Skincare Review: Setting My Skin Free with Innisfree
You’ll be tapping ‘like’ on these skincare heroes too.
Iconic Korean skincare brand Innisfree has officially arrived at ZALORA. Whether you’re new to K-Beauty or a veteran in the fold, this Korean skincare brand is sure to have been on your radar — from Youtuber reviews, your fave K-Drama star/idol endorsing it, to its minimalist-chic boutiques popping up all over the metro.
For this review, I was graciously given a smattering of their fan-fave products to try out for myself — all with well-earned cult-fave and bestselling statuses affixed to their names and reputation.
State of My Skin
Just before we jump into it, here’s what you need to know about my skin: I have a relatively normal to combination skin type, with a dash of hormonal acne and some post-blemish marks here and there. I do think my skin does prefer lighter products compared to heavy creams and oils, so I was definitely excited to integrate these products from Innisfree.
Keep in mind that when I started this review, my skin was a bit stressed out— I had a bout of allergies where my complexion became a bit dry, splotchy, and just dull overall.
Read on to hear how I set my skin free from my concerns with these Innisfree essentials:
GREEN TEA SEED SERUM
Innisfree’s Number 1 has recently been revamped with an all-new formulation featuring Green Tea Biome or fermented prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics to boost skin’s barrier and give us a dose of major hydration.
With claims to moisturize, soothe, and soften the skin, this serum was very easy to integrate into my existing routine, slotting it in right after my toner to lock in all that hydration — both in my AM and PM regimens.
I personally love that it comes with the new twist-to-lock pump for easier use, eliminating the old lock cap from previous packaging versions in a move to lessen waste.
Upon application, it immediately soothed my stressed-out skin and sunk in quickly with its lightweight to an almost watery consistency. It does have a very light fragrance but it’s also not that noticeable in my opinion.
After just a week of using it, I’m thoroughly convinced I need to keep it in my routine as a staple. I think this super light and fresh serum has given me the major dose of hydration I need.
BLACK TEA YOUTH ENHANCING AMPOULE
As Julia Benito, our Editor at THREAD said in her previous Innisfree article: when you’ve hit your quarter-life, it’s inevitable that we start thinking about the various ways to keep the signs of aging at bay and as far away as possible. The Black Tea Youth Enhancing Ampoule is touted as a skin-fatigue relief solution with the brand’s patented Reset Concentrate to visibly firm and revitalize skin.
Immediately upon unboxing this, I was floored with the beauty of the gradient glass bottle. It instantly reminded me of the Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair line’s iconic bottles. It also came with a traditional, glass-eyedropper. The product itself was an opaque, runny liquid that was a tad thicker than essence or serum but wasn’t quite as thick as most ampoules are.
With my skin’s current state in mind, I was more than excited to give this a go. While a little bit thicker than the serum, my skin absorbed this just as quickly — obviously quite thirsty for the fermented black tea and its antioxidant effects. I went to sleep the first night with a prayer to the skincare deities, hoping this product works for me.
Could this be the mythical beauty sleep in a bottle? Well, color me a rainbow of surprise and shock when I woke up the next morning looking fresh and well-rested as if I’ve been sleeping the prescribed seven to eight hours a day and drinking my eight glasses of water.
BRIGHTENING PORE SERUM
This skin-brightening blemish-care serum has me swooning with its triple threat of vitamin derivatives: niacinamide (B3), C, and panthenol (B5). This 50mL bottle contains a rich concentrate of Hallabong peel extract for that extra oomph of vitamin C to protect from free radicals.
It also comes with a cool new dropper tech: you twist the cap and the ‘bulb’ pops out, continue twisting and free the dropper to dispense the recommended amount of product, then you just pop the dropper back into the bottle and twist to close. Innisfree recommends using the same amount of product daily for visible results, and this dropper helps exactly with that.
While my skin’s still currently in a healing stage from breakouts and my post-blemish marks have not entirely been bid adieu, this daily serum in my AM routine has proven to be essential. Over the course of a week, I’ve seen a significant improvement in the appearance of my post-blemish marks and a boost in radiance. It does take at least 12 weeks to see proper and full-blown results, so I’ll definitely be keeping this in stock.
SUPER VOLCANIC PORE-CLEARING CLAY MASK 2X
Sometimes, our skin needs a little extra help to reveal a healthy-looking complexion and to unclog pores. My skin got a little extra push with the newly upgraded formula of Innisfree’s bestselling clay mask. The innovative formula is now 2X more oil absorbing without stripping and drying the skin as much as the previous version.
While the original version was everything many loved in a clay mask: the pulsing, the cooling, the tightening, I can’t say that my skin and I enjoyed it that much before. But with the Pore Clearing Clay Mask 2X, from application to effects — everything was a dream.
This formulation is much smoother and creamier, making it a breeze to slather onto my face with a spatula. The cooling sensation lasted far much longer (even after washing it off!). Plus, during wash-off, I didn’t find myself scrubbing and tugging at my skin in a thousand different directions just to get it off.
My pores definitely felt and looked clearer thanks to the infused lactic acid. Yet another new must-have in my routine!
JEJU CHERRY BLOSSOM TONE-UP CREAM SPF30 PA++
Who doesn’t love a good glow? This tone-up cream is infused with Jeju Cherry Blossom leaf extract and niacinamide to visibly boost the skin’s radiance.
Despite its lightweight creamy texture that applies smoothly onto skin, it does not absorb as quickly and I had to wait a couple of moments for it to sink in. Upon dry down, it gives a semi- to matte-finish that lasted for hours, but while it does leave a white cast, which may not be ideal for other skin tones. But with its skin-loving ingredients and promising finish, it makes for a great primer to use before makeup application.
Out of all the products I’ve tried for this review, this had the strongest of fragrances — but not by a lot. Personally, I love the scent and it’s not overwhelming.
What I loved most about this, though, was the sun-protecting ingredient Titanium Dioxide. This version of the cherry blossom-infused moisturizing cream contains a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30, which is the minimum anyone should be looking for in sunscreen especially if it’s infused into your products and doesn’t stand alone as a sunscreen. Note: you can also find a version of the tone-up cream sans the SPF.
With all skincare, results take time and vary depending on skin concerns. Despite seeing improvements in overall skin health during my one-week run with Innisfree’s cult-fave products, I’m sure my complexion concerns will be tackled further in the coming weeks and with prolonged use.
Loved this review? Check out more skincare picks on ZALORA today!
