The Ordinary

Skincare routines can be quite hard to really understand well and this steep learning curve can scare many people away. In this article I’ll try to guide you through the maze of skincare products and give my honest opinion about one of my personal favourite brands, The Ordinary.

Exactly one year ago, my skin was in a bad place and screaming for help. A daily use of heavy make-up for my job at the time started to come at a cost. The wellbeing of my facial skin was diminishing rapidly and I was beginning to notice. This is how I fell into the rabbit hole of facial routines. After one year of researching and experience I feel like I can be of help to people who want to take better care of their skin themselves.

Today I will discuss one of my favourite skin care brands.

The Ordinary.

The Ordinary is one of seven brands by the company Deciem. Deciem was founded in 2013 by Brandon Truaxe in Toronto, Canada. Although their products are mainly hair, body and facial care, the company is developing more products than just these.

One of my favourite things about The Ordinary is that the brand doesn't use any parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, animal oils, coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, mercury and oxybenzone in their products. All these chemicals are extremely damaging for your skin and can have consequences for your health. Next to this they don’t do testing on animals either.

The Ordinary have products for all the different skin types. Which skin type the product is aimed at is stated on the casing. It is important before you go out to get your skincare product that you do a little bit of research on what type of skin you have. The type of your skin can greatly impact the effectiveness and benefits for your skin. A badly chosen product may even work against what you’re trying to achieve. Check back on my blog in a little bit, then I’ll discuss the different types of skin people can have and how to set up a skincare routine that is the best for you.

Picking the right product for you can be a daunting task and in my opinion the Ordinary isn’t the clearest brand when it comes to explaining which of their products is best for you. Consulting store personnel, a dermatologist and knowing your skin type may help you find the right product.

Below I have made a summary of all the different categories of The Ordinary products and what they do.

Antioxidants

Bring back the shine of your facial skin, making it seem more lifely. Antioxidants get rid of the uneven tone of your skin, remove spots, and create a protective layer over your skin. You can use products with antioxidants both day and night. When using antioxidants during the day, make sure to also protect your skin from the sun with sunscreen.

Direct Acids

When using products containing direct acids, make sure to be really careful and closely follow the instructions the company gave for the product, otherwise you may accidentally damage your skin. Take extra care if you have a very sensitive skin type. Direct acids exfoliate the skin really deeply, regulating the extra facial sebum and removing blackheads. Almost all direct acids are only usable at night. Only some of The Ordinary’s products are usable both day and night (the azelaic acid suspension 10%, salicylic acid 2% masque and salicylic acid 2% solution). It is quite important to use sun protection cream, even if the product is only for nightly use.

Retinoids

The main component of this product is vitamin A. Vitamin A helps to fight acne and psoriasis. They also treat photoaging and hyperpigmentation of the facial skin. Nightly use is recommended and as said before always use sun cream protection during the day.

Peptides

These products target your fine lines, aging signs and wrinkles. They give firmness and health to the facial skin. The Vitamin C and water base of this line of products are the most important components, hydrating your skin deeply which is very useful for people with a dry skin type. Peptide products are for daily and nightly use.

Hydrators and oils

These are the best products for the hydration of your skin. They divide in three sorts of products. Serums (hyaluronic acid and marine hyaluronic), naturals oils, and natural moisturizing factors. Quickly explained, serums are always needed on your skincare routine since they allow cream to hydrate your skin effectively. Natural oils always come from seeds or plants, are highly hydrating for your skin and have a very heavy formula. They are to be used after your water based products but before the creams for an effective routine. The natural moisturizing factors is the last part to be used and are the final step to hydrate your skin fully. For both daily and nightly use.

My experience.

Personally, I have a combination of oily and dry skin. Some parts of my face are fairly oily while others the opposite. After doing my research I decided that the product I should try fist of all was the marine hyaluronic serum, a product from their hydrators and oil lines.

The marine hyaluronic serum is a light formula that hydrates your skin and repairs it. It contains microbacterias from the sea (exopolysaccharide) that are friendly to your skin serving as a form of antioxidant and are in charge of the hydration and smooth effect of your skin. Secondly the product contains microalgae (Hawaiian red algae, Glycoproteins from Antarctic marine sources, and micro-filtered blue-green algae). These algae make amino-acids work on the skin.

This serum helped my skin especially due to my combination of oily and dry skin. It helped me hydrate my skin without making it even more oily. Because of the light formula, the marine hyaluronic serum doesn't leave your face oily and makes your face absorb the serum correctly without leaving a trace of extra product. I applied it before the oils and creams I use, as you always should with serums.

If you have dry skin, this products wouldn’t hydrate your skin properly so I would recommend the hyaluronic acid 2% +b5 from The Ordinary.

The second product I tested was The 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Borage Seed Oil. I tend to use this oil when my face feels really dry. Since, as I said before, my face has a combination of dry and oily skin, using fatty products would overwhelm my face. So after reading about this product I decided to give it a try.

The 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Borage Seed Oil is made out of a little flower that grows on the coast of the mediterranean sea. It helps to hydrate, reduces the chance of inflammation and calms the skin mainly due to the high concentration of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA).

I applied the oil after my water based serums and I can honestly say that it calms my face really well after a day of using make up. The high hydration of this oil is amazing. Sometimes I just apply the oil without using a cream and it still hydrates my skin fantastically. You can use the oil at day, but also during the night. Personally I prefer to use it at night because the face absorbs the product better during the night which allows it achieve its intended effect better.

My next and final product that I’ll introduce is one that I just recently ordered. The 100% L-Ascorbic Acid Powder. This product targets uneven tones, signs of aging and dullness of your skin. It has a high percentage of Vitamin C which greatly helps with the things I listed above.

The product comes in a powder format which can be mixed with water based products. You cannot mix the powder with the EUK 134 or Niacinamide, since these products can alter the effects of the Vitamin C.

After a month of using my new product I will give it a review. I wanted to give this specific powder a shot since I’m feeling that my skin is changing a little bit. Therefor I was looking to brighten up my skin.

As of right now, I’m having a really positive experience with the products of The Ordinary. And I’m not paid to say that either! I recommend to give it a try, but always keep your type of skin in mind and read the instructions of the company carefully. I'll leave the link of The Ordinary below to look into if you’re interested. In the future I’m planning on reviewing more of their products and giving more information on the wonderful world of skincare routines. Stay tuned!