Chemical exfoliation instantly becoming an essential thing in my skincare routine for the past couple of years. I love to try different acid toners to see how it reacts to my skin - especially when acid toner is a better alternative to exfoliate the skin without being too harsh or abrasive on the skin. I found it very gentle and doesn't irritate my skin as much as the conventional exfoliation method - face scrub. 

Couple of months ago, I've found one K-Beauty brand which aggressively into acid toners. I really wanted to try it and really put high hope it works as good as my Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion which has been discontinued in August last year. I'm still looking the best dupe or perfect substitute to replace my favorite acid toner from Clinique. Then I found COSRX AHA/BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner which claims to be a daily exfoliating liquid to even out the skin tone while cleanse and maintain the optimal skin balance. 

The product is in liquid form, water-like consistency, colorless and odorless. It has a non-sticky formula, lightweight and absorbs into skin really fast. It is claimed that the product helps to rejuvenate the skin with enriched minerals and vitamins, while preventing blackheads, whiteheads, and even the blemishes. Every claims sounds promising until I tried it myself. 

How to use it? You only need to soak a cotton pad with the adequate amount of the product and wipe the skin thoroughly, allowing the skin to fully absorbs all the liquid and then follow with the rest of skincare. You can also spritz the product onto the skin and let it dry and it will work as a face mist. However, both methods does not work on me though. I'm not sure if the product is not for me or my application method. Besides helping out on reducing the blackheads, strangely I have not seen any significant reduction in pimple (if I have any) and I don't know what's wrong, I am breaking out even more from using this product. I try to calm myself and thought it was my diet so I give this product another try. Same - it makes my skin purging even more, with cystic acne. Noooooo! 

Then I decided to run the ingredients on CosDNA but it turned out the ingredients are all 'clean' without a single acne potential. But why am I still breaking out from this product? Then I remember, acid toners are not created equal, I need to check the pH level of this product and the result is, pH level of this product is 3.90; and thus the mystery of why my skin is reacting to this product is solved. It contains 0.1% AHA and 0.1% BHA which is hardly to justify it as an independent exfoliator. Although the pH level is relatively low therefore potentially irritating as the product does not contain enough concentration on the acids to function as a true exfoliant. How? Let me explain further. 

Fact-check!

For a Salicylic Acid (BHA) to function as exfoliator, the pH level should not be more than 2.97 while for a Glycolic Acid (AHA) to function as exfoliator, the pH level should not be more than 3.83. 

How does this make a difference on my skin? 

The fact that AHA and BHA behave differently at different pH level is very important because the outer layer of the skin is oily. For the BHA to pass through the the oily outer layer of the skin, and to go into the skin to do their work, the AHA need to be in their uncharged which means - free acid form.  So I guess, pH 3.90 obviously did not do any good to my skin. I'd rather going back to my AHA concentration from Alpha-H Liquid Gold and find another BHA product separately to ensure my skin is reacting to the correct pH level.