A Herbal/Floral Facial Toner

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This recipe is adapted from The Queen of Hungary’s Water recipe I found in a book of herbal beauty recipes Earthly Bodies, Heavenly Hair written by Dina Falconi. It has the most gorgeous herbal recipes in and I can recommend it, I downloaded it from The Kindle service at Amazon.

Doing a search on this tells me the water was firstly created for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary in the 1300’s, other sources believe it to have been created by gypsies but whatever the folklore surrounding it, it is a most beautiful thing to use. There are many variations on-line so it’s easy to actually just adapt using whatever grows in the garden. Though Dina Falconi suggests it’s use for Normal/Oily Skin I have Dry/Mature skin and I really like using this. It leaves skin feeling fresh, dewy and soft.

You will need Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, Witch Hazel, Lavender Essential Oil (optional) and your selected herbs and florals. This quantity makes around 6 x 100 gram bottles which may be too much for the average woman to use but you get the idea of the technique.

Basically you infuse your herbs and petals in raw organic cider vinegar and leave to sit for up to two months. Other recipes have suggested 2 weeks…I left mine for 6 weeks. I used around 2 handfuls of Lavender flowers and leaf, Calendula petals, Rose petals, Violet leaf and flowers, Sage, Comfrey, Chamomile, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Peppermint and a little lemon zest.

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Pack into a preserving jar and pour vinegar over, seal and leave to sit. After 6 weeks you have some faded herbs and a very astringent smell.

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Strain the liquid through fine muslin (or similar) squeezing to get all the liquid out. Measure and add an equal quantity of Witch Hazel. Add some Lavender Essential oil to suit, I only added around 15 drops to this quanity of liquid. Bottle, it will keep for “many” months though I am not sure how many that means. (Don’t pour it into a jar that previously contained Pickled Garlic as I did with the amount I put aside for me!) Use a cotton wool ball to apply.

I love this recipe, nice to make and lovely to use.

 

37 thoughts on “A Herbal/Floral Facial Toner”

  2. Wendy… Wow.. you are getting so creative with all your herbal potions lol.. this one sounds wonderful.. Thank you so much for sharing…
    I know my daughter makes sprays using essences and crystals… I will save this page in my browser to show her.. I am sure she will be very interested in this.. As she loved every thing which is natural… 🙂

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  3. Have you put some into your shop? It sounds lovely and I am a sucker for good, pure old fashioned recipes – especially if they come from gypsy stock! 🙂 As soon as I am financially viable I will be doing a wee bit of shopping 🙂 xoxo

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  4. wow! That sounds amazing:-) Was there a reason you added certain herbs to yours? Possibly how they might help with the skin? I have read cider vinegar is good for your skin, but never would of thought you could make this lovely mixture:-) You have motivated me to try some herbal things this summer:-) Just like tumeric for teeth, lemon ( for I can’t remember-lol)-hand wash?, you share some great ideas + so easy to make for they are right in your kitchen. Seems silly to EVER spend money on skin care! Unless of course they are soaps made by-Wendy!:-)

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    • My recipe is very similar to hers Robbie, except I added the violets because I had them and they are very good for the skin and peppermint refreshes in anything like that. I didn’t measure just threw handfuls in so I don’t know if mine was any stronger or weaker but it was packed in. She added 100 drops of lavender but I didn’t feel that much was necessary. She has far more experience in this field than I do so I expect everything she chose was for its qualities…rose, comfrey, chamomile, rosemary and calendula are all things I use in skincare for their therapeutic values. No need at all to spend money on skincare except for the odd ingredients, certainly alot cheaper than expensive potions and lotions 🙂 Try this, you will LOVE it. You can also use dried anything by the way as I will have to do come seasons end.

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      • No bother 🙂 I don’t honestly know Robbie, Borage is one herb I haven’t used yet, or researched, however I am going to this week as it is flowering wild everywhere around us at the moment. I looked for it’s uses last week for a short while and couldn’t find alot about it just quickly.

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      • I know people add it to salads for it has a cucumber flavor. I do’n t eat it. I also use it in my tomato beds to keep away the tomato hornworm.
        Comfrey
        Family: Boraginaceae
        Genus: Symphytum (sim-FY-tum) (Info)
        Species: officinale
        Borage
        Family: Boraginaceae
        Genus: Borago (bor-AH-go) (Info)
        Species: officinalis
        I got this information form “Daves Garden” my go to for Latin names.
        I have heard these two plants are used a lot in pest control etc. Permaculture uses a lot of comfrey, but they look like they are from the same family + species, so they would cross. They are very close + from what I read both taste of cucumber. I found some resources that do not recommend eating Borage.
        It is a great plant, but they look like the same type of plant. What do you think?.
        My borage comes back every year-it reseeds:-)
        Let me know what you find out-I love it for the bees love it!

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      • That is fascinating! It looks like it would be great for dry skin + wrinkles! Thank you for sharing, Do you think it would work in the toner, too you gave us the recipe for?
        I never knew any of that + to think I only used it for companion planting:-) It is really useful!

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  6. Lovely toner Wendy and an excellent share :). All of my jars smell like garlic but I think we can take solace in knowing that the vampires should leave us both alone while we are using it 😉

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  7. Well this seems doable, if not for the weather here. But it will help me think about what to grow in the garden. Starting this spring, I intend to add a few things to add some colour. The previous home owner seems to have concentrated on low maintenance. Which isn’t a bad thing. I *must* not get as carried away as our previous yard…LOL Looks really nice in your bottles, labeled too Wendy!

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  8. Wendy you are so busy being creative lately! I will make a batch of this myself and pass it on to my daughter-in-law who is always looking for some thing that will work on her skin. She suffers from acne and until meeting me used some pretty harsh chemicals on her skin. Her acne is looking better but still there.

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    • We LOVE pickled garlic!!! Dislike the days of peeling the garlic to make it but appreciate the eating 🙂 I had never ever used anything like this but wanted to try it for a week to see what it was like before deciding whether good enough to sell. Very happy with it and now a user!

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      • I eat it to keep my immune system boosted. It does work. I don’t get colds or flu. This little thing I had after new year was more about my furnace and fatigue. I’ve been eating pickled garlic since 2000. They are not created equal.Finding a good source has been challenging. When I find it, I buy a half dozen quarts. Brought my cholesterol down without meds as well. I swear by it. 🙂

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      • Yes, we eat it for our immune systems too, I didn’t know that about the cholesterol though, that’s very interesting. We rarely get colds but if we do get the beginnings of one we take garlic and horseradish tablets, they work great!

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