Facial toner pads can be wonderful for your skin, whether you have oily, acne-prone skin or dry, prone-to-wrinkles skin and everything in between. Today, I’ll show you how to make DIY face toner pads using skin-friendly essential oils and other all-natural ingredients.
You can make your very own homemade face toner pads in just 5 minutes or less and you’ll end up with a cleansing and refreshing new skincare option your skin will thank you for!
Which essential oils are best for my skin?
One of the reasons I love working with essential oils so much is that you can completely customize the results you get by choosing a different oil. You can easily address any skin issues or areas of concern by choosing the correct essential oil for you!
For example, after a few months of trying out combinations for my dry skin, my personal favorite combo for my DIY facial toner pads is lavender, rosemary, tea tree, and lemon essential oils.
Again, you can use mix and match different combinations of essential oils to make a blend that’s most beneficial for YOUR skin.
For oily, breakout-prone skin, check out this list of recommended essential oils for acne.
If you have dry, wrinkle-prone skin, see these recommendations for essential oils for dry skin.
For sensitive, easily irritated skin, try one or more of these essential oils:
- lavender
- myrrh
- geranium
- cedarwood
- frankincense
- patchouli
- lemongrass
- juniper berry
- coriander
- wintergreen
*Safety Note when using citrus oils, such as lemon, grapefruit, bergamot, orange, etc: avoid direct sunlight for up to 12 hours or be sure to use SPF protection after using citrus oils as they may cause photosensitivity.
In addition to essential oils, coconut oil for acne is a winning ingredient in many all-natural skin care recipes.
Which Essential Oil Brand is Best?
For the best results, you will want to choose a high-quality essential oil brand that is 100% pure and offers third-party testing for quality control. Read this post for more info on how to choose essential oils that work for you and your family (beyond the brand.)
My favorite essential oil company is Rocky Mountain Oils, followed by Eden’s Garden, and Ancient Apothecary by Dr. Axe
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How to Make DIY Face Toner Pads
Now, let me show you how easy it is to mix up a batch of custom DIY face toner pads!
What You’ll Need:
- glass measuring cup
- Cotton face pads (you can also find these at the dollar store)
- Witch Hazel (I love Thayers Alcohol-Free Witch Hazel with Rose Water)
- Water
- vitamin E oil
- your favorite essential oils for your skincare
(you can also find these at the dollar store)
(I love Thayers 
Step-by-Step Directions for Making Homemade Toner
Start by filling your glass measuring cup with water and Thayers Witch Hazel.
The Thayer’s brand of witch hazel smells amazing since it has an added rosewater scent. I also like this brand because there is zero alcohol.
I personally am not a fan of adding alcohol to my face since I already have oily skin, and if I add alcohol, it dries it out and turns my oil production on high – making my oily skin even more oily! Just something for those of you fellow oily-skin sufferers out there to be aware of.
After you have combined the water and witch hazel, add one tablespoon of vitamin E oil.
Then add your favorite essential oils (see above for some suggestions).
Grab an 8oz mason jar and fill it halfway with dry cotton pads. Then pour in your toner solution so it just covers and completely saturates the cotton pads that are in the jar.
You can see in the picture above how this half is completely soaked with toner solution.
Fill the rest of the jar with more dry cotton pads. Push down until you fill the liquid soaking up in this new layer of dry pads.
Close up the jar and the toner solution will evenly distribute in the pads so that you get the perfect amount of wetness – not too dry and not dripping wet.
There are many essential oil combinations you can try and you can mix and match too as you try them out in your DIY refreshing facial toner wipes!
I leave a jar of these DIY facial toner pads in my bathroom and when I’m extra sweaty or oily from being outside or working out and can’t shower right away, I grab one of these facial pads and give my skin a quick wipe down.
They smell amazing and are wonderful in this warm weather when temperatures and humidity are turned up, and my skin feels icky in the middle of the day.
PrintDIY Face Toner Pads with Essential Oils
DIY face toner pads using skin-friendly essential oils and other all-natural ingredients.
Ingredients
- glass measuring cup
- Cotton face pads (you can also find these at the dollar store)
- 1/2 cup of Witch Hazel (I love Thayers Alcohol-Free Witch Hazel with Rose Water)
- Water
- 1 tablespoon of vitamin E oil
- 20–30 drops of your favorite essential oils for your skincare
Instructions
Start by filling your glass measuring cup with 1 and 1/2 cups of water. Then add 1/2 cup of the Thayers Witch Hazel.
Add one tablespoon of vitamin E oil.
Then add 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oils.
Fill an 8 oz mason jar halfway with dry cotton pads.
Pour toner solution in, to just cover and completely saturate cotton pads.
Fill the rest of the jar with more dry cotton pads. Push down until you fill the liquid soaking up in this new layer of dry pads.
Cover jar.
Pin the image below to save the DIY recipe for later.
More Essential Oil Recipes:
Here are some more homemade bath and beauty products that you can make for yourself at home:
- Natural Homemade Foaming Face Wash
- Homemade Liquid Foaming Hand Soap
- DIY Lavender Honey Face Wash in 5 Minutes!
- Homemade Coconut Oil Lotion Bars
- All-Natural Homemade Body Wash
Cheryl B says
Love this post, going to make some of these for sure, also the face wash! 😊
Erika says
Yay! Hope you love them too.
Kimberly says
Love that u use Rocky Mountain Oils, they are a fantastic brand. I cant wait to make my own toner pads now! I think I might use, lavender,frankincense and rose.
Erika says
I totally agree, Kimberly. And that sounds like a lovely combination of oils. You’ll have to let me know how it turns out!
Stacie says
Would you be kind enough to share a recipe for a facial toner that uses bergamot? I have read that it can be used as a toner, but am having a hard time finding a specific recipe. I am going to use what you so kindly shared here, but am not sure of how many drops of bergamot and/or what other oils I can combine it with. The other oils I own are lavender (Hungary), orange and dreamtime (all from Rocky Mountain Oils–which I love!!) I am new to essential oils, so just looking for more guidance. Thank you!!
Michelle says
Can you reuse the original toner over again?
Kristi says
Can I sub Argan oil for the Vit E oil??
Erika says
Yes, you can! I love Argan oil and use it often myself. 🙂
Lily says
I made these and love them! But I’m wondering if I did something wrong… I had a lot of toner mix left. I don’t want to waste my oils. Is this recipe for one 8 oz jar or two?
Penny says
How much water should be used in the toner pad recipe?
Mieka says
Made for my son in college- his face breaks out so bad at times it has left scarring.
I used Thayer witch hazel-cucumber with Manuka essential oil- wow smells manly perfect for males.
Like you thought it would be perfect for when he comes in from work or sports to go to classes he can grab one quick to clean and freshen face.
I bought supplies you recommend to also make the charcoal soap bars!
Hope this will help with past and present acne.
Thanks!
Mieka
deanna says
How long is this safe to use? Does it go bad fast without the alcohol?
Erika says
It should last 3-4 weeks. I have always used my batches up within 3 weeks and they were fine.
Heather says
Do you usually wash your face first or can these work as a makeup remover?
Erika says
I usually wash my face first, then use these toner pads. I wouldn’t use these as eye makeup removers because you don’t want essential oils in your eyes.
Niharika Verma says
I think I should go for tea-tree because I have acne-prone skin 🙂 Thank you for Sharing.
Lynne says
Hi, just made this tonight. Is it really 1 1/2 cups of water? I wound up throwing away about half of the mixture as 2 cups of liquid wouldn’t fit in a 1 cup jar. Or should I have kept on squishing the pads down and adding more mixture?
Lori says
I only used half a cup out of the two cups of liquid, too. I wonder if the measurements are off, or is it the size of the jar?
Jodi says
I made.this.for my daughter for Christmas,I loved it so much I made some for myself
Erika says
I’m so glad, Jodi!
Catherine says
Great recipe! How do you keep the Vit E or jojoba oil from separating from the witch hazel? Mine rose to the top of the stack of pads.
riley self says
Can reusable cotton pads be used?
Erika says
Yes!
Anneke says
I would love to use it but since this is water based shouldn’t there be any preservative in the recipe?
Erika says
The witch hazel is a natural preservative
Mojoblogs says
This is a great idea! Thank you for sharing this and also thanks for the tips especially about the alcohol on oily skin. This is really great. I will definitely try this soon.
Moksha Essentials says
Love this stuff ! As I was working on getting more things about this, the article has helped me to solve various clarifications. Thanks for the great content.
Rose says
I made this and poured into the jars with cotton pads but just realized I forgot to put in the vitamin E. Will they still work out ok? Any suggestions?
Erika says
Yes they will still work – the vitamin e is a great addition, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Phyllis Kern says
Hi,
Do you have a recipe with a specific number of drops of certain oils for teenage acne skin? Also can I sub jojoba oil?
Thank you!
PK
Erika says
Hi Phyllis – here you go – this post is all about how to use essential oils with acne and includes tips and recipes – https://livingwellmom.com/best-essential-oils-for-acne/
Good luck!
Aromachology Oils says
This is a really cool idea. I am going to try makE my own toner pads this weekend! I think someone has already asked this earlier but is it necessary to add vitamin E? Can I add some plant oils like jojoba oil or avocado oil instead?
Erika says
You can absolutely tweak it! Jojoba oil or avocado oil are great substitutes.