How We Formulated the Collagen + Neroli Hydrating Toner for Visible Pores & Dehydrated Skin

A look inside the Bonji lab notebook

A toner sounds simple.

Formulate one well, and it isn't.

We wanted one simple skincare step for people who don't enjoy elaborate routines but still want meaningful hydration after cleansing. And because Bonji formulates for real environments, the brief couldn't simply be "make it hydrating."

Indian skin deals with heat, humidity, pollution, UV exposure, hard water, sweat, air conditioning and changing weather. We wanted something lightweight enough to fit into that reality.

So our question became:

Can we make a hydrating toner for dehydrated skin that does more than just hydrate, helping skin deal with everyday environmental stress and look smoother and more refined, without adding another complicated step?

That became the starting point for our Collagen + Neroli Hydrating Toner.

Why we started looking beyond Vitamin C

Ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C, is a well-studied antioxidant used in skincare. But it comes with a formulation challenge: stability.

Pure ascorbic acid is sensitive to oxidation and formulation conditions, making stability in a finished product challenging.

We wanted to explore a different approach: could a botanical antioxidant system give us strong radical-scavenging activity while fitting better into a lightweight, water-based toner?

That led us to hydrosols.

Prototype 01: The idea was right. The formula wasn't.

Our first two to three prototypes were hydrosol-based, but they were too strong. During internal evaluation, we observed burning, stinging and comedonal responses.

That wasn't acceptable for an everyday toner.

So we went back to the question:

Which hydrosol actually made sense for this formula?

Seven to eight iterations later, Neroli made the cut

We screened Neroli, Chamomile and Geranium hydrosols for antioxidant activity, alongside pH compatibility, sensory feel and tolerability.

For the antioxidant screening, we used a DPPH radical-scavenging assay.

 

Values are means of n=3 replicates tested in Bonji's in-house lab. The ascorbic acid reference was measured on a mass/volume basis, not v/v, so it is a reference point rather than a direct potency comparison.

At 100% v/v under our test conditions, Neroli showed the highest mean inhibition among the three hydrosols tested.

We also saw a concentration-dependent decrease in Neroli's DPPH inhibition.

That didn't make Neroli universally "the best" hydrosol. It made it the strongest candidate within our screening process.

Then we tested the complete toner.

It showed 98.34% mean DPPH inhibition, compared with 99.21% for our ascorbic acid reference under the respective test conditions. This data gave us an important formulation signal:

The antioxidant system we had built was worth taking forward.

Building the formula

Once Neroli made the cut, we built the rest of the formula around three things:

Lightweight hydration. Skin comfort. Everyday usability.

Glycerin, Sodium PCA and Sodium Hyaluronate form the hydration core. These humectants help attract and retain water at the skin's surface.

Allantoin and Cucumber Extract were included for the skin-comfort side of the formula.

Geranium and Chamomile hydrosols became part of the botanical system alongside Neroli.

Hydrolyzed Collagen was included as a conditioning and moisturization-support ingredient. Its role here is surface conditioning, not rebuilding the deeper collagen structure of skin.

Vitamin B12, or Cyanocobalamin, was included as a functional skin-supporting ingredient. Topical B12 has been studied in inflammatory skin conditions, including atopic dermatitis, and research has explored its anti-inflammatory activity and nitric-oxide scavenging properties.

How does the toner work as a system?

The toner isn't built around one hero ingredient. Different parts of the formula perform different jobs.

HYDRATE
Glycerin + Sodium PCA + Sodium Hyaluronate help attract and retain water.

CONDITION
Hydrolyzed Collagen supports surface conditioning and moisturization.

SUPPORT SKIN COMFORT
Allantoin + Cucumber Extract + botanical waters contribute to the comfort-focused formulation.

ANTIOXIDANT SUPPORT
Neroli and the botanical system provide radical-scavenging activity demonstrated in our DPPH screening.

BRING THE SYSTEM TOGETHER
The formula uses a micellar nanostructure approach as part of its formulation technology.

The result is one lightweight step designed around hydration, conditioning, comfort and antioxidant support.

What about visible pores?

Visible pores are influenced by factors such as genetics, sebum and skin structure. A toner can't permanently change the underlying size of your pores.

What a well-designed formula can do is support hydration and surface condition, which can influence how smooth and refined skin looks.

That distinction influenced how we approached this toner.

We didn't want an aggressive pore-targeting formula that relied on stripping the skin.

We wanted hydration and skin comfort to remain central.

Why is the toner naturally pink?

That colour isn't added for aesthetics.

Vitamin B12 naturally has a strong red-pink colour, which gives the finished toner its characteristic pink shade.

The colour comes from the formula itself.

And the same goes for the scent.

There is no added perfume or synthetic fragrance. The soft floral aroma comes from the combination of Neroli, Geranium and Chamomile hydrosols used in the formula.

The toner smells like the ingredients we chose.

We also looked at what we had actually made

We didn't stop at testing individual ingredients.

We characterised the finished toner to understand the nanoscale structures present in the formulation.

DLS testing showed a particle-size range of 124 to 145 nm, with a PDI of 0.21.

TEM imaging at AIIMS Delhi examined more than 100 particles, with individual particle sizes broadly around 130 to 190 nm.

DLS and TEM measure particles differently, so their numbers aren't expected to match exactly.

For us, the important part was simple:

We wanted to understand what we had actually developed, rather than assume it from the formulation on paper.

These tests characterise the formulation. They don't, by themselves, prove enhanced skin penetration or clinical efficacy.

What we learned

Seven to eight iterations didn't give us one perfect ingredient.

They gave us a better understanding of the problem.

Neroli, Hydrolyzed Collagen and B12 are in this formula because they made sense within the formulation we were building, not simply because they sound good on a label.

That's what we want Formulation Notes to show you.

Not just what's inside a Bonji bottle.

How we decided what belonged inside it.

Because at Bonji, we don't start with products.

We start with questions.