[Review] Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum

Hello my pandas,

how are you doing?

Slowly I'm getting used to my interneship even if it means that I'm only working, eating, showering and sleeping every day "^^

I present to you a long overdue review:

What they say:

A moisturizing and nourishing serum with eco-friendly Jeju fresh green tea & green tea seed

Ingredients:
The green tea extract (75.9%), Propanediol, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Ethanol, Glycerin, Betaine, The green Tea Seed Oil (208mg), Prickly Pear Extract, Orchid Extract, Tangerine Peel Extract, Camellia Leaf Extract, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Extract, Grapefruit Extract, Orange Extract, Tangerine Extract, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Cetearyl Olivate, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Sorbitan Olivate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Cocoa Extract, Dextrin, Potassium Hydroxide, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance

Cosdna isn't flagging anything red and it's very nice to see that green tea extract is actually the first ingredients in the list. The precentage is taken from the official Innisfree website, I will choose to believe them.
I already talked about the benefits of green tea for the skin here.
Green tea has  anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and photoprotective properties.
BUT! What I don't like seeing is alcohol so high on the list.
I try to avoid alcohol in skincare because it has absolutely no positive effect to me. So seeing alcohol on this list, especially pretty high on it made me quite sad.

This product is actually one of the most popular products of Innisfree if not of all Korean skincare products.
It is supposed to provide moisture and nourishment for the skin.

The product itself comes in a greenish plastic bottle with a brown pump. I love pumps, hygenic, easy to use and no mess.
I also like the overall design, very Innisfree-like.

The smell is also very nice and fresh. At first it didn't really smell like green tea to me but I've grown to like it.

The consistency of the serum is liquidy and a bit cloudy in color. It's very easy to spread and absorbs very fast (although it could also be that this is due to the alcohol...). Overall, I think this product is more like an essence than a serum and I'm also using it as an essence step and not as a serum. I don't feel that it's rich enough to be a serum.

I bought this product because I was curious if it really was as good as to deserve the title of "one of the most popular Korean skincare products".
I tested it the same time I was testing the Cosrx Natural BHA Skin-Returning A-Sol (review here).
And to be quite honest, while I saw positive effects with the Cosrx A-Sol I didn't really see any outstanding effects with this product.
It smells nice and is good in a routine with a lot of layers because it's not sticky and absorbs quite fast.
Since I have normal skin I can't say much about how the hydrating and moisturizing properties would affect dry or dehydrated skin-types.
Considering that it didn't show any outstanding effects and it has alcohol as a top ingredient, it doesn't really deserve the fame that it's getting.
It hasn't broken me out or done anything bad but also nothing really good so it mostly feels like an additional step in my skincare routine without much gain...


I saw that Tosowoong has a green tea line as well and since their masks don't contain alcohol the rest of their products might be worth a look as well.

Pros: light texture, pump, nice smell

Cons: didn't really do anything, contains alcohol

Overall: 2.5/5