I’m in my mid-30s, live in the UK, and have that slightly awkward mix of combination and sensitive skin. My T-zone gets shiny, my cheeks get tight, and my face goes bright red the second I walk from cold air into a hot room. This past winter was rough. Radiators on all day, cold wind on the school run and the commute, long days at a desk. By January my skin felt tight, prickly, and permanently flushed.

I kept seeing numbuzin No.1 Pure-Full Calming Toner on TikTok. People were pouring it into their hands like water, slapping on three layers, and swearing it was better than the famous Anua heartleaf toner. A lot of them had reactive or acne-prone skin and were saying it didn’t break them out. After a week of scrolling past the same green bottle, I gave in and ordered the big size.

When it arrived, the first thing I noticed was the bottle. It’s huge. Not in a “looks big but empties fast” way. Just genuinely a lot of product for the price. Plain label, nothing cute, nothing trying too hard. It looks more like something from a chemist’s shelf than a dressing-table ornament, which I actually like. It feels very “I’m here to do a job, not pose”.

The toner itself looks and feels like straight water. Clear, runny, no gel texture at all. No little bits floating around, no colour. I tip it into my hands and it just sits there like a pool of water, then disappears as soon as I press it into my face. There’s no big scent moment. If there is a smell, it’s so faint I stop noticing it after two seconds, which is ideal for my easily annoyed skin and nose.

The first evening I used it, I’d just come home from a day in an overheated office and a windy bus stop. My cheeks were pink, the area around my nose felt hot and tight, and I had that stiff, “I’ve washed my face too hard” feeling after cleansing. I poured a small amount into my palms, patted it over my face, and waited. It sank in straight away. No stickiness, no film. My skin just felt slightly cooler and a bit less tight. I did another light layer for good measure, then followed with moisturiser.

I woke up the next day and my face looked less worked-up. Not glass skin. Not a miracle. Just a touch less red, a touch less frazzled. That was enough to make me keep going.

After a few weeks, it started to feel like the step that steadied everything else. I use it morning and night, always after cleansing. In the morning I usually do one decent layer. At night I often do two lighter ones. I pour it into my hands, press it over my face and neck, and let it sink in for a moment. While my skin is still a bit damp, I go straight in with moisturiser. That timing matters. When I catch it while it’s still slightly damp, my cream spreads better and my skin ends up looking plump and comfortable instead of dull and thirsty.

My cheeks had been the worst this winter. Flaky in places, tight in others, and quick to flush. With this toner in the routine, they feel less fragile. They still get a bit pink if I’m cooking over the hob or standing near a radiator for ages, but the colour settles down more quickly. That horrible “hot face” feeling doesn’t hang around all evening any more. The centre of my face looks calmer, and I’m not constantly reaching for a cold flannel.

Hydration-wise, it’s much better than it looks. You’d think something so thin wouldn’t do much, but my skin tells the difference on days I skip it. Without it, my cheeks start to feel papery by early afternoon and foundation catches around my nose. With it, my face holds onto moisture longer, even when the heating is blasting. My T-zone still gets shiny, because that’s just my skin, but it doesn’t feel stripped underneath the oil the way it used to.

I’ve also noticed a slow change in how my pores look. I don’t think it’s literally shrinking anything, but the area around my nose and inner cheeks looks softer and less obvious. When my skin is well hydrated and less irritated, the pores don’t stand out as much. Make-up sits better over that area now. I can get away with just a bit of concealer and powder on most days instead of feeling like I need full coverage.

I still get hormonal spots along my chin and jaw. This toner hasn’t stopped those completely, and I didn’t expect it to. What it has done is not make them worse. That sounds like faint praise, but if you’ve ever tried a “calming” product and ended up with clogged pores and new breakouts, you’ll know how important that is. I haven’t seen any extra congestion, no new clusters in strange places, no “why is my forehead suddenly bumpy” moments. It feels safe on the parts of my face that already tend to misbehave.

Because my skin is quite sensitive, I’m careful with stronger products. I still use things like retinol or mild exfoliating serums, but only a couple of nights a week. On those evenings, I use this toner first and let it settle in, then add the active, then a simple moisturiser. It takes the edge off the harshness a bit.

My face feels more prepared, less like I’m throwing actives straight onto bare, thirsty skin. I’ve had fewer angry patches and less flaking around my nose since doing it that way.

On nights when I’m tired or not in the mood for a long routine, I’ll sometimes keep it very simple. Cleanser, two light layers of the numbuzin toner, one comfortable cream, bed. My skin doesn’t look fancy the next morning, but it does look steady and rested instead of stressed. For a mid-30s face that has to deal with work, heating, weather, and not enough sleep, that feels like a win.

One thing I really appreciate is how low-maintenance it feels. I don’t have to think about whether it will clash with other products or create some strange texture under make-up. It doesn’t pill, it doesn’t sit on top, it doesn’t make my sunscreen misbehave. It just goes on, sinks in, and lets everything else do what it needs to do. I can be half-awake at 6:30 in the morning, splash this on, and know I haven’t made anything worse.

The big bottle has also changed how I use toner in general. Because there’s so much product and the price isn’t outrageous, I don’t feel like I have to ration it. I’m happy to be generous with it, especially on very cold or very dry days. If I’ve been out walking in the wind or stuck in a hot train carriage, I’ll add an extra layer at night without worrying that I’m burning through something precious and tiny.

It’s not a dramatic product. There’s no instant “wow” moment, no fragrance cloud, no fancy texture to film for social media. But when I look back at where my skin was at the start of winter and where it is now, this toner is one of the main things that changed. Less tightness. Less lingering redness. Fewer days where my face feels like it’s about to crack after cleansing.

For my mid-30s, combination, sensitive skin, numbuzin No.1 Pure-Full Calming Toner has ended up being the quiet bit that holds the rest of my routine together. Not the flashy step, just the reliable one I reach for without thinking, because the days I skip it are the days my skin reminds me why I bought it in the first place.