The Ordinary Moisturizers Review
This week I’m taking a little break from the creative and looking into the world of skincare. Taking care of my skin is something that I have never had a choice not to do. I have extremely dry skin…not the kind of dry skin that Beauty Youtubers complain about when trying to find the right foundation formula, but chronic and painful dry skin that has been, and will be with me for the rest of my life.
I was born with a skin condition called Ichthyosis which comes from a family of genetic skin diseases which are characterized by dry, thickened and scaling skin. There are at least 28 versions of this skin condition and while I have never been diagnosed with a name for the specific version I have, it is much more mild compared to some of the more debilitating, disfiguring and potentially life threatening versions of this condition such as Harlequin Ichthyosis. (Google this at your own risk…). This condition has its annoyances and struggles, but there is a good chance you would never even know it's something I deal with on a daily basis as long as I stick to my strict skincare regimen.
Usually in this blog I would not write about such personal information regarding my health, but the struggles that come along with my version of this condition make it extremely difficult to find makeup and skin products that do not make things worse. I have tried so many make up products, moisturizers, soaps, face clensers, shampoos, laundry soaps, and other beauty products in an effort to make my skin appear more “normal looking” and not cause me irritation. As you can imagine, trying out so many different products can become quite costly, and as a student, costly skincare isn’t exactly an option most of the time. My hope with this blog is to highlight and share a few affordable products that have helped me with this condition and start to populate the web with content for woman that are struggling with the same issues while still trying to experiment with different makeup and beauty products.
ON WITH THE REVIEW
The Abnormal Beauty Company, and in particular The Ordinary have been a God sent this past summer. The Ordinary is an extremely inexpensive skincare brand made in small labs locally in Canada that has products based entirely on skin care science. This means that their packaging, ingredients, and website are very straight forward and lack the usual marketing schemes that most companies take advantage of to sell their products. To me, I find transparency a very intriguing aspect when it comes to choosing where you buy your products from...especially products that you are going to be putting all over your face. The Ordinary offers a variety of skin care products for everything from anti-again to high-quality facial peels. The four products that I am going to be talking about in this blog are their most powerful hydrators that have made a difference in both the general hydration of my skin, my acne, texture, and makeup application.
This was the first product that I tried from The Ordinary. I had heard a lot about the moisturizing benefits of Hyaluronic Acid and how only one gram of this substance can hold up to 6 liters of water, which seemed impressive to me, so I decided to give it a shot! (If you’re looking for more of the science based information on Hyaluronic Acid and this product, click here).
I started out applying a few drops of this serum to my face in both the morning and night as a first step before applying my acne treatment and regular moisturizers. First of all, it did not do anything to hurt or irritate my extremely sensitive and picky skin, which is a win on its own, but, it also made the dry patches that I experience on my face throughout the day considerably less frequent. This means that applying makeup and having it look nice on my face for most of the day was MUCH easier! I know that this “serum” for lack of a better word has made a noticeable difference in my skin and I would recommend it to anyone who has any degree of dry or sensitive skin that is looking for an affordable hydration booster.
This is by far my favourite product that I have tried from The Ordinary thus far! This 100% Plant Derived Squalane, which feels like a dry, and mostly non-greasy oil when applied has made a huge difference in both the general hydration of my skin and ease of makeup application. This oil is extremely stable unlike others such as rosehip oil, meaning that it will last for a very long time in its bottle without losing any of it moisturizing power. (Again, for more sciencey stuff about this product click here).
I have been using this product in two different ways over the last month. Firstly, I apply it over top of my water based Hyaluronic Acid + B5 serum, as instructed by The Ordinary’s website, and underneath my acne treatment and regular moisturizers at night. In the morning, I mix a few drops with my daily moisturizer before I put on my makeup. This step has made a huge difference in how well my makeup applies in the morning since the oil makes foundation glide on like a breeze instead of lifting up the numerous dry patches on my face. Generally, when I wake up my face feels very tight and dry, and there are often quite a few dry patches, but since I have been using this oil, my face feels pretty normal with much less flaking and tightness. This newfound level of morning hydration, paired with mixing the Squlane with my daily moisturizer has made a huge difference in my makeup application and honestly, has made me feel more confident about my skin, makeup or not.
Makeup primers can be pretty confusing, and a lot of the time, pretty expensive and unnecessary. While it’s great to have formulas that blur your imperfections and fill up your pores, is this something that people really even notice? The Ordinary’s goal for the High-Spreadability Fluid Primer is to simply make your makeup application smoother and prevent pigment from building up and clinging to dry patches. This primer is water free, and feels extremely silicone-y when applied to the skin. Personally, this doesn’t bother me at all because the formula is still very lightweight and does exactly what it claims to do. I would recommend this primer to anyone that struggles with lifting up dry patches while applying their foundation and wants that extra hit of moisture underneath their makeup for a longer lasting finish.
This cream is the newest edition to my Ordinary skin care routine. Since I haven’t had a chance to use it for that long, my first impressions are as follows. The formula is quite thick, making it great for a night time moisturizer over top of all my other Ordinary products. For the last 5 months I have decided to bite the bullet and purchase $50 jar’s of Avène’s Extremely Rich Compensating Cream as my night time moisturizer. This product has been a god sent and has made such a huge difference in the amount of dry patches I experience, but in the short time that I have switched to The Ordinary’s Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA as a night time moisturizer, the only difference I see in their effects takes place in my bank account.
Overall, The Ordinary is one of the best beauty brands that I have come across with its cheap, but high quality products that can offer you a full moisturizing routine for only $30.30 CAD + $5.00 shipping. I hope that this post will somehow reach others that have to deal with Ichthyosis and give them a hand when choosing products that are right for them!
