The Ordinary Haul & First Impressions
The Ordinary is quickly becoming one of my favourite beauty brands! It’s aesthetic completely drew me in, I am a sucker for brands that are minimalistic but also aren’t ridiculously expensive. The Ordinary is a brand from DECIEM which focuses on ‘advanced functional beauty’, they have a team who specialise in materials chemistry and biochemistry which they use to create innovative skincare products. There has always been a buzz around this brand, especially because of the price, each product I’ve gotten from them hasn’t been any more than £10 which is rare when it comes to makeup and skincare. You could literally go on a payday shopping spree and it wouldn’t make too big a dent in your account! I ended up buying 3 items, 1 foundation and 2 skincare products:
Coverage Foundation
I had heard amazing thing about their shade range and I wasn’t disappointed when I got there. It didn’t take too long to find my shade and they had different undertones for each shade there. The Ordinary describes the foundation as full-coverage formulations that allow the pigments to look natural on the skin, resist fine lines and stay on longer. It was a lot runnier than I thought it was going to be, because of the name I was expecting it to be a thick full coverage foundation but I would say it’s more medium coverage but buildable. It was a dream to blend, for such a cheap foundation, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a little bit difficult to work with but I honestly can’t find anything to complain about.
I’m not a huge fan of foundation just because I touch my face a lot so I always end up with no foundation on my face at the end of the day and I hate having to set my whole face with powder as it makes it really dry but this foundation doesn’t make my face feel dry at all! It dries semi-matte so I would say it would look great no matter what your skin type is. The foundation was only £5.90 so this is the cheapest foundation I own and it’s already my favourite.
Caffeine Solution
This was the product I was most excited about getting because I had heard so many good things about it! It’s supposed to help reduce the look of puffiness and dark circles around the eye and can also help to reduce the appearance of cellulite. I was really hoping that this would be the solution to my dark circle issues. Surprisingly, I found the product quite drying, I would have thought that any products that go under the eye would be more hydrating but my face would feel uncomfortable tight after using it.
Right now, I’m kind of disappointed with this product but I’m not sure if maybe I’m using it in the wrong way or maybe it just won’t work the same for everyone. I want to try really using it religiously for a few more weeks before giving a final judgement. Right now I’ve been mixing it with the retinol solution just so my face doesn’t feel to dry afterwards but I think I need to just use it on it’s own to see if it starts to make a difference.
Retinol 0.2% in Squalene
The solution is water free and contains 0.2% pure Retinol, an ingredient that is supposed to reduce the appearances of fine lines, photo damage and general skin ageing. After googling retinol, I read somewhere that it helps with breakouts and even though I hadn’t had any bad breakouts, I thought it would be better to try preventing them then waiting for them to come. My skincare routine hasn’t been the same since using this, my skin feels soft and smooth when I go to sleep and feels the same when I wake up. I had a few spots on my forehead that were refusing to budge and after using this for a few days, they had improved massively! The fine lines around my mouth had also improved, I noticed when I had a full face of makeup on, I couldn’t see them as much as I usually do.
You’re supposed to use this first thing in the morning and then again at night, I always forget to use it in the morning so I’m sure it would work even better if I remembered. I would recommend using this solution rather than the 0.5& if you have sensitive skin as this one made my skin tingle for a while when I first started using, I can’t imagine how that one would affect my skin.
So far, I am loving the majority of the products I got. If you needed any reason to try this brand out, not only are their products extremely affordable, DECIEM do not test on animals and does not pay others to do so! They have stores in Spitalfields, Covent Garden and London Boxpark!