Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum Review (2018 Limited Edition)

In this blog’s first review, I will be reviewing the popular Innisfree green tea seed serum (2018 limited edition). I have purchased this product in South Korea last autumn in the Innisfree store. I like this product and have repurchased it now 3 times. But today I will do an in-depth review on this product and will share my research results and honest thoughts.

Firstly, I have to mention that my skin is combination, acne-prone and dehydrated. So I will be talking about my personal experiences with this serum. Of course, my experiences might differ from others, even when having the same skin type and concerns. So let’s get started!

Today’s topics:

• Product overview
• Ingredients
• Performance
• Conclusion
• Rating

Product overview

 

Name: Innisfree green tea seed serum (2018 limited edition)

What is it: This is a first serum. What does this mean? It is a serum which is meant to be used after cleansing and exfoliating, but before a toner, hence it is called a ‘first’ serum. It is supposed to be used both AM and PM by pumping out an appropriate amount onto the hand and applying it on the face and neck, avoiding the eye area.

Purpose: This first serum is meant to hydrate and moisturize the skin. According to the Innisfree website it:

• Contains Beauty Green Tea” “which has 16 amino acids (3.5 times more than before). This provides moisture and hydration to the skin. Furthermore, it makes the skin dewy and clear.
•  Through their Dual-Moisture-Technology in the product it will prevent water loss as the green tea seed oil forms a barrier on the skin.
• Makes the skin more moist, soft, reduces dryness and increasing suppleness.

Scent: Fresh green tea scent. It is not that strong but can be unpleasant for those who do not like fragranced products.

Texture: Thick serum texture that becomes light and fluid when distributing onto the skin. It absorbs pretty quickly into the skin.

Size:  160 ml. As this is the 2018 limited edition format, it has twice the quantity. Therefore, it also has to be used within 12 months, which is nice to know.

Ingredients

Since the ingredient list on the packaging is in Korean, I took the list from their international website.

[WATER, PROPANEDIOL, ALCOHOL, GLYCERIN, BETAINE, 1,2-HEXANEDIOL, SACCHARIDE ISOMERATE, CAMELLIA SINENSIS SEED OIL(2,600 ppm), CETEARYL OLIVATE, HYDROGENATED LECITHIN, SORBITAN OLIVATE, ACRYLATES/C10-30 ALKYL ACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, FRAGRANCE / PARFUM, PANTHENOL, HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER, TROMETHAMINE, CERATONIA SILIQUA GUM, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, DISODIUM EDTA, CAMELLIA SINENSIS LEAF EXTRACT(77.99%), DEXTRIN, THEOBROMA CACAO (COCOA) EXTRACT, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, SODIUM CITRATE, CITRIC ACID, SUCROSE]

Some notable (highlighted) ingredients are glycerin, green tea seed oil (2,600 ppm) and green tea leaf extract (77,99%). 

According Innisfree, Beauty Green Tea is a special variety of green tea selected from 2,401 varieties. The variety of green tea present in this serum is said to be excellent at moisturizing the skin and contains a high degree of amino acids. Furthermore, the fresh leaves of the Beauty Green Tea are squeezed into a water. This water has 16 amino acids that are 3.5 more concentrated than the previous version of this serum.  

Now, let’s examine the entire ingredients list and see if there are any potential sensitizing ingredients we should look out for. I like to use two sources for this, CosDNA and the Paula’s Choice online ingredients dictionary. Of course they are not completely reliable and should not be taken as absolute. But they do provide sufficient information on ingredients and their purpose.

Here is the CosDNA entry

According to the entry there is only one ingredient which can be a potential sensitizer, which is the fragrance/parfum with a rating of 1-4. Other than that, none of the ingredients are likely to cause a problem.

I also checked the ingredients through the Paula’s Choice Ingredients Dictionary. I was able to find most of the ingredients listed. The majority of the ingredients are meant to hydrate, moisturize and control the ph of the ingredients. Here is the link.

According to the dictionary there are two ingredients that can be sensitizing, alcohol and fragrance/parfum (as expected). They can dry out and sensitize the skin. I also looked into green tea and amino acids. Green tea is a great antioxidant, especially due to EGCG (one of its components). Green tea has many benefits for the skin including: anti-aging, soothing the skin and improving the appearance of sun-damaged skin. I could not find any studies on this “Beauty Green Tea” as it is used only by Innisfree. But in general, green tea seed oil and leaf extract have many benefits for the skin. Additionally, amino acids are also antioxidants and can fight the signs of aging.

Personally, I like to avoid (potentially) sensitizing ingredients. However, as my skin is not sensitive I do not actively try to avoid fragrance and alcohol unless in big quantities, as I do understand that alcohol is sometimes necessary for formulations. In this serum, they are quite high on the list. I will touch more on these ingredients in my review down below.  

Performance

I currently am using the third bottle of this product, so I have been using it for over 1 year. I have been using this serum both AM and PM right after cleansing, exfoliating, my first essence and before a toner. This is also the recommended way of using the product. I like to use 1-3 pumps and distribute it all over the skin and neck, avoiding the eye area.

 

One pump of the serum

Although the consistency is thick like a serum it spreads and absorbs easily into the skin, similar to a toner. After the product is completely absorbed, my skin feels and looks very soft, smooth, hydrated and moisturized. I like the way it feels on the skin and also how it makes my skin feels. It leaves the skin not feeling sticky, dry or oily.

 

Left photo: distributing the product. Right photo: after completely absorbed

As I have been using the product for quite some time I personally have not experienced any break-outs, dryness or any reactions from this product. As my skin is blemish-prone and dehydrated it is a possibility, but luckily this has no occurred to me before.

But in order better measure the effects of this serum I actually decided not use it for  a couple weeks. I resulted into my skin being more dehydrated overall and less smooth and soft. Then once I started using it again I immediately noticed a difference.

Conclusion

Since I already went through two bottles and am using my third, big-sized bottle I really like this product. I do plan to keep repurchasing this serum until I find a better product due to the alcohol and fragrance. I do like the texture, effect and the anti-oxidant effect from the green tea leave extract and seed oil. It improves the overall feel and look of my skin. But as this product does contain alcohol and fragrance I do think it can cause potential problems for those who have dry and sensitive skin. I have read other reviews on the product that it can be comedogenic. For me, I do not have any bad experiences but that can differ from person to person of course. If you are interested in using this product, I would advise to use a tester first and/or patch test it.

Rating

4/5

I will keep on improving my writing and research on my future reviews, so please look forward to that! Let me know what you think about this product and my review. Do you like it or not? Until next time~ Ana