When K-beauty brand Glow Recipe launches a new product, I pay attention. Their products offer fruit-forward formulas—watermelon for hydration and brightening, plum for deep hydration, and avocado for nourishment, to name a few—sensorially satisfying bouncy and jelly-like textures, and they actually do what they say they will do. Plus, the instantly recognizable, colorful packaging adds an extra element of joy to my self-care routine. This time around, the launch in question is a line of three toner pads—the LHA + AHA Korean Watermelon Toner Pads, Vitamin C Brightening Korean Toner Pads, and PDRN + Repair + Soothe Korean Toner Pads—aimed to replicate the results of a Korean facial. Consider it your traditional bottled toner, but pre-soaked on single-use cotten pad. Glow Recipe's take on this category is a five minute treatment that combines the benefits and appeal of toners and sheet masks in an easy-to-use format. With most Western toner pads, you'll likely swipe one across your face and be done. With Glow Recipe's new launch, we're encouraged to use these pads as a mask—one under each eye and one on the forehead—for the sake of allowing the product to truly penetrate the skin. Rooted in the K-beauty skincare philosphy that prioritizes hydration and gentle ingredients, these pads are suitable for everyday use—no need to worry about overdoing it or irritating your skin.
Glow Recipe was created by Sarah Lee and Christine Chang's desire to bridge the gap between Korean (hydration, gentle-yet-effective ingredients, attainable price point) and Western skincare philosophies (clean beauty, ingredient safety, and sustainability). People love the brand because it embraces elements and concepts important to US consumers (clean beauty, ingredient safety, and sustainability). The brand's most viral products, such as the Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask and Watermelon Niacinamide Dew Drops, have quickly reached cult status. Thus, I had high hopes for the new Toner Pads.
Would they join the ranks of their cult-loved predecessors? Read ahead for my honest review.
My Skin:
I, thankfully, get to come to work and go on and on about how dry my skins is. I also, thankfully, get to try a lot of products that help me combat that. So yes, my skin is dry all year round. My skin can also be reactive to certain products and ingredients, is prone to redness (when stripped by a cleanser that isn't jam-packed with hydrating ingredients, for example), and is the unfortunate canvas for mountainous, under-the-skin hormonal breakouts. In the winter, my dryness goes hand-in-hand with dullness. The lack of exposure to the sun results in a paleness and lack of glow and that, paired with my already-existing dryness, results in a dullness that I'm constantly seeking ways to improve. On top of seeking products to combat dullness, I am constantly on the search for more hydrating products to add to my rotation, as well as products to keep on deck for when those monthly breakouts strike.
The Products:
Glow Recipe's toner pads come in three distinct forms: the LHA + AHA Korean Watermelon Toner Pads, the Vitamin C Brightening Korean Toner Pads, and the PDRN + Repair + Soothe Korean Toner Pads. The pads feature a curved indent, making them easy to place wherever desired, especially underneath the eye. Each container comes with a removal inner disk that makes the container (filled with three full bottles of serum!) extra leak-proof for all your travels, as well as tweezers to easily lift a single pad, making application seamless and sanitary. These pads are intended to be placed on the face—one on each cheek underneath the eyes, one on the forehead, and others wherever your heart desires—like a face mask. Then, you are instructed to leave on for five minutes, or up to 15 minutes if you're craving a deeper, more intense exfoliation, a little more TLC for your dark circles, or a bit more hydration, respectively. At the end, go ahead and swipe the pads over your face and neck. Then, your facial is complete!
The LHA + AHA pads aim to exfoliate, soothe, and hydrate, promising exfoliation without stripping and leaving you with that uncomfortable tightness that I personally know too well. Lactic acid, mandelic acid, salicylic acid, citric acid, and more work to remove dead skin cells and decongest pores, while the watermelon enzyme complex gently resurfaces the skin. Meanwhile, glacial water, centella, and aloe calm, soothe, hydrate, and reduce redness. This was the first of the trio that I tested and I did so as a part of my nighttime skincare routine (and the one I was most nervous about as a dry-skinned girl prone to irritation and redness, especially in the winter).
The PDRN + Repair + Soothe pads have one simple, straightforward goal: to soothe irritation. The proprietary prickly pear PDRN supports skin repair and revival. The centella, a staple ingredient in Korean beauty, soothes, strengthens, smooths texture, and calms redness—plus, it works to repair and strengthen the skin barrier, which is always a win in my book. Lastly, adenosine, glycerin, and beta glucan all work to deliver moisture, increase elasticity, and to smooth the skin. Targeted towards those with irritated, dry, or sensitive skin, I, as someone with skin that often feels like all of the above, felt like this was right up my alley.
Lastly, the Vitamin C pads promise to brighten, refresh, and revitalize while specifically targeting dullness, dark circles, and hyperpigmentation. The formula includes five types of vitamin C, caffeine to literally make your skin appear more awake, niacinamide to fight against those tough, seemingly impossible to get rid of darks spots that I think we all know a little too well, and guava extract for a brightening and hydration booster, in true Glow Recipe fashion. I tested this one as a part of my morning skincare routine. My dry skin naturally gets extra dry in the winter, and dullness naturally comes along with that. I was less nervous about testing this one and had hopes of my skin appearing generally more alive.
The Results:
I was pleasantly surprised by the LHA + AHA pads; the formula wasn't overly stripping, didn't burn at all upon application, and left no irritation behind. After using, I followed up with a hyaluronic acid serum, face oil, and rich face cream, all which I would use regardless. I did, however, still wake up with my skin a bit dryer and tighter than it would have been had I stuck solely to my already established, ultra-hydrating routine and avoided adding an exfoliant into the mix—this makes complete sense and is to be expected, though. While my skin did feel a bit tighter in the morning, I need notice some of my pesky, itchy chin breakouts reduce in size and severity. I will be keeping these as a part of my routine for when my pores are clogged or I'm experiencing pesky hormonal breakouts and need the help of LHAs, AHAs, and the pore cleansing and anti-inflammatory powers those ingredients provide.
I used the PDRN + Repair + Soothe pads the morning after I tested the LHA + AHA pads, hoping they'd deliver a boost of hydration, and left the pads on my face for 15 minutes. Call it placebo, the results of wishful thinking, or whatever you would like but, upon applying these, I immediately felt the benefits. The consistency of the product felt a little heavier and more jelly-like than the other two, which sparked my initial hope. I, for scientific and research purposes, as well as out of personal curiosity, didn't immediately follow up with the rest of my skincare routine—I let the product sit and settle without interference for the sake of really getting an idea of its hydrating powers. Then, I gave them a little time to settle before continuing with my skincare routine. Normally, my skin, so desperate for moisture all the time, absorbs product and dries out very quickly—this was not the case in this experiment, not even ten minutes after removing the pads.
I used the Vitamin C pads the next morning and was genuinely surprised by how hydrating the product it is—entirely my fault for doubting the power guava extract. I have too often experimented with vitamin C products in high concentrations that have the counter-effect of drying out my skin. I have, because of that, not been keen on including the ingredient in my routine. I have, however, been very open to the idea of finding a product that is the right balance for me and my finicky skin. All day, I felt more hydrated and, therefore, like my skin appeared brighter. Bonus points for livening up the look of tired under eyes!
For all three versions of the toner pads, I felt like a single pad was stocked with enough product to treat the entire face, making three pads per use way more than enough—I wouldn't call this wasteful, but think it's important to mention that if conservation is top of mind for you, occasionally forgoing the intended mask method and swiping one pad across your face will the do trick—and, of course, preserve the lifespan of the product. Regardless of if you swipe one across your face or use three at once as a mask, make sure to spread the extra product literally everywhere that could potentially benefit from it (my KP prone chest in my case).
Worth It?
Each product retails at $30 and contains a total of 60 pads. The toner pads are generously saturated, contain so much product, and are jam-packed with highly effective ingredients. With that said and with the price-point-to-product ratio in mind, it feels very much worth it. With three very distinct offerings, I believe that everyone can find at least one that makes sense for and benefits their skincare routine. I, personally, will be keeping and utilizing all three for different purposes, occasions, and those dreaded times of the month where my skin truly has a mind of its own.
TL;DR:
Trusted K-beauty brand Glow Recipe launched a series of toner pads: the LHA + AHA Korean Watermelon Toner Pads, the Vitamin C Brightening Korean Toner Pads, and the PDRN + Repair + Soothe Korean Toner Pads. I, a certified dry-skinned girl, embarked on this testing journey with hesitations about one, neutral feelings about another, and high hopes for the last. In the end, despite having very particular skin, concluded that each of them will remain in my skincare routine for various reasons: The LHA + AHA for when I'm dealing with clogged pores or hormonal breakouts, the Vitamin C for consistent brightening and fading dark spots in a way that won't strip my skin, and the PDRN + Repair + Soothe for hydration, resetting, and strengthening my skin barrier.
