La Mer Tonic vs. Treatment Lotion vs. Concentrate: Differences and Reviews 2025

• About La Mer

La Mer, one of the world's most coveted luxury skin-care brands, comes with legendary origin stories, cult followings, and a connection to the complex world of aerospace physics.

It all began when Dr. Max Huber, a physicist who suffered burns in a lab accident, set out to harness the healing power of the sea to restore the look of his skin.

Twelve years and thousands of experiments later, Huber invented what is now known as La Mer's Miracle Broth. The formula is created by fermenting sea kelp and other nourishing ingredients, transforming them into a cell-renewing elixir. The sea kelp sparked the creation of Crème de la Mer Moisturizer, and underpins the entire collection of luxury skincare products and helps heal dryness and infuses skin with all-day moisture. La Mer hand-harvests its sea kelp sustainably in the heart of Vancouver Island, Canada. Each batch of the moisturizer contains drops from the previous batch, ensuring a continuous line to the original elixir. Since the invention of the original Crème de la Mer, the brand expanded its offerings to include La Mer cosmetics, firming masks, lifting eye serum, exfoliators, toners, cleansers, and more.

If the original formula La Mer cream is too heavy for your skin, try La Mer soft cream, a lighter version with the same restorative properties. Another option is La Mer treatment lotion. Ideal for combination skin, La Mer lotion absorbs fast enough to wear under makeup.

For skin that needs more intense nourishment, there's also a range of La Mer serum formulas and La Mer concentrate products. La Mer The Concentrate is technically also a serum but offers a super-powered dose of Miracle Broth™ to help smooth fine lines, restore skin's moisture barrier and calm irritation quickly.

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• The Difference & Reviews

| La Mer The Essential Tonic

($95.00/200ml, up to 6% cashback at La Mer)

Highlighted Ingredients:

- Miracle Broth™: Supports skin's oxygen capacity and energy to activate renewal.

- Hyaluronic Acid: Helps skin retain moisture and make skin feel more supple and bouncy.

Detail: Get glowing and healthy skin with the help of La Mer The Tonic. This toner contains nutrients that work together to moisturise and energise the skin. Both soothing and hydrating, The Tonic is perfect for use after cleansing the skin.

Formulated with La Mer's Miracle Broth, this toner contains a selection of key nutrients that work to calm and tone the skin after cleansing. It helps to revitalize tired skin, leaving it looking and feeling healthier while providing an enviable glow from within.

Skin type: Ideal for all skin types.

Texture & Fragrance: Consistency-wise, there isn't an alcohol feel to it when applied onto skin, and it doesn't feel drying out or heavily moisturising. La Mer The Tonic is just a standard water type toner, and it doesn't irritate the skin. If you have some sensitivity towards scent though, La Mer The Tonic does carry some aged hue. It doesn't linger on skin, so it has never been a problem, but there's definitely a bit of off putting smell upon initial application.  

Review: If you are looking for a classic toner, La Mer The Tonic is certainly one of the top choices. It also complements any other boosting essence or first essence-in-lotion that you use, so it definitely works great as a skincare booster. La Mer The Tonic does its job as a toner, and it also works well with the majority of skin types.

| La Mer The Treatment Lotion

($185.00/150ml, up to 4% cashback at Sephora)

Highlighted Ingredients:

- Miracle Broth™: Supports skin's oxygen capacity and energy to activate renewal.

- The Revival Ferment: Helps protect skin, encouraging it to resist visible irritation and sensitivity for a calm, healthy-looking complexion.

- Liquid Hydrogel: Cushions on contact and penetrates rapidly to deliver sustained all-day hydration.

Detail: Deliver all-day hydration with La Mer The Treatment Lotion. When used after cleansing, this powerful lotion energises the complexion and helps to prep it to receive the optimal benefits of further treatments.

La Mer The Treatment Lotion is powered by the proprietary Miracle Broth™. This recharging complex comes from extracts of giant sea kelp harvested by hand off Vancouver Island. Vitamins and minerals undergo a fermentation process of three-to-four months, helping to deliver a burst of liquid energy and 24-hour hydration.

Including an active liquid hydrogel, the lotion rapidly penetrates the skin, delivering sustained hydration and helping the skin to enjoy the full benefits of the further steps of the skincare routine.

Skin type: Good for normal to combination skin.

Texture & Fragrance: The Treatment Lotion has a rather interesting gel-liquid texture. It is a rather thick liquid but runny, so yocan't call it a gel either. It is very viscous and spreads very easily on the skin. The dispenser is quite restrictive and perhaps it's the texture of the product that also means that it is quite easy to control the product dispensed. 3 drops is easily poured into your palm and it isn't so liquid that it will drip everywhere so it's really easy to control.

Review: The Treatment Lotion is, if you are familiar with this sort of thing, a lotion aka essence aka "toner" in traditional parlance. It is a product that you use after cleansing and before your serums and moisturiser, and serves the purpose of hydrating and preparing your skin for the skincare that follows. If you use the La Mer range, this comes before your serums and Creme de La Mer. You can use this as a hydrating toner. 3 drops of this gel-liquid textured product is sufficient to cover the face and neck and you find that it makes the skin feel smoother, more hydrated and more supple. 

The Tonic vs. The Treatment Lotion:

The Tonic's primary mission is to tone and refresh. Its marine-rich formula works to balance the complexion, providing a revitalizing effect that leaves the skin looking purified and glowing. It's a great post-cleansing step that prepares your skin for further treatments.

On the other hand, The Treatment Lotion is dubbed as "liquid energy", with a focus on softening, reviving, and prepping the skin. It's like a super hydrator that promises sustained all-day hydration and a healthy-looking glow. This one not only prepares your skin for further treatments but also nourishes it in the process.

Both products boast the legendary Miracle Broth™ as a key ingredient, a cell-renewing elixir that floods the skin with energy, helping restore its healthiest state. The blend of sea kelp, vitamins, and minerals in Miracle Broth™ brings unmistakable benefits to your skin.

The Treatment Lotion takes it a step further with the addition of The Revival Ferment™. This advanced ferment encourages skin to resist irritation and sensitivity, promoting a calm, healthy-looking complexion.

The Tonic, as a toner, has a more fluid and watery texture. It's lightweight and absorbs quickly into the skin without leaving any residue. This makes it ideal for refreshing your skin after cleansing and preparing it for the next step in your skincare routine. 

On the other hand, The Treatment Lotion has a unique texture that La Mer refers to as an "Active Liquid Hydrogel". It's more viscous than your typical toner, but don't mistake this for being heavy. It's still lightweight and it cushions your skin on contact, offering a silk-like feel that penetrates rapidly. 

| La Mer The Concentrate Serum

($440.00/30ml, up to 8% cashback at Bluemercury)

Highlighted Ingredients:

- Japanese Rice Bran (Komenuka): Considered the world’s most perfect food, rice is a powerhouse of nutrients for health and beauty, rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nourishing moisturizers. The Rice Polish collection takes complete rice to maintain all its benefits, and uses a special milling process to grind it extremely finely so it gently exfoliates, softening and smoothing skin.

- Silk: Silk conditions and nourishes skin, helping it hold essential moisture, minimizing dryness and flaking.

- Papaya Enzymes: A fruit extract rich in papain, papaya enzymes gently remove dead skin cells from the topmost layer of skin. This natural surface skin turnover helps reveal a brighter, smoother complexion.

Detail: Infused with a blend of concentrated nutrients (Miracle Broth), this serum has a great ability to calm redness, irritations and other signs of inflammation of the skin, while moisturizing, nourishing, strengthening the skin.

Helps boost skin's barrier recovery, even in times of extreme stress from treatments like peels and lasers. Concentrated Miracle Broth™ ensures an ideal state of rest and repair, while reducing the appearance of visible signs of irritation. Skin appears stronger, visibly soothed and renewed. 

With a velvety texture and a lavender and helichrysum scent, its applications are endless and the serum can be used daily as a soothing serum or as a layered elixir to face seasonal changes.

Skin type: Ideal for dry, dehydrated and sensitive skin.

Texture & Fragrance: The Concentrate comes out as a thick, yellowish gel that smells a bit medicinal and minty. Like all La Mer products, you must heat it with your hands/fingers before you apply it on the face. This makes the consistency a bit more absorptive. Unlike some of their other products, this isn't that heavy and doesn't cause you to break out. It absorbs fairly well, and moisturizes the skin. 

Review: Anything by La Mer is definitely a luxurious skincare experience, and this was no different. This is so easy to use and that it glides onto the skin like butter. Your skin can feel smooth and silky almost instantly. Another significant observation is that when the skin has minor irritations, it doesn't agitate it and even helps calmed any inflammation. 

Overall, La Mer's The Concentrate is great to have on hand. Although it comes with a hefty price tag, if you have some extra cash and are willing to indulge in a serum that repairs and restores skin, then this ultimately delivers. Definitely recommend this for those who are prone to skin irritations or scars for its restorative properties.

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