Toner for combination skin

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner has the best record for combination skin, with 19 of 20 shoppers saying it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas. Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner follows at 11 of 12, then Clinique Clarifying Lotion at 16 of 19 and Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner at 16 of 19, tied with each other, while The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner has the weakest record here at 14 of 20. Each record counts just shoppers who said they have combination skin.

  • 181 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Apr 2015 to Jun 2026

Updated . How we count

Did it keep oily areas in check without drying the rest? What shoppers said
  1. Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner 20 said either way
  2. Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner 12 said either way
  3. Clinique Clarifying Lotion 19 said either way
  4. Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner 19 said either way
  5. The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner 20 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for oiliness or dryness. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner Best record Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner 19 of 20 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Stinging or irritation comes up in 17% of The Ordinary reviews, and in 13% or less of the reviews for each of the other toners here.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points reviewers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner

Glow Recipe

Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner

19/20 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas

Smoother skin comes up in 10% of its 30 reviews and a gentle feel in 10%, while 7% say it costs too much.

What buyers praise

  • Smoother texture 10%
  • Gentle on skin 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Stings or irritates 13%
  • Too expensive 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 19 of 20
By skin tone (from reviewer profiles)
  • Fair to light7 of 8
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 4
  • Medium-tan to tan3 of 3
2 Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner

Farmacy

Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner

11/12 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas

Shoppers call it gentle in 33% of its 30 reviews, while 17% mention smoother skin and 7% call it good value.

What buyers praise

  • Gentle on skin 33%
  • Smoother texture 17%
  • Preps skin well 10%
  • Good value 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Stings or irritates 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 11 of 12
  • Brand site 7 of 9 shown, not counted
By skin tone (from reviewer profiles)
  • Fair to light4 of 5
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 5
3

Clinique

Clarifying Lotion

16/19 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas

The counts cover all four formulas, and shoppers pick the formula number for their skin on the listing. A gentle feel comes up in 33% of its 30 reviews, though 7% mention a strong smell.

What buyers praise

  • Gentle on skin 33%
  • Smoother texture 10%
  • Preps skin well 7%
  • Good value 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Strong smell 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 16 of 19
By skin tone (from reviewer profiles)
  • Fair to light10 of 12
  • Light-medium to medium2 of 3
  • Medium-tan to tan3 of 3
4 Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner

Fresh

Rose Deep Hydration Toner

16/19 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas

Some shoppers find it pricey, with 12% of its 32 reviews saying it costs too much, though 22% call it gentle and 19% mention smoother skin.

What buyers praise

  • Gentle on skin 22%
  • Smoother texture 19%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 12%
  • Stings or irritates 9%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 2 of 2
  • Sephora 14 of 17
  • Brand site 11 of 11 shown, not counted
By skin tone (from reviewer profiles)
  • Fair to light7 of 9
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 5
5 The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner

The Ordinary

Glycolic Acid 7% Toner

14/20 say it kept their oily areas in check without drying their dry areas

Its 6 misses mostly said it broke them out. Of its 59 reviews, 15% mention smoother skin and 10% call it gentle.

What buyers praise

  • Smoother texture 15%
  • Gentle on skin 10%
  • Good value 3%

What buyers complain about

  • Stings or irritates 17%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 6 of 9
  • Sephora 8 of 11
By skin tone (from reviewer profiles)
  • Fair to light1 of 3
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 5

Where these numbers come from

The 5 products ranked here carry 66,949 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for oiliness or dryness and read the newest matching reviews, up to 40 per product and store, posted between Apr 2015 and Jun 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  2. Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner Ulta (30 reviews counted)
  3. Clinique Clarifying Lotion Ulta (30 reviews counted)
  4. Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner Ulta (32 reviews counted)
  5. The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner Ulta (59 reviews counted)

Questions buyers ask

Which toner works for combination skin?

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner has the best record (19 of 20), followed by Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner (11 of 12). Then come Clinique Clarifying Lotion (16 of 19) and Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner (16 of 19), tied with each other, and The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner (14 of 20).

How many shoppers are behind each record?

The second number in each record is the group size. It runs from 12 shoppers for Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner to 20 each for Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner and The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner. Group size is built into the order, so a record from a bigger group counts for more than the same share from a smaller one.

Do these records test what is in each toner?

No. The counts are what shoppers with combination skin said after using each toner, not a test of ingredients. Skin varies from person to person, so follow the label directions on whichever one you pick.

Which of these toners are sold on Amazon?

Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner, Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA Toner, Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner and The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toner are sold on Amazon by the brand or Amazon itself, and Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Toner is both the leader and the best pick sold on Amazon. For Clinique Clarifying Lotion, we could not confirm the exact Amazon listing, so its button searches Amazon for it.

Related problems

Toner Toner for oily skin Top pick: Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Toner 156 buyer reports Face wash Face wash for combination skin Top pick: Drunk Elephant Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleanser 270 buyer reports Face moisturizer Moisturizer for combination skin Top pick: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream 278 buyer reports Face primer Primer for combination skin Top pick: Tatcha Silk Canvas Primer 239 buyer reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.