Hello!
As you know, one of my beauty resolutions for the year is to really pay attention to and take care of my skin care. I really only started a legitimate skincare regime in October of 2016 and I have noticed huge improvements since then. Good skin care that targets specific concerns is hard to come across in an affordable price range. You know that I love my MyChelle and IQ Natural products that I was sent back in October, and some of them I will definitely repurchase when I run out, but others are just too expensive and I wanted to see if there's something else out there.
Right as my skin cream (Supreme Polypeptide Cream) started to run out, I saw someone post in a beauty Facebook group about The Ordinary. There were tons of comments raving about this brand and how affordable it is so I had to check it out. I was expecting an American company that ships to Canada for about $15 (USD) with a skin cream at about $30+ (as most brands end up being like this), but I was so wrong! These products are made in Toronto! Everything on the website is in Canadian dollars and the shipping is free with a purchase of over $25. I was completely shocked again when I started to add products to my basket that suit my skin concerns. A moisturizer is about $6 Canadian. What? I bought four different products for $30 INCLUDING TAX. This is unheard of here in Canada.
The Ordinary's slogan is: Clinical Formulations with Integrity.
Want to know something else that was great? The website had a disclaimer saying that product orders would be taking longer than usual due to ridiculously high number of orders. I was ok with that, thinking that I could stretch out my moisturizer until at least Valentines day, but my order arrived in one week! ONE. WEEK. I'm officially jumping for joy! I'm going to share with you what I ordered. I have tried all but one product so far, but I will do more testing before I have a solid opinion. Let's jump in!
Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5:
Over 50% of this acid that is in your body is in your skin. It is an active skin care ingredient that plumps up the appearance of dull or aging skin, mine being dull, because it helps retain moisture. Vitamin B5 helps enhance surface hydration too! I've used this several times in the morning, but mainly at night time. This absorbs really fast so you need to be quick while applying it, or at least apply a bit to one section at a time. This has definitely helped my skin look more lively! The only reason I wear foundation anymore is because I want to even out the skin tone, and it just looks better when doing a full face of makeup, but on a no-makeup day my skin looks so much better!
Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%:
This is naturally produced by yeast that lives on normal skin. It brightens the skin while improving texture and reducing the look of blemishes. It even acts as an antioxidant! This formula offers a very high 10% concentration of high-purity Azelaic Acid in a lightweight cream-gel system. - Deciem site and other sources. I've used this several times in the morning and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I've seen fellow bloggers raving about this (and no, they aren't sponsored and didn't get it for free) so I might need to go over more reviews before I fully understand it. I don't really think my skin looks brighter. I also didn't have much texture (if at all) to start off with so I can't vouch for that claim either. But I will tell you that the acne scars that I have definitely look a bit lighter, which is major for me because I've always struggled with covering them up. I'll definitely keep using this because it's not harming me and the scars have faded quite a bit so far! The ingredients are good for your skin and these products are ridiculously affordable so why not? It's kind of like eating a healthy diet. You may not tell a huge difference on the outside, but your body will definitely be thanking you on the inside.
Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA:
These natural moisturizing factors (NMF) keep the top layer of your skin protected and hydrated. "This formula offers non-greasy hydration that acts as a direct topical supplement of impaired NMF components. It contains 11 amino acids." - Deciem. I use this in the morning on days that I'll be wearing foundation and I really like it!
Retinol 1%:
I haven't even opened this one yet. The reason is because my current retinol serum from MyChelle has not run out, so I refuse to open this one. On the packaging it says to not mix this with other retinoids. This is totally safe to use with the other products in this article. I'm excited to try this out and will likely do an updated blog post review for all of these because it's so darn affordable!
All of these products are 30ml (so 1 fluid ounce each!) All of these are also Vegan and Cruelty free, which is another huge plus! Each product is linked and you will find more information about ingredients and how to use them on their site.
Thank you so much for reading! I highly recommend trying out The Ordinary by Deciem if you're looking for skin care. I bought all of these with my own money and the company did not ask me to review their products. I don't think they know who I am anyway!
Bye for now!
*All of these products were purchased with my own money. All opinions are 100% my own.
*All of these products were purchased with my own money. All opinions are 100% my own.
