Summer is almost upon us but for me in Toronto, it sure feels like we’re in the height of summer this week. We’re seeing temperatures of 30~ degrees Celsius as of May 31st, through to June 2nd and my god am I glad I’m not scheduled to work those days. If you haven’t seen it on social media, Benton recently released a toner pad with Guava as a main focus/ingredient and I’ve got the review ready for you guys!
As you guys may or may not know, Benton as a brand is sort of known for its tried and tested vegan skincare products. The look of their products is pretty simple with not a lot of fancy packaging, but some are very aesthetic to look at. When I first started my skincare journey, the most popular product that Benton was known for was the Snail Bee line, specifically the ultimate serum and the content essence.
Some other items they may be known for are the Benton fermentation eye cream, the Let’s Carrot multi-oil and the Airfit defence sun cream. And if you’ve followed my blog for a little while, my first (I believe) review of a Benton product was their Honest Scalp Nourishing Ampoule. And now I’m getting the chance to try out their newest launch!
I received this product for free from Picky and Benton through the Picky Reviewer Program in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own!
So Benton’s Guava Toner/Mask Pad was made in collaboration with Beauty Content Creator Bbomni, to kind of target/address the needs of people who have sensitive or sensitized skin and are looking for a cooling and hydrating mask and toner pad. As a result, we now have Benton’s Guava Toner/Mask pads which are supposed to be made from 70% Jeju Guava Leaf Extract.
Additionally, they also have added other calming and soothing ingredients alongside the guava; yam root, green tea, kelp, houttuynia cordata (heart leaf, amongst other names) and calendula. So if you’re worried about this not being cooling enough, I think they have covered their bases really well lol.
Now getting into it, the box is a simple kraft brown colour with black printed letters about the details of the product. The container for the pads is a rather large white pop-top container, though you can twist the lid to remove the pop-top and peel back that protective foil. Underneath the lid is a pair of clear tongs you can use to grab the pads, they are secured to the top of the lid with a few selectively placed nubs.
When I first opened the foil seal and saw the pads, I was a little taken aback because they’re this light lavender blue colour. I like it but was lowkey expecting something like light pink or light coral to match the guava ingredient but I’m not complaining. The tongs are very easy to use, though it may take one or two tries to put them back your first time (especially if you’re like me that haven’t used tongs for mask products yet).
The pad itself is very very thin, almost like those nice thin sheet masks. And it’s because of this that they can adhere so well to your skin when placed. They’re absolutely soaked with the toner/essence and if you tilt the container just right, you’ll see that there is a lot of essence left over in the container too, but luckily they won’t drip everywhere when you take them out.
After putting this on my face, the cooling effect of the mask and ingredients was almost instantaneous. It was cooling for a very long time and it’s easy to tell when the pad’s essence has been fully absorbed by the skin; first, they feel less adhered to the skin, and second, the pads go from a semi-translucent lavender blue to an almost opaque white.
I spend a little more time outdoors this summer due to my job and also heading out more, so I’ve used this on days when my skin is very overheated from spending time out in the sun, and it makes the nighttime skincare routine so much easier on those days. I just pop on a sleeping mask or a lightweight cream after the mask and then go to bed.
It’s easy to do that because there’s a lot of moisturization in the essence itself and I found that there was no discernable scent with the product (yeah it doesn’t really smell like guava in my opinion, but that’s okay), and it also soothes my skin (and the occasional pimple).
Overall, it retails around $28 (gonna guess USD) on Benton’s website, and should be available on other platforms as well so it’s a decent price for 70 pads. I highly recommend getting this toner/mask pad this summer, to change your skin-cooling routine, especially on those super hot days!
