These gentle, hydrating toners impart the glassy look popularised by Korean skincare – and I can’t do without them

I wouldn’t say it was rare that the beauty industry invents a whole new product category, but my own willingness to adopt another step certainly is. Ten years ago, I’d have told you not to bother with toner unless you particularly enjoyed using it, which is as good a reason as any in a world on fire. And yet over the past couple of years, the new “milky toners” have, to me at least, become so functional as to be indispensable.

These are cloudy fluids, thicker than a toner but thinner than a moisturiser, usually containing gentle, universally skin-pleasing ingredients like glycerine, ceramides and peptides.