Review: Green tea balancing line

Hello everyone! This is my first review post and I'll be sharing with you guys my first step into Korean skincare - Innisfree's Green tea Balancing line.

For a quick introduction, there are 4 Green tea lines altogether - Fresh, Balancing, Moisture and Seed.

1. Fresh: targeted at the oily skinned, has a toner, essence and cream.

2. Balancing: targeted at the combination skinned, has a toner, lotion and cream. (The additional item in the picture below is a larger version of the cream and it's only available online.)

3. Moisture: targeted at the dry skinned, has a toner, essence and cream.

4. Seed: targeted at those who want the general hydration and moisture for their skin; doesn't limit to specific skin types. Has serum, cream, deep cream and eye cream.

(The additional products at the bottom right are the sleeping pack and mineral moisture mists.)

Since I have Combination skin, my T-Zone was almost always shiny while my U-Zone was flaky. It was a serious pain in the butt until i decided to invest in skincare and my first stop was Innisfree and seriously, I've had no regrets for picking up this line of products.

[CLAIMS] 

"Enriched with squeezed green tea and green complex from the pure Jeju island to deliver abundant moisture and nourishment deep into your skin."

"This water drop toner is formulated with pure moisture from our freshly squeezed green tea to replenish dewiness deep into your skin." 

"This soft moisture lotion is formulated with pure moisture from our freshly squeezed green tea to replenish dewiness deep into your skin."

"This moisture cream is formulated with pure moisture from our freshly squeezed green tea to retain long lasting dewiness."

[INGREDIENTS]

Toner/Skin 

Lotion

 Cream

5-free system: Free from parabens, synthetic colorants, mineral oil, animal-originated ingredients, imidazolidinyl urea. {cr: Innisfreeworld.com}

[PH AND PURPOSE]

Toner: pH 5.5 (our skin's optimum pH level)
Lotion: pH 4.5 (slightly acidic to diminish the chances of your skin being a pool of bacteria)
Cream: pH 5

Toner/Skin: They should always be at our skin's optimum pH level, say around 5 to 5.5 and applied right after cleansing your face to allow your skin's pH level to bounce back. If you don't use a toner after using a acidic cleanser, you risk damaging your skin's moisture barrier which can make your skin look dull and dry in the long run. Likewise, not using a toner after a alkaline cleanser can encourage the growth of bacteria your skin's pH remains alkaline.

Lotions: Balance your skin's oil and moisture levels.

Creams: Moisturise and seal all the other products you've applied into your skin.

[SMELL AND TEXTURE]

They all smell like green tea but the scent isn't overwhelming. However, the lotion does have a more subtle green tea smell as it smells mostly like a lotion would.

Texture wise, the toner is very much like a serum - more viscous than water toners so I don't recommend pouring it onto a cotton pad. Just apply it with your hands.

The lotion is rather runny, very much like milk colour-wise.
Both of them spread easily and I suggest patting your skin after application to encourage absorption.

I apologise for not having a picture of the cream texture but it's pretty much like any other cream out there with the exception of its green tea smell.

[PRICE] 

Toner: SGD$20-23 (poor memory lol)
Lotion: SGD$20-23 (poor memory lol)
Cream: SGD$25

This line is one of the more affordable lines in Innisfree.
Both the toner and lotion would last about 7 months(twice a day) or longer but the cream, for me at least, only lasts about 5 months at a maximum so if you're on a tight budget, the toner and lotion would be more worth it.

[MY THOUGHTS]

I started my skincare journey with these 3 products 3 years ago and my skin has definitely improved since then. It wasn't so dull and my skin's oil has become much more balanced; the oilier regions aren't so oily and my drier regions don't flake anymore.
I would definitely recommend this to those of you with combination skin wanting to start your skincare journey, especially students out there! It's never too early to start caring for your skin :)