The Fresh Rose Floral Toner and the Mamonde Hydrating Beauty Water contain similar ingredients, are both housed in minimalist yet photogenic bottles, and feature juicy rose scents. The biggest difference? One is nearly half the price.
Raise your hand if one of your first ever skin care products was an astringent toner that left your skin feeling tight and irritated. *Raises hand*.
I’ve since learned that it’s a myth that your skin has to feel that way in order to be truly clean, and that it’s a myth that all toners are harsh. The category has come a long way in recent years and there is no shortage of gentle yet effective toners available, especially coming out of Korea.
Instead of drying ingredients like alcohols and irritating chemicals, the new class of hydrating toners are water-based and contain soothing ingredients like licorice root, lavender oil, and rose.
As someone with dry and sensitive skin, I’ve long been a fan of the Fresh Rose Floral Toner. It’s alcohol-free, makes my skin feel refreshed and nourished, smells lovely, and gets the job done.
The only thing I don’t love about it is the $40 price tag, so I was thrilled to discover the Hydrating Beauty Water from Mamonde, an AMOREPACIFIC brand known for its flower science research. The toner is $17 cheaper, yet features a similar gentle, rose-infused formula.
Like the Fresh toner, the Mamonde Hydrating Beauty Water contains extracts from damask roses – used for the flower’s moisturizing, soothing, and mild astringent properties – that are strategically hand-picked in the morning when the flowers yield the most skin-benefitting oils.
What sets the Mamonde toner apart (aside from the price), is that one drop makes my skin feel instantly soft and supple (so a little goes a long way), while the Fresh one requires more layers to get there. The feel of the Mamonde formula is perhaps more comparable to the Fresh toner’s newer sister, the Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner.
The Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner contains more varieties of rose-derived ingredients, plus hyaluronic acid, but the Mamonde toner feels just as hydrating and less sticky.
If you’re not the biggest fan of rose fragrance, however, you may find the Fresh toner’s subtle scent more appealing. The scent of the Mamonde Hydrating Beauty Water is strong, but I don’t mind because it doesn’t smell artificial, which makes sense considering the fragrance is all natural. 
Bottom Line
Fresh and Mamonde are far from the only brands that offer a rose toner, and it’s true that there are even more inexpensive options to choose from. However, I’ve tried a lot of toners in my years as a beauty writer, and the Mamonde Hydrating Beauty Water stands out from the crowd thanks to its deeply nourishing and soothing formula, it’s gorgeous scent, and its affordable price.
+What other K-beauty dupes would you like to see? Let us know in the comments below!
