The Ordinary product review. Nothing ordinary about it.

I genuinely believe this is the best range I have ever tried. The carrier systems and feel of the products may not be the most sophisticated but I love them as:

 1) you know what concentration the active ingredients in (which quite frankly is the only bit of the product I care about)

2) the active ingredients are in a stable form – you can find plenty of products on the high street with active ingredients such as vitamin c (cough Aldi cough), but as soon as you mix them with water the ingredient is no longer active and effective

3) the packaging is appropriate for the product i.e. dark glass for vitamin c products to avoid UV oxidation AND mostly recyclable due to the use of glass vs plastic

4) they are mega affordable so if you skin does not agree with a certain ingredient you have only lost a fiver

I have tried A LOT of products from the range so will do a quick rundown of my favourites, and some that I have used but may not be repurchasing

Product	Pros - Why I liked it	Cons
Hyaluronic acid and B5 serum	Cheapest way to get good quality hyaluronic acid into the skin	It is a bit sticky. This is not a problem if you only layer a moisturiser over, but I have found if you layer it over niacinamide or use a vitamin c powder mixed with the moisturiser it will causing some pilling
Ascorbyl Glucoside Solution 12%  Ethylated Ascorbic Acid 15% Solution	Pleasant to use, no stinging, no grittiness so good to apply makeup over. Dark bottle to avoid oxidation	I did not really see any results from either of these products so swapped to a higher concentration
Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F	Feels lovely to apply.	Oil base so this was donated to my mum who has a drier and non acne prone skin
Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%	Great for resurfacing and brightening	Doesn’t feel great to apply, gritty. This does go after 5/10 mins as it absorbs and warms to the skin, but you would probably want a primer if applying foundation over
100% L-Ascorbic Acid Powder	This is my current form of vitamin C. You can make it as potent or diluted as you like. Minimal tingling. No gritty feeling.	I find it works better mixed with a moisturiser vs a serum as sometimes it does not dissolve fully in a serum and leaves white patches on the skin. The problem completely disappeared when I mixed with moisturiser.
Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion	Lovely product. Lovely lightweight serum, did not cause any peeling or irritation. I did not even need to use a moisturiser over this	None I prefer this formulation to the Granactive Retinoid 2% in Squalane
Granactive Retinoid 5% in Squalane	Great product, you skin feels like silk in the morning.	This caused absolutely no irritation or breakouts on my skin however I had to switch to oil free products for my comedones, so this got moved to use on my neck only. My neck cannot seem to tolerate the higher strength retinols that I use on my face, so this is perfect
AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution	This may well be my favourite product from the range. The concentration of the acids is great and is the highest performing mask of this kind that I have tried. Glass skin ahoy	It burns and tingles. Beware if a first-time user of acids. Start with leaving it on for just 2 minutes and work up slowly. When you’re mad like me, you can even run your foreo over it at the end of the 10 mins to activate it further
2% Salicylic acid serum	2% is the percentage you need for it to have a true pore cleaning effect, so this is perfect	I prefer my la roche posay effaclar duo as it provides the triple spot fighting whammy with salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide and niacinamide so I stick with this to avoid having to apply 10 different products
100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil	Lovely texture, absorbs quite quickly but can also be layered to do a massage or for a healing boost. I had a burn from a product (too strong a retinol) on my neck and this was the only thing that solved it and stopped it being sore and itchy. If you do not have any pore blockage issues this would be great to use on the face too	Doesn’t smell great, which actually is fine by me because I do not want added fragrance in my products.
Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA	Lovely simple moisturiser. No oil, no fragrance. Great for cuticles and nails too (tip from Mr Truaxe himself)	None
Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%	Great concentration of the actives. The added zinc is also great for my acne prone skin. No irritation	If you layer this under hyaluronic acid, make sure you only use a small amount of the niacinamide otherwise the hyaluronic can leave little white patches, however these disappear as soon as you layer over a moisturiser.
Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG	If you are at all prone to puffiness – going through a break up, massive Chinese food binge – slap this on the night before and again in the morning and it’ll disappear. The other wonderful benefit of this product is it can be mixed into other things. For example, when I’m on a real summer kick, after dry body brushing my legs (which I do daily) I mix a good squirt of the caffeine solution into my body cream and slather on for some skin firming action	This is drying (it’s kind of the point of the product) so I apply this onto clean, dry skin, let it absorb for a couple of minutes while I brush my teeth etc then layer my eye cream or moisturiser over the top
Lactic Acid 10% + HA	Lovely texture, easily absorbed, good resurfacing	For some reason this worsened my acne. I am lactose intolerant but that is a digestive thing so shouldn’t have affected the skin but either way, I stopped using this and donated.

In summary, my must haves are the aha bha peel, the caffeine solution, vitamin c powder and niacinamide. For beginners, I would definitely get the hyaluronic acid serum and the retinoids.

Cutting through the crap...cleansing tools

How to get the most out of your cleanser

Now this depends on type of person you are, I have tiered this in levels of skin care obsession/a results driven hierarchy

1.       Wash and go community: If you are a wash and go kinda person…remove your make up with an oil or eye make up remover, use your cleanser with your fingers tips and splash off with water.

2.       Kind of concerned about your skin but also have a level of CBA (can’t be arsed)… remove your make up with an oil or eye make up remover, use a cleanser with your fingertips and remove with a muslin cloth or flannel.

3.     Kind of concerned with your skin and love a product but don’t want to spend a fortune…remove your make up with water +/- cleanser and THIS wondrous thing.These in fact work with no cleanser and just alone to remove your make up, or supercharge your make up removal step with it.
If you want to be a cheap skate like me…primark do one that is EXACTLY the same. £15 vs £2. Just saying…
You should then do a second cleanse and remove this

 

4.       Concerned with your skin and love a gadget… remove your make up with your oil or eye make up remover and the above cloth, then GADGET TIME

Gadget type	Info	Examples	Who for and tips
Cleansing brushes	There are a lot of these “cleansing brushes” appearing on the market. The truth is that the Clarisonic (see below) is the ONLY brush with patented technology which allows the brush head to vibrate, rotate, pulsate etc giving the “sonic cleansing effect”. All of the other brushes – Clinique, number 7 and so on are literally a vibrating handle with a brush attached. This make them literally no more effective that rubbing a manual toothbrush on your face. Fairly pointless really, as whilst they are cheaper than the Clarisonic, they are still an investment. So…don’t bother unless you are going to do it properly and buy a Clarisonic.	I will only recommend the actual Clarisonic https://www.clarisonic.co.uk/shop-our-products-clarisonic-mia-2/CL12.html I use the Mia as cannot see what I would need the much more expensive smart profile for. The brushes need changing so I would rather save the money to spend on these.	If you have very sensitive skin, this may be too much for you, only use it once a week as your basic exfoliation or if you are wearing a lot of make up. It removes A LOT more make up than cleansers alone. I found the first time I used it, my nose blackheads disappeared within a week. I could also be sure there was no make up or dirt left in my pores which removed at least one worry. DO NOT USE WITH CLEANSING BALMS. You will end up with a really messy brush that is impossible to clean.
Silicone sonic devices	These vibrate in a similar way to the clarisonic but are much easier to clean The benefit of both devices is that you can also incorporate facial massage. Just as it is vital for muscle tone and lymphatic drainage to move the body and exercise, the same applies for the face. Especially in the dawn of botox-for-all, adding a tool or your hands to massage is great. Use it to sculpt along the jaw and raise the eyebrows. I can do a separate post on this if you would like	The original foreo luna is around £130. Unless you have a gianormous face that you need a big device to clean, there is no benefit getting this one over the luna mini/luna mini 2. You can also save a lot of money https://www.thehut.com/foreo-luna-mini-2-various-shades/11692734.html	Suitable for all skin types as less abrasive. Easier to clean. Can be used with all cleansers but you will need a foaming cleaner e.g. a hand or body wash to clean it after an oil to avoid it getting sticky and gross.

Muslin cloths

https://www.paiskincare.com/products/organic-muslin-face-cloth-pack?variant=26946013127 – these need to be changed either every time you remove make up, or every other if you are careful and only ever use one side at a time. If just using for second cleanse then you can stretch to every couple of days.

http://girlyessentials.com.ng/product/the-original-makeup-eraser-pink/

Lacura (Aldi) review...and why not to believe everything the Daily Mail tells you

So…on the request of a beautiful follower I am doing a review of the Lacura range from Aldi.

My gut feeling with this range is that a lot of the hype is media driven and you can see why. When a well-priced (i.e. cheap) supermarket brings out a skincare line that doesn’t seem to be utter crap, its not surprising that people will jump on it to be the answer to all their skincare issues.

Let’s dig in a bit deeper.

So I went down to my local Aldi and found a whole aisle of Lacura products. Some are shaving and hand/body care products which I imagine would be perfectly fine, I am a bit picky with my razors but a hand cream is a hand cream.

From the narrowed down list, I can automatically give you some no go products to start with:

Product	Don’t do it
Facial scrub	At best it will do nothing, at worst you will sandpaper your face, irritating dry skin and risking causing a break out in acne prone skin. Instead, if you MUST use a physical scrub, go for No7 Total Renewal Micro-dermabrasion Face Exfoliator http://www.boots.com/no7-total-renewal-micro-dermabrasion-face-exfoliator-10138992 Yes its more expensive but it will actually do something for your skin, not cause irritation or broken capillaries. I learnt the hard way from over use of scrubs
Cleansing wipes	Unless you’re using these to wipe your bum, I would stay well away. They contain too much rubbish, and not enough to actually remove make up. Look at my cleansers post to find a better way

So that leaves us with the cleansers, serums and a LOT of moisturisers. Now bear in mind I have not used these, and as a beauty junkie constantly trying things, you should take some credence from the fact that I was not even tempted to pick them up. I am a bit of a beauty snob but only for ingredients not for prices. That being said, read on and see why I didn’t take them with my carrots to the check out.

Product	Relevant ingredients	Verdict	What to get instead
Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream	Aloe, shea butter, beeswax, glycerin, niacinamide, jojoba seed oil, silicone, wheat, soy protein ,sodium hyaluronate, ubiquinone (Co enzyme Q10).	There are about 1000 ingredients in this product, most are preservatives, perfumes and fillers. The niacinamide comes 13th in the list of ingredients which suggests it is unlikely to be at an appropriate percentage. The sodium hyaluronate is far too low down to be in any sizeable amount . Again, alcohol is present and perfume as well as soy and wheat This will do nothing more than moisturise, which is of course crucial to a healthy skin, you always want the outer layer of the skin to be healthy and in tact to provide a barrier, but do you really need 41 ingredients in a product that just moisturises? The things making this cream feel nice on the skin are just silicone and various oils which long term really aren’t great for any skin but are especially bad for acne prone or even blackhead prone skin Oh, and the spf is chemical. I suppose better than nothing but you don’t reapply your moisturiser throughout the day so your protection will probably last an hour.	The ordinary niacinamide serum https://theordinary.com/product/rdn-niacinamide-10pct-zinc-1pct-30ml The ordinary hyaluronic acid serum https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/the-ordinary-hyaluronic-acid-2-b5.html Yes these serums come to £10 rather than £3.50 but they will last longer and actually work. The ordinary natural moisturising factors provides all the ingredients you need for a healthy skin barrier. No fragrance, no oil, no alcohol, no silicone, no fillers, no crap…and its £4.90 https://theordinary.com/product/rdn-natural-moisturizing-factors-ha-30ml
Q10 Anti wrinkle renew night	Alcohol, beeswax, various palnt oils, silicone, ubiquinone, sodium hyaluronate, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), retiny palmitate, retinol	Alcohol is the second ingredient Hyaluronic acid is number 32 Vitamin c is 33 and 34 The retinols are at 35 and 37 sandwiching some more alcohol After this there is a list of ingredients which I can find no use for other than as fillers and as preservatives, and they include, guess what, more alcohol and more perfume. Yes there are active ingredients in here but they will be at such low percentages that they will have no action at all.	If you want retinol, use it in a percentage that will work. If you are concerned with it causing side effects, use one of the high street brands, la roche posay, Neutrogena, or the Ordinary.You will get better results, with no irritation, without having to put rubbish on as well https://theordinary.com/product/rdn-advanced-retinoid-2pct-30ml https://theordinary.com/product/rdn-retinol-02pct-in-squalane-30ml
Q10 renew serum	Glycerin, seed oils, lactic acid, ubiquinone	More alcohol and fragrance, there isn’t even any hyaluronic acid serum in here. I don’t know what is is renewing other than the opening mechanism of your purse. Yes there is lactic acid in here which is good, but as it is the 20th ingredient its unlikely it will be at a high enough percentage to work.	This serum by the ordinary combines lactic acid and hyaluronic acid and costs £5.80. It’s a no brainer. https://theordinary.com/product/rdn-lactic-acid-10pct-ha-2pct-30ml
Soy restorative serum	Glycerin, seed oil, shea butter, more oil and soy, silicone, sodium hyaluronate, ubiquinone, vitamin c derivative, perfume, alcohol	Again, the product will probably feel lovely on the skin as it has lots of oil, shea butter and silicone. The active ingredients are 27 and 32 on the list so again, unlikely to be of any benefit. Similarly, vitamin c is extremely unstable when mixed with water so give it a week and even this low level will be completely useless	Honestly…you’d be better with anything. This is even more horrifying as serums are meant to be the power player in the routine. If you are going to go to the effort of buying a serum, decide what it is you want it to do. If you want hydration, go for hyaluronic acid. The ordinary https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/the-ordinary-hyaluronic-acid-2-b5.html or for even more of a budget… Superdrug https://www.superdrug.com/Skin/Face/Face-Serums/Superdrug-Simply-Pure-Hydrating-Serum-50ml/p/342700 £2.99!!! If you want collagen boosting and brightening, go for vitamin C (I will do a post on this soon) If you want all of the above, go for a retinol in the evening
Lacura Expert Beautifying Serum	Glycerin and flower extracts	Perhaps the most worrying thing about this, is that the second highest ingredient in this…is alcohol Then there’s a few emollient type things, some algae etc
Face wash gel		This does not seem to have a foaming agent in it which is a plus. It also claims to have no fragrance and there does not seem to be any alcohol.	As it only washes off, this would not be a terrible option.
Moisturising face wash	Sodium laureth sulfate, I stopped reading at this point	As the second ingredient, this will be a foam packed party. I do not see how it could be moisturising with this amount in.	Cereve hydrating cleanser, Good for ALL skin types http://www.boots.com/cerave-hydrating-cleanser-236ml-10246701
Soy day cream	Oxycrylene, seed oils including SUNFLOWWER OIL, silicone, more seed oil, sodium hyaluronate, ubiquinone, ascorbyl palmitate, perfume.	The spf is the second ingredient which is actually quite encouraging, it is chemical but if worse came to worst you would be adequately protected, however, there are no other actives.	Go to a different aisle and get some vegetable oil/sunflower  and mix it with a hyaluronic acid if you feel inclined to use these products
Soy restorative night cream	Soy oil, glycerin, seed oils, soy extract, more oil including VEGETABLE OIL, uniquinone, soium hyaluronate, ascorbyl palmitate, alcohol, perfume	I don’t know if I need to say anything here. The active ingredients are so far down and mixed with water so will be of no active use.
These are the interesting ones as these are the products that the press jumped on as being comparable to La Prairie’s range which sparked everyone to run down to the supermarket on the promise of younger looking skin
Caviar night cream	Glycerin, caviar extract, seed oil, silicone, perfume, alcohol	If you believe caviar extract will make you look younger then go for it. To be honest, I wouldn’t even consider buying La Prairie even if I could afford it as it has few more active ingredients than this. See above. Use some active ingredients and put this over the top if you must
Caviar day cream	Glycerin, silicone, plant and caviar extract, sodium hyaluronate, perfume, alcohol

In conclusion, don’t bother. Honestly, using a £5 serum from the ordinary and some e 45 over the top would be more beneficial.