The Ordinary Brand Review

Want low-cost skin care with serious benefits? Look no further than The Ordinary, friends.

We will be the first to admit the world of skin care can be totally overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes the pricey products work…other times you can find a drugstore dupe that’s amazing. That said, no matter the product the key factor to look at is its ingredients. At the end of the day, whether a product works wonders or wreaks havoc on your skin, it all boils down to each and every individual ingredient.

Since individual ingredients are so important, we love getting down to the nitty gritty and focusing on specific ingredients that we need and cutting out the rest. If you’re looking to do the same, and maybe you’re on a budget, The Oridinary is where it’s at.

What’s all this hype around The Ordinary?

The Ordinary is one of many brands under the umbrella brand, DECEIM. All of the brands focus on functional beauty and innovating within the space. The Ordinary, specifically, emphasizes on formula integrity – meaning, all of the ingredients and products are presented in their most humble and pure form with non-inflated pricing.

Sounds great, right?

Claudia and I have been experimenting with this brand for a while now. In fact, you may remember us reviewing their Buffet Serum a while back with some members of our community! We’ve had such a great experience with them that we reached out for a partnership and we were lucky enough to receive a bunch of products to try.

The great thing about that? Now we get to share all of our real results with you!

Just a heads up – we’re going to give each product a “worth it” or “not worth it” rating (as usual). TBH, all of these products are SUPER affordable so if you feel you may still want to try something that didn’t work great for us…GO FOR IT! Honestly, that’s what we love best about this brand: you get to try star ingredients without breaking the bank.

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Ascorbyl Glucoside Solution 12%

If you’re like us, you read that fancy name up there and said, “WTF is this?” Good news is, this is a fancy way of saying Vitamin C. Well, it’s technically a water-soluable derivative of Vitamin C. That means its much more stable in water than the most common form of Vitamin C (L-Ascorbic Acid), but it is also less potent. Even though it is less potent, Ascorbyl Glucoside is considered to be a gold standard of Vitamin C derivatives due to its high stability and comfortable use on the skin (most true, high-potency Vitamin C derivatives actually burn and sting!).

To sum that all up: it’s not as potent as other forms of Vitamin C, but it’s still very effective, much more stable, and has serious skin-brightening benefits!

Claudia and I seriously love this serum! We use it daily in the morning after cleansing and toning. It seeps right into our skin and has helped our complexions even out and brighten! There’s nothing better than that.

Worth it? Worth it.

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Buffet

If you’re looking for any anti-aging products, listen up! This serum is chock-full of multi-technology peptides, amino acids, and multiple hyaluronic acid complexes. I could get into all the science-y names, but I’ll spare you the headache. All you need to know about this serum is it has all your anti-aging needs packed into one little dropper bottle!

When we originally tested this as part of our group experiment, we had great feedback from our experimenters on this! If you don’t want to read the whole prior review, here are the quick notes. It:

• Is a little sticky when you put it on and can take a while to dry. Because of this, many people preferred to use it at night only.
• Very hydrating! It left everyone’s skin feeling plump, supple and soft.
• Made our skin glow!
• Had a 90% approval rate!

Worth it? Worth it.

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Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution

If you read my latest giant Drunk Elephant review, you know that their glycolic acid night serum is one of the most game-changing products I’ve ever used. That said, it’s pricey AF so I was more than ready to give this $8.70 glycolic acid option a try. I love glycolic acid because it is a chemical exfoliant so it’s great for clearing pores, lifting dead skin cells and preventing breakouts!

Claudia and I use this toner at night only after cleansing! We apply it to a cotton round and gently spread it over our face. The first few times we used it, it stung a little, but once our skin got used to it the stinging was gone! And the results?

• Clearer skin
• Smooth texture
• Improved skin radiance

Worth it? Worth it.

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Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5

If your skin needs moisture and you’re not sure where to start, our advice will always be to start with hyaluronic acid! Hyaluronic acid can attract up to 1,000 times its weight in water. OMG right?! We’ll spare you more exciting details here, but if you want to learn more about hyaluronic acid, you’ll want to check out our ingredient breakdown post on it.

The great thing about The Ordinary’s hyaluronic acid product is it combines small, medium, and high-molecular weights of hyaluronic acid so it can get into all the layers of your skin! Basically, this stuff works and it works well! PLUS it has B5 in it which supports your surface skin hydration. All your hydration bases are covered here. And it’s under $7?!

Worth it? Worth it.

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Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density

Who doesn’t want thicker, fuller, healthier hair?! I definitely do. As my body has changed through the years, hormones fluctuated and stress has come and gone, my hair goes from being voluminous and healthy to dull, thin and lame. Recently my hair was shedding more than normal and I started to panic so I bought this hair serum.

TBH I wish I could tell you this was a magic potion that fixed all my hair woes. Instead, I’ve come to the full conclusion that my hair health has 99% to do with what’s happening inside my body. So, I’m increasing collagen, biotin, etc. in my diet and I’ve seen a drastic reduction in hair loss. Using this serum did absolutlely nothing for me!

Plus, having to apply it to a dry, clean scalp every night was just not feasible for someone who showers at night!

Worth it? Not worth it.

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Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

Niacinamide is one of those ingredients Claudia and I are SO glad we found. I was originally introduced to this game-changer ingredient during my Curology experience. It was one of the key ingredients in my formula that ended up ending my battle with cystic acne!

Niacimide is used to reduce the appearance of breakouts and congestion (what’s not to love right?!). The Ordinary’s product, specifically, delivers a high concentration of niacinide (10%) for maximum effectiveness. Plus, the addition of zinc helps to balance out sebum activity!

If you deal with breakouts and congestion of any kind, you MUST incorporate this serum into your routine.

Note: Niacinamide doesn’t mix well with vitamin C. If you want to use both, use vitamin C at night and niacinamide in the morning!

Worth it? Worth it.

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100% Plant-Derived Squalane

I freakin’ love squalane guys. It’s a miraculous hydrator! Squalane is naturally found in the skin, but as we age we slowly decrease our natural production of it (ugh, aging…amirite?). If you need hydration in order to get and sustain supple, plump skin, then you NEED squalane.

While there are a lot of squalane products in the market, I love this one specifically because:

1. It’s super affordable.
2. It’s plant-derived (we can get in sketchy, animal-cruelty areas when it comes to sourcing squalane…protect the sharks!)
3. This glides over the skin so easily.
4. Squalane won’t clog your pores!
5. It can be used on your hair for heat protection, shine and reduce breakage!

The only con we have with this is it doesn’t absorb very quickly. So Claudia and I recommend applying this in the PM only and skipping it in the AM. If you apply it under your makeup, you won’t be happy with your results – at least we weren’t!

Worth it? Worth it.

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Serum Foundation

If you caught our most recent guide on tinted moisturizers, BB creams, and CC creams, then you already know this Serum Foundation is our most recent obsession! It’s velvety-smooth, provides just the right amount of medium coverage, and feels lighter than air on our face!

The only minor qualms we have with it are it highlights flakey, dry skin if you have any (maybe use some squalane or hyaulronic acid to cure that first!), and it contains coconut oil and silicone so it can clog your pores (I’ve personally had a few minor breakouts in places I don’t normally break out in so I have to think it ties to this new makeup!).

Qualms aside, this stuff is really freakin’ good! Especially for being under $7. That’s just unheard of!

Worth it? Worth it.

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Squalane Cleanser

If you’re not using a double-cleansing routine now’s the time to start friends! Honestly, Claudia and I don’t think our faces were EVER clean until we started double-cleansing. By starting your cleansing routine with applying an oil-like cleanser on dry skin, you will be amazed at how much dirt, makeup and grime comes off. Then, followed up with a water-based cleanser and BAM…skin perfection.

The Ordinary’s Squalane Cleanser is a great intro option for a first step to your double-cleansing routine. When rubbed between your hands and applied to dry skin, it helps to pull of all of your makeup. That said, Claudia and I both believe we’ve used better products for this (check out this blog post for more).

At the end of the day, this works just not as well as others out there. So if you want to try oil cleansing, but don’t want to spend too much at first, give this a try.

Worth it? Kinda worth it.

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Overall Thoughts on The Ordinary

For a couple of skin care junkies, The Ordinary is a dream come true! We’re able to try specific game-changing ingredients without paying an arm and a leg. We also don’t have to worry about too many other ingredients causing issues with our skin.

If you’re interested in experimenting with skincare ingredients with little risk, The Ordinary is for you!

Have you experimented with The Ordinary? What do you think? Which products do you have your eye on?