Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum 2019 Version – Review

This post will be reviewing the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum 2019 Version.

I honestly don’t know why exactly this product happens to be one of the best-selling Korean Skincare products of all time worldwide. It just doesn’t make any sense. So much that it has been renewed four times. Granted, Innisfree is the pioneering all-natural Korean Skincare brand that has been around for over two decades. Still, it just doesn’t add up.

Anyway, I used a sample size of this Green Tea Seed Serum years back and I wasn’t too impressed. But then, I found a good deal for the full size on eBay and I thought I should finally give it a try. Especially since I’m currently using a lot of serums in my routine at the moment. I use it briefly for the Autumn just before I transitioned my routine to Winter Skincare and so I’m ready to talk about it.

First Impressions of the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum

According to Innisfree,

Double-Squeezed Green Tea and Green Tea Seed From the Jeju Island

Concentrated serum delivers hydration with a balanced blend of Jeju green tea extract and green tea seed oil for sufficiently hydrated skin and a healthy-looking glow.

Ingredient List & Fragrance

Since there’s currently a 2021 version on the market, I’ll be comparing both ingredients lists to give you an idea of what’s in both of them. Then you can decide for yourself which one you want to go for. Although I must warn you, it might be slightly difficult to get this 2019 version except you look very hard. Better still, check eBay for sellers that still have old stock.

2019 Version

• 77.9% Green Tea Leaf Extract
• Alcohol
• 2.6% Green Tea Seed Oil
• Panthenol
• Fragrance

This could have been the perfect Green Tea serum without the Alcohol and Fragrance.

2021 Version

• Alcohol Denat
• Niacinamide
• 2.6% Green Tea Seed Oil
• Squalane
• Panthenol
• Allantoin
• Fragrance
• 16.7% Green Tea Leaf Extract
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Ethyl Ascorbyl Ether
• Lactic Acid
• 13.6% Lactobacillus Ferment Lysate

So, they took a simple soothing product and transformed it into a multi-functional hydrating and brightening product. I’m kind of conflicted by this but impressed at the same time. It goes to show how the Korean Skincare industry is currently evolving.

But for someone like me that uses strong actives like 20% Azelaic Acid and Retinal in my routine, I reach out to Korean Skincare for soothing, balancing, hydrating and barrier repairing products. Even though the actives in Korean products are not as effective, I’ll rather not have that conflict. So, you can imagine how internally conflicted I am.

To really improve this product, Innisfree should have taken out the Alcohol and Fragrance but no, they didn’t. I think it’s because the fragrance isn’t as overpowering. It is very subtle and herbal. It actually somewhat smells like fermented Green Tea. Personally, I’m not affected by the fragrance, it just would have been nice to be inclusive and not exclude a certain demographic of people who can’t use fragranced products.

Hopefully, by the next renewal, the product will be alcohol and fragrance-free like their other counterparts on the market.

Texture, Consistency & Pacakaging

The Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum comes in a convenient 80 ml pump bottle. It has super lightweight bordering on a watery consistency. It’s slightly viscous which is in between that watery toner and viscous essence texture. It’s not too heavy nor too light which I believe is one of the reasons why it works across all skin types.

For someone like me with dry dehydrated skin, it is perfect as a Summer serum. But for the rest of the year, it won’t be as effective for me as I would have to layer another product under or over it to give me the hydration I really need. But for every other person with normal to oily skin, you can definitely use it all year round even during the winter.

Price & Avaliability

For a globally popular brand, you can get it just about anywhere you get your Asian skincare products. You must have to be conscious about which version you’re buying. Make sure you’re not buying old versions except you prefer them.

Review of the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum 2019 Version

So, according to Innisfree, Green Tea which is the primary ingredient in this product has been derived from their Green Tea farm in Jeju Island, South Korea. I mean, as one of the most popular brands under Amorepacific Corporation; the biggest South Korean cosmetic conglomerate, having their own herbal farms is really nothing. So yeah, I believe those claims but the question is how effective is this product?

Perfomance

When buying serums, the only thing I look out for as a sign of effectiveness is how hydrating it is for my dry dehydrated skin. I honestly don’t care so much about the plant extracts used as long as they’re not irritating my skin. So far, I’ve used Snail Mucin, Bee Venom, Ginseng, Propolis, Artemesia on my skin and depending on how they are formulated they all have varying degrees of effectiveness. It goes without saying that as long as the product has skin-beneficial ingredients, I would use it.

As for this product, I used it during the Autumn just as the weather was about to change for my morning routine. I layer it over my toner mist and it honestly just disappears into my skin, This is not so bad because I can go in with several layers. On the other hand, it has means that it is not that hydrating if I have to use several layers.

It goes without saying that I don’t find this product hydrating enough for my skin, But that doesn’t mean I won’t use it. I won’t just be using it during the period when my skin is in dire need of hydration. So, I’m gonna be packing it up and taking it out again during the Spring.

Finally,

I’m still not sure if I get the appeal of this product. I just feel like Innisfree has been super strategic with their marketing hence its global popularity. Still, I’m looking forward to trying the 2021 version and hoping I would get better results.