Shiseido Aqualabel Moisture Lotion (R) and Thayers Alcohol Free Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera are two very different kind of toners. For one thing, Aqualabel Moisture Lotion was made in Japan and the Thayers Witch Hazel Toner was made in USA, and on the label, it specified that "with only American Ingredients". Kind of funny, I think.
Shiseido Aqualabel Moisture Lotion (R) is called アクアレーベルモイスチャー ローションR （しっとり）化粧水 in Japanese, until now I couldn't understand why toner is called 化粧水 in Japanese, from the kanji, maybe it was meant to be used before any cosmetic is applied to the face. Anyway, for me, before I buy any Japanese skin care products, I will look for the word "しっとり", which means moisture. For Thayers toner, I bought this because I read a lot of good reviews for the witch hazel toners. Plus, it was in discount when I browsed the online store, so I bought my first Thayers product then.
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| Shiseido Aqualabel Moisture Lotion (R) and Thayers Alcohol Free Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera |
By the time I took the photo, the Aqualabel Moisture Lotion R is finished, I used it until the final drop. This lotion R is good enough for me, I think it is quite moisturizing for me. However, although I didn't like the smell, I didn't hate the smell either. I used this by dropping a few drops (the instruction mentions around the size of 500 yen coin, so it is slightly bigger than the old version of Malaysian 50 cents) of the liquid to the cotton pad and after that, applied to my face. I didn't feel stickiness on my face after I used this, so I guess it's all right.
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| Shiseido Aqualabel Moisture Lotion (R) |
For the Thayers Witch Hazel Toner, number one thing that I noticed was the texture of the toner, it is so fluid. The second thing was the smell, I really dislike the smell. I still use it though because although it didn't improve my skin, it didn't make it worse. In terms of ingredients, I think the most interesting item is the un-distilled witch hazel. On the label, it even mentions that "THAYER'S proprietary Certified Organic Witch Hazel (derived from the bark) is not distilled, thereby maintaining all the beneficial natural tannins. Assay of hamamelitannin shows that Witch Hazel bark extract is 21 times richer in hamamelitannin than the leaf extract and 87 times richer than the stem extract (Resource: Vennat, Bl, "Tannins from hamamelis virginiana" Planta Medica 54(1988):454-437)". Hahaha, extract from a peer reviewed journal. I am not sure what is the use of hamamelitannin, but it certainly didn't make miracles on my skin. Too bad, I was hoping it can help tighten pores. Like the Aqualabel Lotion R, I applied this with cotton pad. I never tried to use with only hands though. I used this very generously to finish it fast, still I took nearly six months to use it up.
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| Thayers Alcohol Free Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera |
In terms of packaging, both plastic bottles were very sturdy. For the opening nozzle of the two toners, the opening of the Thayers is smaller than the Aqualabel's opening. It might be due to the viscosity of the toners, the Thayers has lower viscosity than the Aqualabel Lotion R, hence the smaller opening, since it is easy to flow like water. The Aqualabel has a bigger opening but still ok, it has higher viscosity, so I didn't face the issue of over dispense of the lotion.
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| nozzle size of the bottles |
As far as cost is concerned, Thayers is cheaper by volume wise. However, I think it will be in my not going to repurchase list. For the Aqualabel Moisture Lotion R, if it's in discount, maybe I will repurchase, there are so many selections outside!
