MEET A NEW GREEN KOREAN BRAND
It grows its own chemical-free natural ingredients like tea and uses eco-friendly packaging. LIEU WEI NING gets acquainted with Innisfree on Jeju Island.
It uses eco-friendly packaging and even grows its own tea leaves.
W e’ve seen our share of Korean beauty brands that are big on cutesy, girlie packaging or are known more for the celebrity spokepersons than the products. What we haven’t seen much of are eco-friendly brands, such as new-totown Innisfree.
The name means free island and hints at the brand’s concept of marrying nature with beauty. In fact, Innisfree is famous for using pure, natural ingredients, and even grows some of them, including green tea, as I discovered on a recent visit to its parent company Amore Pacific’s Seogwang Tea Field on Jeju Island.
The late Amore Pacific founder Suh Sung-hwan started cultivating green tea on Jeju Island in 1979 because it was known for its unique vegetation, clean water and air, and rich soil. This is important because 85 per cent of the ingredients in Innisfree products, such as green tea, canola, camellia, tangerine and volcanic clay, are sourced from the island. Most products are also free of parabens, animal ingredients, colourants and mineral oils, making them great for sensitive skin like mine.
ECO FRIENDLY… DOWN TO ITS PRODUCT LABELS
The brand’s debut store in Ngee Ann City will stock skincare, makeup and body care products in eco-friendly containers that supposedly produce less carbon, which minimises environmental pollution. This green mentality even extends to its labels, which use recycled tangerine peels and are printed with biodegradable soyabean oil ink.
Innisfree also has green campaigns, such as the Eco-handkerchief Campaign (since 2010) – where limited-edition hankies are given to customers to encourage them to use less tissue paper – and the Bottle-recycling Campaign.
Started in South Korea in 2003, the latter rewards customers who return empty product bottles to the brand’s stores for recycling with points that can be used to offset purchases. Innisfree hopes to introduce both campaigns to Singapore soon.
For now, we’ll just have to be content with buying the brand’s bestsellers, such as Green Tea Seed Serum and Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask. Innisfree is at # B2- 34/35 Ngee Ann City (tel: 6733- 8679).
Innisfree The Green Tea Seed Serum, $36.
Use this hydrating serum after cleansing and before toning. It reportedly traps moisture deep within your skin and boosts the ef cacy of skincare used after.
CONTAINS: Chemical-free green tea seeds from green tea plants that are harvested only after seven years, as it is believed that they are richer in antioxidants then. We hear that the Starbucks cafes in South Korea use green tea from Innisfree’s elds in its beverages, like the Green Tea Latte.
Innisfree The Green Tea Seed Oil, $57.
One hundred and fifty- one green tea seeds go into a 30ml bottle of The Green Tea Seed Oil.
Innisfree Eco Science White C Double Serum, $57.
Apply this brightening and hydrating serum after cleansing and toning.
CONTAINS: The hand-peeled rinds of tangerines, which are
stored at low temperatures to
preserve their vitamin C content.
Innisfree Eco Science Wrinkle Spot Essence, $54.
Pat the formula onto wrinkle-prone areas, such as the forehead and the nasolabial area, before applying your moisturiser.
CONTAINS: CONTAINS: Ocean plants like the mineral-rich Jeju sea mustard and gulfweed – a favourite tonic of the island’s female divers, who plunge into 20m depths to collect abalone or seaweed without w any special tools or oxygen tanks.
Innisfree Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask, $21.
After cleansing and toning, leave this intense porecleansing mask on for 10 minutes, and it will reportedly soak up excess sebum and get rid of dead skin cells.
CONTAINS: CONTAINS: Cooled and hardened lava from volcanos that have erupted on Jeju Island. It is said to have potent antibacterial, detoxifying and purifying benets.
Innisfree Soybean Energy Essence, $59.
After cleansing and toning, apply this with a cotton pad to even out skin tone and make skin smoother. CONTAINS: Green peas that ferment naturally on Hallasan, Jeju Island, which is the highest mountain in South Korea at 620m above sea level.