Is it just me, or do the balmy months of summer make everyone look a little more beautiful? Spending long, lazy hours in the sunshine boosts your hair with natural highlights, while outdoor festivities like concerts, dance parties, and pick-up sports put your body in tiptop shape. Even the perpetual perspiration hovering over your skin does its part, giving your skin a permaglow effect that no Instagram filter can imitate.
Best of all, summer gives you a chance to strip down your skin care regimen to the bare essentials. Retire the heavy moisturizers and serums until autumn, and rotate your toners and exfoliating scrubs to the back of the shelf. For summertime, all you need are a basic cleanser, a 50 SPF sunscreen, and a refreshing hydrosol.
If you’ve never used a hydrosol in your skin care routine, you’re in for a treat. Sometimes known as facial mists or “flower waters,” these distillations of natural plant material do the work of several products with one refreshing spritz. The mild plant acids contained in a hydrosol act as a low-key toner, while the natural oils offer a barely-there layer of moisture to keep your skin from drying out in the sun. The soothing botanicals can even soothe a sunburn or provide relief from bug bites. But even without all these cosmetic benefits, I’d still be packing my hydrosol everywhere I go, enjoying its cool, misty, plant-infused pick-me-up during the season’s sweltering moments.
Now that summer is here, stock up with our favorite hydrosols. After all, it’s only getting hotter out there.
Best Hydrosol Overall: Alder New York Cooling Mineral Hydromist
Like a marine layer of fog drifting through a eucalyptus grove, this ultra-fine mist delivers a light but heady burst of nourishing plant extracts and minerals infused with a guy-friendly herbal scent.
Best Hydrosol for Dry Skin: Osea Malibu Sea Minerals Mist
This toning mist is supercharged with the rare and robust vitamin complex contained in Gigartina and Undaria seaweed. Those with dry skin will especially appreciate that this formula is alcohol-free.
Best Hydrosol for Oily Skin: Farmaesthetics Classic Waters Grapefruit and Glycerin
If summer leaves you with breakouts, clogged pores, or a dull, oily complexion, you need this hydrosol stat. Naturally antiseptic grapefruit, combined with witch hazel and glycerin, clears the skin of bacteria and other contaminants, leaving your face with a healthy moisture balance and a dewy finish.
Other Hydrosols We Love
Kiehl’s Cactus Flower and Tibetan Ginseng Hydrating Mist
A luscious hydrosol that harnesses the cactus’ native ability to produce beautiful blooms even under the most punishing, parched conditions. The addition of Tibetan Ginseng increases your skin’s oxygen absorption for a plumper, more youthful complexion, while essential oils from lavender, geranium, and rosemary detoxify and protect skin from summertime’s harsher environmental elements.
Fat and the Moon Sage and Rose Face Mist
This facial mist is a minimalist marvel, combining potent rose geranium hydrosol with just two other ingredients — clary sage for mild astringency and jojoba oil for softness. The amazingly affordable price point makes it easy to justify the addiction you’re sure to develop.
Aesop Immediate Moisture Facial Hydrosol
This classic rose water formulation is boosted with bergamot peel and chamomile bud for the ultimate one-two punch of soothing balm and refreshment.
Bathing Culture Golden Hour Hydrosol
As ethereally sensuous as a sunset-washed complexion, this hydrosol blends Moroccan neroli flower with Turkish rose, both harvested by night in order to capture their most potent essence.
