer layer so it feels smoother. It is one of the standard additions to a formula built for easily irritated skin.
Cucumis Sativus (‰ÛÜCucumber) Fruit Extract plant extract: Cucumber fruit extract, mostly water with sugars and amino acids. It is used as a light hydrating extract with a fresh, cooling character.
Gluconic Acid chelator: Gluconic Acid is a mild sugar acid. It binds metal ions, adjusts pH, and is the acid gluconolactone turns into in water.
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid humectant: Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid is hyaluronic acid cut into much shorter fragments. The smaller the fragment, the further into the outer layer it can settle, which is why serums stack several sizes together instead of using one.
Hyaluronic Acid humectant: Hyaluronic Acid is a sugar chain the body already makes, and one gram of it can hold several litres of water. In a formula it is a humectant that pulls water to the surface of skin and holds it in a film, which is what makes skin look plumper while it is there.
Sodium Hyaluronate humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt of hyaluronic acid, and it is what most products labelled hyaluronic actually contain. The salt dissolves more readily and the molecule is smaller, so it sits in the outer layer of skin rather than only on top of it.

12 more explained

Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer humectant: Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer is hyaluronic acid linked into a mesh. It holds water in a soft gel on the surface rather than sinking in, and it releases that water slowly through the day.
Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans humectant: Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans are short fragments of the sugar chains that sit between cells in skin, hyaluronic acid among them. They act as humectants and give a cushioned feel.
Butylene Glycol humectant: Butylene Glycol is a small glycol that does two jobs at once: it holds water in the top layer of skin and it dissolves plant extracts and actives that plain water cannot. It also thins a formula, which is why watery Korean essences lean on it.
Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract plant extract: Gardenia Fruit Extract is the traditional East Asian yellow dye plant. In skincare it is used as an antioxidant extract, and it can tint a formula.
Isopentyldiol solvent: Isopentyldiol is a glycol used as a light solvent and humectant. It thins a formula, keeps extracts dissolved and leaves a dry finish.
Acrylates/‰ÛÜC10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer thickener: This is a carbomer relative with fatty side chains, so it thickens and stabilises an emulsion at the same time. It gives a light gel-cream body rather than a heavy one.
Tromethamine pH adjuster: Tromethamine neutralises acidic thickeners such as carbomer so they gel, and holds a formula near skin-friendly pH. It is used at a fraction of a percent.
Citric Acid pH adjuster: Citric Acid is used in tiny amounts to bring a formula to the pH its actives need, not as an exfoliant at that level. It is an AHA, so at much higher concentrations it can also exfoliate.
Propanediol humectant: Propanediol is a plant-derived glycol used in place of propylene glycol. It hydrates, carries actives into solution, and gives a lighter, less sticky slip than glycerin at the same strength.
Benzyl Glycol preservative booster: Benzyl Glycol is a solvent that also makes a formula less hospitable to microbes, so it appears in preservative blends built without parabens.
Ethylhexylglycerin preservative booster: Ethylhexylglycerin softens skin and boosts a preservative system, which is why it is nearly always sitting beside phenoxyethanol or 1,2-hexanediol. It also cuts down the odour bacteria produce, so it turns up in deodorising products.
Raspberry Ketone fragrance component: Raspberry Ketone is the compound that gives raspberries their smell. On a list it is an aromatic ingredient rather than a functional one.

How it works

The Birch Moisture Boosting Toner is a 250ml toner, used straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp. The active it is built around is Allantoin, named seventh on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract and Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Allantoin stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the toner format rather than by the list alone. Anua sells this Allantoin toner in Korea, and this is that version.

How to use

Use the Birch Moisture Boosting Toner straight after cleansing, morning and evening, while the face is still damp.
Pour a coin-sized pool into your palms and press it over the face in two passes rather than dragging it around with a cotton pad.
It goes on before serum and moisturizer, and the damp layer it leaves is what the step above it holds on to.
Twice a day, every day. Do not let it dry down completely before the next layer goes on, or you lose the reason for applying it to damp skin.

Worth knowing

Patch test this toner on a small area and wait a day before using it more widely, especially with Allantoin on the list.
Introduce this toner on its own for the first week, so anything your skin does is traceable to the Allantoin rather than to three changes at once.

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Anua Birch Moisture Boosting Toner

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Anua, Korean-market original

The Original Korean Formula toner from Anua, 250ml formulated with Allantoin and Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, shipped from California or direct from Korea.

Verify your unit when it arrives

Korean-market stock with the original barcode and batch code intact, exactly as it left Korea.

Anua uses a holographic QR seal that only the HiddenTag app can read. Install HiddenTag from your phone’s app store and scan the seal on the box. A camera app alone will not resolve it.

Source: Anua packaging, HiddenTag scheme

On the unit itself

The Korean-market barcode, unaltered from the retail package.
The manufacturer’s batch code, exactly as the maker printed it.

정품Genuine article, Korean-market stock

What professionals say

What skin-care professionals say about the key actives in this formula, quoted from the medical sources linked beside each.

Allantoin can tone down the dryness of the individual cells. It increases the water content of the skin, which means it helps to hydrate and moisturize.
Wilma Bergfeld, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic
Hyaluronic acid helps bind water to collagen, which traps water in the skin. That helps make the skin more plump and full-looking.
Samantha Stein, PA-CDermatology physician assistant, Cleveland Clinic