As part of their fall/winter lineup, Innisfree announced a ginger-oil-centric series of serums, creams, and essences that promise to make skin more hydrated, firmer, and healthier. It claims to contain tons of natural Jeju ginger to promote vitality and to keep your skin healthy during the (notoriously dry) winters. I was pretty curious, and even though I love my Banila Co. Miss Flower and Mr. Honey Essence Oil, I wanted to give this a shot. After all, I'm a huge fan of ginger, and this smelled absolutely amazing in the store. Innisfree is a well known Korean brand around the world. It's at the forefront of Korean beauty internationally, and is generally regarded highly for its use of natural ingredients. The majority of the ingredients in the products are sourced from their location on Jeju island, just to the south of mainland Korea. Their massive plantation on that sun drenched locale is where they harvest their ginger, green tea, and volcanic rocks. The rest are sustainably sourced from other areas near Jeju-do, sometimes from the peninsula. Innisfree is also known for being a natural brand that likes to use recycled products and soy based ink on many of their products. They try to be as eco friendly as possible. And while a lot of their products are mediocre for me, to be honest, they are very well respected the world over for their care for the environment and their outstanding products. When I was debating whether or not to purchase this product, a salesperson actually dissuaded me from purchasing this. To be fair, this was the middle of summer and the line had just been released. Instead, the gentleman told me that it was too oily for summer and recommended their Jeju Mineral Sparkling line instead. I opted not to purchase this product, but after a months my interest was still there. So I decided, once my Banila Co. standby had run out, to take the plunge. This product is a bit pricey (here in Korea it retails for around 28,000W or $25USD) but I managed to catch a Christmas sale and snagged a few other products as well. I figured that I would need as much oil as possible since my skin really dehydrates in the winter. To the point where I'm flaking and itchy and awful. The ingredients list for this product is noticeably short. It contains a healthy dose of oils, lots of hard to pronounce polymers, and lots of well known moisturizing plant extracts that are really excellent for dry skin. It's important to note, however, that ginger oil is only 0.1% of the actual product. That's a disparaging number at first, but any more and there would be concerns about irritating the skin. Ginger oil is, after all, a well known chemical irritant in high concentrations. If there were more than 0.1% concentration in this serum, I'm sure there would be reports of burning, stinging, inflamed skin, flushing, and all sorts of other nastiness that comes if you put high amounts of any essential oil directly onto the skin. That said, there is still enough in here to firm up the skin and give this product a very pleasant (if slight) gingery smell. The consistency of this product is somewhere between an essence and a cream. It's a little thick, a lit opaque, but melts easily into the skin. If you hold it in your hand long enough, it melts in the same way that coconut oil does: very slightly, and very slowly.
Honestly, I love this consistency of this serum very much. I wish that more essences used this serum. I like that it's thick enough to not worry about dripping or spilling. The pump on this container is also really delightful. It dispenses just the right amount of product. I generally use two pumps on my face at night and one during the day. It leaves my skin a touch oily for about ten minutes. After that, it soaks in pretty well and leaves my skin soft and moisturized. My one complaint with this product is that while it's certainly relatively effective, it just doesn't moisturize my skin in the same way that the Banila Co. does. It's moisturizing, sure, but it doesn't lend my skin that dewy, translucent quality that the Honey Essence Oil does. It's a decent product, but it doesn't wow me enough for me to repurchase. I've been using it for almost three weeks now and still haven't seen enough of a difference in the quality of my skin. I still have dry, flaky areas that just didn't exist when I was using the Banila Co. serum. My final verdict? Effectiveness: 3 Stars (out of five) Cost: 4 Stars (out of five) Overall, this is a decent product but it just doesn't pack enough of a punch for me to use it during the winter. I'm probably not going to repurchase this product and will go back to my holy grail after I'm through with this bottle. Your mileage may vary, but for me, this was just a dud. Has anyone else had more luck with this product? Or have you had a similar experience with Innisfree? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear your stories. Thanks for reading!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWriter, Photographer, Dream-Seeker Categories
All
Archives
February 2018
|