This is a tonic water for acne prone skin. I have used a combination of various botanical waters or distillates with Pine Extvolat. As mentioned in this post, Pine Extvolat is a botanical water obtained from the Pinus sylvestris bark. It is indicated for almost every skin condition and type and can be used as a ‘whitening’ or brightening ingredient to even skin tone, as an anti ageing ingredient and studies have been completed which shows it can reduce sebum by 30% thus being a great inclusion for products for acne prone and oily skin types.

The most interesting part of the story is that by using 30-50% of the product it is possible to create a self preserving product. As someone interested in self preservation or hurdle technology, this has piqued my interest. It is about time that I used it as I was sent a sample probably over 2 years ago, and it is probably reaching its use by date (supplier says 3 years).

Along with the pine I have used Frankincense, Yarrow, Rock Rose and Witch Hazel as the active ingredients and a combination of glycerin and propanediol to draw moisture to the skin keeping it hydrated and moisturised.

Rock rose is known for its beautifying and regenerative properties, Frankincense distillate is antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, and yarrow is soothing. Witch hazel is an astringent commonly found in products for oily and acne prone skin. The naturally found tannins will tighten skin and shrink pores. As previously discussed Pine Extvolat will help regulate sebum production.

Without adjustment this skin tonic has a pH of 4.4 however don’t be surprised if your version is anywhere between pH 4 and 5. It has been well established that an acidic pH is beneficial to acne prone skin.

Please contact the guys at Pine Extvolat for more details.

Formulation for Pine and Frankincense Tonic

Method

1. Add each ingredient one by one and stir until combined.

2. Decant into a bottle with a spray or serum cap.

Disclaimer

This product was made on the 26th November 2021, has not undergone any stability testing or preservative stability testing and has not been optimised for cost. If there are any issue then I will update.

UPDATE

This product was checked on the 7th February 2022 and some mold growth was observed. This could do with a number of things.

1. The container was contaminated at the start - unlikely but not impossible.

2. The rockrose hydrosol was contaminated enough to overload any preservation power in the Extvolate.

3. Extvolate doesn’t work as well as we might have thought. It may need additional back up i.e. chelating agent, or lesser amounts of a traditional preservative or anti-microbial.

4. I need to use a higher concentration of Extvolat.

Worth a note that I made a water based serum with Extvolat the recently and tested with some antimicrobial dip slides and it appeared to be stable. I am going to keep testing this product as it may be the case that it acts more of a preservative booster than a preservative replacement.