Even better? It’s not so difficult to whip up yourself. If you have a rose bush or two in your yard, or if you’ve recently come across a bouquet, you can easily transform those decadent petals into a hydrating rosewater spray. A bonus of the DIY route is that it doesn’t contain the skin-drying alcohols that so many face mists out there have. It should keep fresh for up to one week, says Blankenship, as long as you store it in the fridge. (Plus, “cold rosewater is such a refreshing delight to skin, hair, and body in the summer,” she adds.) Just be sure to toss the water after the week is up. Since this recipe is totally natural, there are no preservatives to keep the product fresh like a store-bought spritz. You can extend the shelf life a bit if you add a quarter-cup of witch hazel extract to the mix although you might want to patch test the variation before spritzing all over your face: Witch hazel will not suit drier or sensitive skin types. But if you’re a fan of the natural astringent, you can transform your rosewater into a hydrating toner by combining ¾ cups of witch hazel, ¼ cup of your rosewater, and 2 Tbsp. aloe vera juice or gel. That way, you’ll have a balancing toner that’s not too stripping. The aloe involved will make it incredibly skin-soothing. “Like attracts like, so water attracts water. When you spray on a water face mist, you have like a five-minute window when you feel great, but after that it’s actually pulling up your own water from the skin to the surface where it can evaporate,” board-certified dermatologist Whitney Bowe, M.D., previously told mbg. Or, if you want to use it alone, be mindful that your DIY face mist should feel hydrating—not just like a fine spritz of water. “[Mists] feel like they almost leave a residue of hydrating ingredients on your skin, which they do,” says Bowe. “They are leaving those moisturizing, water-loving molecules on the surface of the skin, which will trap your own water. So even if some of the water from the mist evaporates, you’re not drying out your own skin.”
