MY UK SKINCARE HAUL - THE ORDINARY

If I mention the names The Abnormal Beauty Company, DECIEM, The Ordinary, NIOD or Hylamide you will either not have a clue what I'm talking about or your interest will be piqued instantly and I hope it's the latter, as the chances are you're a skincare lover like moi...

On the very top of my UK shopping list for my recent visit was The Ordinary, yes it was right at the top and its only store in the UK was to be found at Spitalfields Market in London, which only opened in March this year, but their second store has just opened in Covent Garden. Unfortunately I missed their opening by a couple of weeks.

Here is a very brief overview of what the DECIEM |The Abnormal Beauty Company 

is all about(I will give more info about their brand "The Ordinary" once I have used my products and written the reviews)

DECIEM | The Abnormal Beauty Company, even though it's a strange name is surprisingly a very apt name, as they create, manufacture and retail their own somewhat obscure, yet serious and highly effective, no frills, skin care ranges all at stripped down prices.

Started in 2013 the Canadian company DECIEM is the name of the beauty umbrella and their teams of scientists have created several brands under this umbrella including NIOD, The Ordinary, Hylamide and The Chemistry Brand to name but a few that you may have heard of or maybe not and many more brands are coming soon. 

This unconventional approach to beauty is not the industry norm and DECIEM have taken those stereotypical norms and literally tipped them on their heads and by all accounts very successfully. 

Available in many countries around the world, their own shops are small and basic, but functional in their shop fitting, so don't expect any fancy shop and manoeuvring space is tight, as I found out on a busy Saturday morning.

Interestingly the Estée Lauder Companies Inc have bought a share in DECIEM just as recently as June this year, so I think this move by ELC speaks volumes about this company, the team of scientists and the products they have formulated and taken to market, all very successfully.

I must admit the product offerings from these ranges seem a little daunting and somewhat confusing, as all of the packaging is very basic, somewhat similar and not overly informative, so my advice is to do some research before a visit and do ask a consultant for  information and advice on both the brands and products they have to offer.

The Ordinary

I came away with 4 skincare products from The Ordinary as this brand has had the most positive media coverage and it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. 

It would have been 5 products, but after spending quite some time choosing the correct foundations shade, it transpired that I was wasting my time, as it was out of stock at the time, as were many of them.

I did have to stop myself though from buying some hair care items from the Stemm brand, but luggage space and weight just didn't allow.

So what did I actually come away with...

The Ordinary

1.

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5

A  hydration support formula with ultra-pure, vegan hyaluronic acid

2.

The Ordinary Matrixyl 10% + HA

A high-strength peptide formulation

3.

The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% +EGCG

reduces appearance of eye contour pigmentation and of puffiness

4.

The Ordinary AHA 30% Peeling Solution

with 30% alpha hydroxyl acids (glycolic/lactic/tartaric/citric), 2% beta hydroxyl acid (salicylic acid), hyaluronic acid crosspolymer, vitamin b5, black carrot and tasmanian pepperberry.

I will go more "in depth" with the products the formulations,features and their benefits in my individual product reviews, that will follow over the next few weeks and months.

The total price of the products above came to just over £27 which equates to approx R475, which even for us pound poor South Africans is positively cheap!

I can't wait to slowly introduce these serums into my skincare regime and report back to you.