October Favourites

Jordana Ticia Cosmetics Base & Sparkle in Stargazer
I have well & truly fallen down the rabbit hole of Instagram beauty brands. When you start following loads of Manchester-based makeup artists you'll notice that a lot of them use products from the same few brands & one that kept popping up in some of the most glam pics I came across was Jordana Ticia Cosmetics. They mainly sell lip products but Base & Sparkle is easily their best product. I've started favouring loose pigments over pressed eyeshadows for when I want something really pretty on the lid & I am completely obsessed with this easy to use eye duo. You simply apply the metallic cream eyeshadow base onto the lid with a flat eyeshadow brush like a MAC 242 & then pat the pigment over the top. Together they create the most beautiful, high shine effect on the eyes. Base & Sparkle comes in four different shades but Stargazer is definitely my favourite out of the bunch. It's a gorgeous soft sparkling gold that instantly adds a bit of glam to any eye look.

Doll Beauty Doll Light Highlighter in Like A Diamond
Another brand that I discovered via Instagram is Doll Beauty. They are probably best known for their incredible false lashes but their highlighters are absolutely stunning! They do a couple of different shades that I often combine for a blinding effect but if I could only buy one it'd be Like A Diamond. It's a bit lighter than Shine Bright so it's better suited to my skin tone & makes my cheekbones glow like nothing else. It looks super smooth on the skin & shimmers without being glittery or highlighting texture. I find that it works best if I apply it after spritzing some MAC Fix+ over my face as this amps up the pigmentation even more & allows the powder to really melt into my skin. I've been a fan of theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer for the longest time & this is the only powder highlighter I've found that has managed to surpass it's power whilst matching the pale yellow undertone. It's such a beautiful product & if you like your highlighters on the blinding side, then this is the one for you.

The Ordinary Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%
We all know how much I love The Ordinary but when I tried one of their earliest Vitamin C formulations, I wasn't too impressed. It had a gritty texture which was cosmetically inelegant & made it generally unpleasant to use. They have since released various other forms of Vitamin C & I decided to take a chance on their Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%. I went through a whole bottle of their Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA & was really impressed with how quickly it faded my post-blemish scarring. By combining it with Ascorbic Acid they've created a super-charged serum that reduces the signs of aging & lightens hyperpigmentation as well as brightening & evening out the skin tone. The texture is lovely to use, there's no stickiness, greasiness or grittiness. The propanediol base makes it feel perfectly smooth on the skin but it still absorbs quickly. I starting seeing results after about a week & it's managed to lighten my scarring even faster than the Alpha Arbutin alone. My complexion looks much brighter & fresher now, I'm really happy with the way my skin looks since I started using this product every morning. This powerful combo of ingredients is pure genius & definitely worth adding to your skincare routine.

Bali Balm Lip Balm in Bergamot & Grapefruit*
Winter weather calls for a hardcore lip balm & this year my product of choice comes from Bali Balm. This luxury vegan lip balm is incredibly moisturising due to the fantastic blend of coconut oil, castor seed oil, kukui nut oil & candelilla wax. It instantly makes my lips feel soothed & hydrated which is exactly what you need at this time of year. This intensive lip treatment will shield your skin from the elements & will stay on your lips for hours. The rich formula contains active botanicals that are high in antioxidants & boast antibacterial properties. One of the best things about this lip balm is the bespoke flavour. Bergamot & Grapefruit is a wonderfully potent combination. The bergamot provides the soothing familiarity found in Earl Grey tea whilst you get bittersweet citrusy notes from the floral grapefruit. These ingredients give the lip balm a clean, crisp & fruity taste. Bali Balm are a really eco-friendly brand. Not only are their products vegan & cruelty-free, you can also send your packaging back to them for recycling once you've finished with the lip balm. Beauty products must generate a huge amount of plastic waste so it's great to find a brand that are so dedicated to minimising their environmental impact.

MAC Jamie Genevieve Lipstick
Jamie Genevieve is one of my favourite YouTubers of all time. She's such a beautiful person, inside & out. I love watching her full beat makeup tutorials as well as her weekly vlogs with Jack & Drogba. In terms of makeup Jamie is probably best known for her blinding glow, dark smokes & nude lips so it made perfect sense when she announced that her collaboration with MAC would be the ultimate nude lipstick. I went out to Selfridges in Manchester & bought it immediately. The lipstick is a medium beige with warm yellow undertones & it has a satin finish. Obviously as Jamie is really tanned it's a nude on her but it looks brown on me. I still really like the colour though as it's hard to find true beige lipsticks without any hint of pink. I love how Jamie always wears a darker lip liner & I think that her lipstick looks best with MAC Stripdown. I hope she comes out with more collabs soon as I'm pretty sure I'd buy anything she brings out. I recently picked up her Tired Girl Club t-shirt & it's one of the comfiest tops I own!

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September Favourites

The Chemistry Brand Hyaluronic Concentrate
Hyaluronic Acid is still one of my favourite skincare ingredients & not a day goes by when I don't use a HA serum on my face. It's especially welcome around this time of year when it starts to get a bit colder outside, the heating goes on & skin dries out easier as a consequence. As someone with eczema-prone skin, my body also suffers from dry patches so it's really important for me to keep of all my skin hydrated. Despite the extremely low cost of The Ordinary's Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 serum, it wouldn't last very long at all if I started spreading it over my body so I decided to try out this product from one of their Deciem sister brands, The Chemistry Brand. As stated directly on the bottle, their Hyaluronic Concentrate is literally a big tub of hyaluronic acid. It comes with a pump dispenser so that you can apply liberal amounts of the stuff where it's needed. The Chemistry Brand's Hyaluronic Concentrate boasts a 99.5% pure hyaluronic acid. This high level of purity assists the delivery of actives in other products so anything you use on top of this will be able to work better as a result. You can just use it on it's own or underneath a regular moisturiser but with continued use Hyaluronic Concentrate will help skin to retain its own moisture, reducing the need for other products in the long run. Compared to the liquidy texture of the HA facial serum, this product is much more gel like in consistency. When it comes to body products I'm not a fan of anything creamy or sticky that takes ages to dry down so I really enjoy using this fast absorbing gel. I've been slapping it on whenever my skin has felt a bit irritated or dry & now everything looks so much healthier. It started working really quickly too as I saw results in less than a week. The areas I apply it to most are my hands, legs, knees & elbows but you can use it absolutely anywhere. This stuff is a godsend if you suffer from dry skin.

The Chemistry Brand Hand Chemistry
The Chemistry Brand also specialise in hand creams so I bought one in my desperate attempts to find something that would soothe the horrible eczema flareup on my right hand. They have a few different ones but I decided to go for the original Hand Chemistry. There's something rather special about this hand cream, it's easily the most effective one I've ever tried. Our hands are one of the first places to show signs of aging as we use them all the time & they get a lot of sun exposure compared to the rest of our bodies. This product was designed to combat 8 signs of hand aging simultaneously. It promises to improve the firmness, elasticity, density, evenness, brightness, texture, smoothness & hydration of your hands within 11 days. I noticed a difference right away as it visibly brightens & smooths the skin almost immediately. I love the texture of this hand cream, it absorbs quickly & almost coats your hands so they still feel soft hours after application. This cream works really well on your nails too & nourishes the cuticles whilst promoting nail growth. It has a sweet fruity scent which makes it a pleasure to use. It's also a great partner product for the Hyaluronic Concentrate. I layer them together for the ultimate hand hydrating combo. These products provide instant relief for any scaly, itchy areas & after just a few weeks my hand eczema was history! I keep a smaller tube of this stuff in my handbag at all times because nothing else compares when your hands are feeling worse for wear.

Swell Ultimate Volume Dry Shampoo
A few years ago I tried some hair products by Swell & loved the voluminous results on my fine, flat hair. My only gripe was that the products are incredibly expensive & I simply cannot afford to spend that much on shampoo. Luckily my local Boots decided to get rid of all their Swell stock & heavily reduced their entire product range. I managed to pick up a full size bottle of the Advanced Volumizing Conditioner for £8 instead of £28 as well as their Ultimate Volume Dry Shampoo for £5 instead of £20. Boots' clearance aisle is literally the best thing ever! I had never tried the dry shampoo before but I remember reading some rave reviews when it first came out. What makes this product stand out from other dry shampoos is the fantastic pump dispenser. It's not as harsh as blasting your hair with a can of Batiste but still manages to really freshen up second or third day hair. You're not left with the weird dull look or gross feeling that some dry shampoos can give you, your hair simply looks clean again. The ultra fine nozzle is very precise so you can target the roots easily & add volume exactly where you want it. Best of all, it doesn't leave any powdery residue in your hair! The Swell Ultimate Volume Dry Shampoo is brilliant for those of us with fine hair that needs a bit of lift & it's discreet enough to slip into your handbag for on the go freshness.

Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter
I love a bit of Charlotte Tilbury & her Hollywood Flawless Filter is by far the most exciting release she's come out with. This product has completely revolutionised my foundation routine. The Hollywood Flawless Filter is basically a tinted liquid highlighter but there's one available to suit every skin colour. It gives you a soft focus, airbrushed appearance by smoothing out fine lines & texture whilst illuminating the skin. There's just so many different ways to use it & each one will leave you looking like a glowing goddess. You can use it as a primer, mixed with foundation or as a regular liquid highlighter. My preferred method of application is to sweep some over the high points of my face & then mix it in with my foundation using a Beautyblender. I'm obsessed with how radiant my base looks paired with this illuminator. It also looks stunning on completely bare skin as the flesh coloured tint does give a small amount of coverage. It subtly evens out the complexion & reduces redness for a naturally flawless look. I often use it like this with just a bit of concealer under my eyes when I want a low effort, quick base that still looks fabulous.

Makeup Revolution Fast Base Foundation Stick
Makeup Revolution have been coming out with new products non-stop recently & I think that they're one of the most innovative beauty brands on the market today. Not only are their products amazing, they're also amazingly affordable & to be honest I'm struggling to keep up with the constant barrage of new stuff! I can't wait to pick up their new Conceal & Define Foundation as I'm a huge fan of the concealer but for now I'm still loving their Fast Base Foundation Stick. One of the reasons that I love their foundations & concealers is the vast shade range. All other beauty brands should take note because Revolution are one of the few brands with a truly inclusive range of colours to suit every skin tone. I have the shade F1 which is spot on for my complexion as it's pale with yellow undertones. This foundation provides medium to full coverage & it builds really well without looking cakey. Stick foundations are notoriously difficult to get right as they're often too dry & drag on the skin or too greasy & melt off your face. The Fast Base Foundation Stick formula is superb & sits right in the middle. It's so quick to draw on your face & blends out effortlessly. It doesn't highlight skin texture or cling to dry patches, it just smooths over everything & makes my skin look flawless in no time at all. The foundation feels really lightweight on the skin & provides a fresh dewy finish. Once set with powder, it lasts really well & doesn't break down on my skin. It doesn't transfer much but if I scratch my face it can come off quite easily. I normally use a Beautyblender to do my base but I actually prefer a brush for this foundation. I've been using the Real Techniques Mini Multitask Brush with it & they're the perfect team. I think it'd be a great product to pop in your bag if you do your makeup during your daily commute or need touchups throughout the day. For just £5 I didn't know what to expect from this foundation but it is unbelievably good & has only further cemented my love for Makeup Revolution.

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Hydrate & Prime With The Ordinary

With their incredibly affordable prices & innovative formulas, I can't stop buying new stuff from The Ordinary! I'm still completely obsessed with their skincare products & joining the DECIEM Enthusiasts group on Facebook has only added fuel to the fire. Come join us if you love The Ordinary too! In my previous reviews of their products I've predominantly focused on actives & acids as those were the main things that drew me to the brand. But this time I wanted to check out some of their more basic offerings as these are the products that will appeal to the majority of people & will be suitable for most skin types. I decided to buy their moisturiser, a couple of oils & both of their foundation primers.



The Ordinary Natural Moisturising Factors + HA (£4.90 / 30ml)
Natural Moisturising Factors is a very basic moisturiser. Normally you might think that would be bad thing but I actually really like this product. It's a no-frills lightweight cream comprised of compounds that are naturally found in the skin. It's the perfect finishing step for a skincare routine using The Ordinary's other products. It provides a protective barrier against surface hydration loss & helps to seal in all the goodness from any serums, acids or oils you've used beforehand. Used alone I don't find it to be very hydrating. It sinks in very quickly & doesn't make a huge difference to the condition of my skin. However when you combine it with one of their oils it transforms into something far more luxurious than you would expect. I love to use it mixed with the Squalane or Rose Hip Seed Oil to give my skin a boost of moisture all day & all night.

The Ordinary 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil (£9 / 30ml)
The Rose Hip Seed Oil is definitely my favourite product out of these five. I used to be massively into Trilogy's Rosehip Oil but it's now double the price of this one & when two products are exactly the same, I will always go for the cheaper option. Although the Rose Hip Seed Oil is fairly lightweight, it feels a bit richer & heavier on the skin than Squalane so I only use it at night. The oil has a light golden colour & a natural earthy scent. Rose Hip Seed Oil is rich in linoleic acid, linolenic acid & provitamin A which enables it to target signs of photo-ageing. You could even call it a natural alternative to retinol. It can be used to treat many different skin ailments including scarring, stretch marks, wrinkles, fine lines & blemishes. It's especially good for those with acne-prone or oily skin types as it doesn't clog pores. In fact it can even help to unclog them! The main reason I like to use Rose Hip Seed Oil is to brighten & even out my complexion. I've found it to be one of the best things to use for post-blemish scarring. I'm a picker & always end up with red marks on my skin. Using this oil really helps to lighten this type of scarring & get my skin looking clearer again. It reduces any redness in my skin & instantly plumps it up. I always make sure to use it after applying The Ordinary's AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution to get some much needed hydration back into my skin. It's incredibly moisturising & makes my face feel baby soft. I absolutely love how my skin looks when I wake up the next morning. It's brighter, clearer & generally much healthier.

The Ordinary 100% Plant-Derived Squalane (£5.50 / 30ml)
While I tend to use the Rose Hip Seed Oil at night, I've found that the Squalane works better as a day oil. It makes my skin feel really soft & well moisturised whilst giving it a fresh looking glow. It is colourless, odourless, very lightweight & sinks in quickly so it won't make your skin look greasy throughout the day. It sits nicely under makeup & helps my foundation to look smoother too. Squalane also works amazingly as a lip moisturiser. You might've seen some of those Instagram videos where people start dripping Farsali or some other overpriced oil all over their lips. You can do the same with just a drop of squalane to instantly smooth & hydrate your lips before applying your lipstick. If you're a fan of matte liquid lipsticks it can go a long way towards combating the inevitable dryness. Squalane really is a brilliant surface hydrator but it may not be the best choice if you're wanting something packed full of actives or antioxidants. In that case you'd probably be better off going for the Rose Hip Seed Oil or just get both like me!



The Ordinary High-Spreadability Fluid Primer (£5.50 / 30ml)
I was really excited to try out The Ordinary's primers as I've heard loads of good things about them. They currently have two in their lineup & the first one I tried was the High-Spreadability Fluid Primer. This product greatly reminds me of the Smashbox Photo Finish Primer. It feels lightweight & silky on the skin, smoothing over texture, fine lines & filling in pores. Your skin is left feeling super smooth & velvety. It does have that distinct silicone slip to it but it doesn't feel heavy or clog my skin unlike other silicone primers I've tried. It kinda dries down on the skin so it doesn't pill or ball up when you start applying your base. Makeup glides beautifully over it but I've found the best way to use it is to mix it in with your foundation. This gives any foundation a much more natural, skin-like appearance with a wonderfully smooth finish. As the name suggests, this primer helps your foundation to spread further so it won't cling to any dry patches. It also helps my makeup to last longer & still look fresh at the end of the day.

Unfortunately I've had a few issues with the packaging of this product. I don't know if I got a dodgy bottle or something but when it arrived it was only half full. The texture is also quite thick & gloopy so the pipette struggles to pick up the product from the bottle. The only way I can actually apply the primer is by smearing it onto my face using the dropper as a makeshift spatula. This means that I also tend to use more of the product than I need to & as a result I've gotten through my half bottle rather quickly. If you can get hold of a regular bottle of this stuff I'd definitely recommend giving it a go. I'd advise against ordering it from ASOS as they might well be the source of the problem.

The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer (£3.90 / 30ml)
I much prefer the tube packaging of the High-Adherence Silicone Primer but for me that's pretty much the only advantage over the High-Spreadability Fluid Primer. This product has a creamier texture like a gel moisturiser but both primers have that same soft silicone feel once applied to the face. It claims to have a blurring & smoothing effect on the skin which I somewhat agree with but actually I find that the other one makes my skin look far less textured. This primer doesn't stop foundation from sinking into my pores or fine lines. It provides a nice hydrating base for the application of makeup without any pilling & it does make my foundation last a bit longer throughout the day. However I don't think it does anything for oil control whereas the High-Spreadability Fluid Primer gives my skin a more velvety matte appearance. Some parts of my face look downright greasy when I wear this & my skin isn't very oily at all! If DECIEM could just pop the other primer into this packaging then I would be one happy bunny. Although I prefer the pore filling properties of the Fluid Primer, this one still does the job & at £3.90 it's well worth a try.

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More Skincare From The Ordinary

The number one skincare brand that I love to talk about with other people has to be The Ordinary. I'm a huge fan of their products & the simplicity of their highly potent formulas. Their low prices have helped to make high end skincare ingredients accessible to the masses & thanks to them, my once bank-breaking skincare routine is now a lot more affordable. I previously reviewed five other serums from The Ordinary & was so impressed with what I had bought that I ordered five more. If you're not particularly well versed in the world of skincare I think that their products can be slightly confusing as they don't really give you an extensive breakdown of what each ingredient does & which skin issues they can be used to treat. That's why I love sharing my own experiences with their products as they have some truly wonderful formulations in their lineup & I would hate for people to miss out on something that could help them!



Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% (£5.50 / 30ml)
Azelaic Acid is a naturally occurring acid that comes from grains & is also produced by yeast living on healthy skin. It is primarily used to treat rosacea as it has anti-inflammatory & antibacterial properties. It also helps to stop pores from clogging & can be used as an acne treatment. Until I tried this product I had personally never heard of Azelaic Acid before but that might be because I don't suffer from rosacea. However I do experience a lot of surface redness in my skin so I wanted to see if it would help with that. The Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% comes in a lightweight cream-gel formula that absorbs quickly & gives your skin a velvet matte finish. I used it every other night before my moisturiser. This product is designed to brighten the skin and like most of the acids I'm used to, it helps with uneven skin tone, dullness & bumpy texture. I found that it helped to calm any irritation in my skin, shrank my pores, smoothed over textured areas & cleared blemishes so I can definitely vouch for it as an effective acne solution. The biggest difference that I noticed when using this product was the reduction in redness. It made my skin look so much clearer simply because it wasn't as red anymore. I feel like Azelaic Acid would be a much better choice as a chemical exfoliant than Glycolic or Lactic Acid for those with reactive or sensitive skin. It does all the things you want an AHA to do but without any of the redness or irritation that's involved.

Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA (£7 / 30ml)
In my first review of The Ordinary's products I wrote about my experience with their Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%. I bought it to help brighten up my skin & reduce hyperpigmentation but the unpleasant gritty texture stopped me from using it. Alpha Arbutin has a similar lightening effect so I decided to try this out instead. It's related to the controversial skin lightening ingredient hydroquinone but has been shown to safely brighten skin without irritation. It helps to inhibit melanin production which prevents further scarring & also works on existing dark spots to give the appearance of clearer skin. Even when my skin is completely blemish free it never looks fully clear because I have a ton of freckles, moles & acne scarring. I started using this serum twice a day in the hopes of tackling these issues & I'm very pleased with the results so far. It feels very light, silky & hydrating on the skin. Sometimes it makes my face look slightly flushed but I haven't experienced any other skin irritation from using this product. I think that your opinion of this serum will depend on what kind of hyperpigmentation you're experiencing. It seems to be most effective on melasma, sun spots, post-blemish scarring & uneven skin tones. It has helped to brighten up my complexion, even out my skin tone & clear up an annoying sun spot. My freckles are also less prominent which is fantastic in my opinion. Sadly it hasn't done much for my moles but I doubt anything other than a laser will fix them!

Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG (£5.80 / 30ml)
Eye skincare products can be such a tricky thing to review. They tend to be a preventative measure, aimed at reducing crows feet & wrinkles when we're older. By the time you've got these fine lines it's probably too late for anything topical to work on them! We're always told that we should be using an eye cream but without getting any visible results I find it hard to remember to use one regularly. The opposite is true about this Caffeine Solution. I love using this lightweight serum because it feels really nice under my eyes & the results are so worth it. Caffeine helps to brighten & tighten the undereye area. It reduces inflammation & temporarily constricts blood vessels which immediately reduces puffiness. EGCG stands for Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside. This is the name of a compound found in green tea leaves & like most things to do with green tea, it's packed full of antioxidants. Both of these ingredients have been scientifically proven to help reduce the appearance of dark circles & puffiness in the eye contour area. It really does work & is especially good for treating puffiness first thing in the morning. After using it for a few months I do think that my dark circles are less noticeable. The area looks brighter and feels tighter & smoother. However it won't work on puffiness due to fatty deposits or dark circles due to hollowness so that's something to bear in mind. One welcome side effect I've noticed from using this serum is that it also helps with milia & by tightening up the area, these tiny dots under the eyes look much smoother. My concealer also sits better under my eyes now & I don't need to use as much of it as a result.

Salicylic Acid 2% Solution (£3.80 / 15ml)
Salicylic Acid is one of the best spot fighting ingredients out there. It exfoliates inside your pores so it helps to eliminate blemishes from the very root of the problem. It also reduces excess sebum production which is often a cause of acne. In terms of results this serum works really well. It heals up my spots quickly & is especially good at stopping painful ones from hurting. This product has also been formulated with witch hazel which helps to soothe the skin & encourage healing. I wouldn't use it as an all over chemical exfoliant like the BHAs from Paula's Choice or CosRX, this is definitely more of an individual spot treatment. This is mainly down to the consistency of the product. It has a watery gel texture & foams up as you rub it in to your skin so it's not the most pleasant thing to use. Once applied it feels slightly tacky but it soon dries down & is undetectable on the skin after applying moisturiser. It's a decent spot treatment but I'm not totally in love with it. Probably because my heart belongs to the next product...



AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution (£6.30 / 30ml)
I've saved the best for last. This intense skin peel has fast become not just one of my favourite products from The Ordinary but one of my favourite skincare products of all time! It is quite simply amazing. Formulated with a blend of Glycolic, Lactic, Tartaric, Citric & Salicylic Acids, this chemical peel is extremely potent. Do not buy this unless you've been using other acids for a while! You should also avoid it if you have sensitive skin. 32% is pretty hardcore & even I was slightly worried about the effects it might have on my skin. I've been treating my skin with acids for five years now but 10% is the highest percentage I'd ever used. When you use acids at lower percentages you can use them every day or every other day with no ill effects. This peel should only be used once or twice a week maximum.

The AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution is designed to deeply exfoliate the skin. It clears congested pores as well as active blemishes. The formula also helps to refine skin texture & improve skin radiance. You just apply this peel with a fan brush or your fingers to clean, dry skin. Then you simply leave it on for 10 minutes before rinsing it off with lukewarm water. It's really easy to use & there's no need for a post-peel neutraliser. Just finish off your skin routine like normal with a hydrating serum or oil & a good dose of moisturiser. When this bottle first arrived in the post I thought it looked like a vial of blood. The deep raspberry colour comes from the inclusion of Tasmanian pepperberry & black carrot extract. These ingredients are full of antioxidants & have an anti-inflammatory effect on the skin. Their healing properties help your skin to cope with the intensity of this peel. The colour is also important for a couple of other reasons. It allows you to clearly see where you have applied the peel to your skin so that you can wash it off thoroughly & it deters people from using it as a leave on treatment.

Since I started using this peel I no longer need to use any other chemical exfoliants on my skin. It literally does it all! My complexion looks so bright & even now. It works wonders on post-blemish scarring, minimises pores & makes my skin feel super smooth. I've had textural issues with closed comedones on my forehead for years & after a few months of using this peel every week, they've finally nearly gone! I will say one thing though - as with any chemical exfoliant, be prepared for purging. The first couple of times I used it my skin looked fab, then all of a sudden I started breaking out. For a while I wasn't sure if it was a purge or a breakout. The spots only appeared on my forehead & my chin which tend to be my most congested areas, they were small & turned into whiteheads which then cleared up pretty quickly. These are classic signs of a purge so I realised that it would be okay in the end & after getting through it, my skin looks better than ever. If you have dull skin, persistent blemishes or textural irregularities like me, I really can't recommend this product enough!

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Out Of The Ordinary

DECIEM's The Ordinary is no ordinary skincare brand. They have produced an affordable line of skincare products featuring highly effective yet typically overpriced ingredients. Their products are sold at the price they should be sold at which is incredibly refreshing to see in the skincare industry. This is partly thanks to their business model where they've reduced costs to the consumer by having minimalistic packaging & hardly any advertising. I'm a firm believer that good skincare shouldn't cost the earth. It's more important to be informed about ingredients & The Ordinary have made them more accessible than ever. I really wish they could've brought out this product range years ago as it would've saved me hundreds of pounds! They have single-handedly revolutionised the skincare industry & other brands should be worried that their customers are starting to realise they're being ripped off. When The Ordinary first launched last year I picked up five of their serums to try out. I was very careful to test each serum individually so that I could identify any reactions or breakouts & then remove that product from my routine. If you plan on buying any of these serums from The Ordinary I would highly suggest that you do the same.

Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (£5.90 / 30ml)
I started off by testing out this serum as I have used many different formulas of Hyaluronic Acid & have never had a bad reaction to it. Hyaluronic Acid is something that I personally feel that everyone needs to include in their skincare routine. It can hold up to 1000 times it's weight in water which boosts the efficacy of any moisturiser that you put on afterwards. It's ideal for all skin types especially dry & dehydrated skin. The serum itself is a clear viscous liquid comprised of three weights of Hyaluronic Acid as well as a Hyaluronic Acid crosspolymer which provides intense hydration & visibly plumps up the skin. In terms of results I would liken this serum to the Sarah Chapman Intense Hydrating Booster. It feels slightly stickier when first applied but after smoothing on some moisturiser both products work in exactly the same way, making my skin soft, plump & well hydrated. The Ordinary's HA serum is literally 1/10th of the price of Sarah Chapman's offering so I know which one I'll be repurchasing!

Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (£5 / 30ml)
I was very excited about trying this serum in particular as Zinc has worked wonders on my cystic acne & I've heard so many good things about Niacinamide. It can apparently help to reduce blemishes & clear congested skin but it also deals with redness & hyperpigmentation. You do have to be careful about when you apply it as it can interact with Vitamin C. I used it for a few nights & it made my skin look amazing. It was visibly clearer & brighter. Even my boyfriend commented that my skin looked really good & that never happens! However within that first week of use my cheeks had become full of closed comedones. I hadn't added any other new products to my routine or tried a new foundation so I knew it had to be this serum. I extracted them, stopped using the Niacinamide & my skin went back to normal. This is the exact reason why it's so important to make sure you test each serum individually. It's such a shame because the brightening effect was real & immediate but anything that gives me closed comedones is a huge no-no as they are the bane of my life.

Now I'm not entirely sure that it was the ingredient Niacinamide that I had a reaction to. I've used several products that contain Niacinamide without any problems before including La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo & Pixi Glow Mist. When The Ordinary first brought out this serum it contained an ingredient called Carrageenan which can potentially cause breakouts. It's something that I actively avoid in my diet as it can also cause stomach problems. It's a thickening agent found in things like Blue Diamond Almond Milk and unfortunately Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream! The serum has now been reformulated so that it doesn't contain Carrageenan so I'm tempted to buy a new bottle but it might just be that the 10% Niacinamide is a little too much for me. Hey, I'm just speculating here! As with all skincare products your mileage may vary so I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that love this serum.

TL;DR: It visibly brightened my skin but gave me closed comedones so I no longer use it.

Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2% (£4.90 / 30ml)
A good Vitamin C serum is something that was definitely missing from my skincare routine. Vitamin C can be such a tricky ingredient to get right as it is very unstable & serums formulated with it tend to be astronomically expensive. So when The Ordinary announced that their Vitamin C serum would be made from L-Ascorbic Acid powder & completely stable due to the absence of water, I was all over it. When I purchased this product it came in a dropper bottle like most of their other serums but it could be quite difficult to dispense the liquid from the pipette. It also made a huge mess & ran all over the top of my bottle. They have since changed it to a tube which is a much better format for this product.

The serum is thick, white & creamy but the biggest downside to this product is the texture. No matter how much you shake it up prior to use, it will still feel very grainy. It almost feels like I'm scrubbing my face with a physical exfoliant. It also stings my skin a tiny bit and if I use too much product, it makes my hands & face smell weird no matter how many times I wash them! After applying my moisturiser, this serum does help my skin to feel super soft & smooth although it does look a bit on the greasy side. I did notice a brightening effect & it has helped to reduce my hyperpigmentation but I don't think I would repurchase this serum as it's just not cosmetically elegant enough & it's not very nice to use. I've since moved on to using the OST Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum & even though I have to store it in the fridge to keep it away from heat & light, I'm much happier with it.

Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2% (£5.80 / 30ml)
Chemical exfoliants are my jam so of course I couldn't resist buying their 10% Lactic Acid. They also do a milder 5% version but as I'm well versed in the world of acids I knew my skin would respond better to the stronger formulation. This is another product with a strange scent, it literally smells like a glass of Pimms & that fragrance really lingers on the skin. It's a good job you use AHAs at night or people would think I'd been drinking at 9am! Apart from that little niggle, this serum works extremely well. It has greatly improved the texture of my skin by refining my pores & smoothing out any bumps. It gives my skin a radiant glow when I wake up & helps to fade post-blemish scarring. I think what makes this acid so good is the inclusion of Tasmanian Pepperberry extract. It helps to reduce any irritation that you normally get when using acids so I find that I can use this peel more often without compromising my skin barrier. I would definitely recommend picking this up or the 5% version if you're not yet accustomed to using AHAs.

Advanced Retinoid 2% (£8 / 30ml)
As I'm in my late 20s now, retinol is an ingredient that has become increasingly more important in my skincare routine. It works to combat not only fine lines & wrinkles but acne & sun damage too, boosting collagen production at the same time. It basically addresses all of my skin concerns in one go. Retinol can be pretty pricey so to find such an effective retinoid at such a low price is absolutely brilliant. This serum is a thin milky liquid that gets absorbed into the skin right away without any stickiness. The formula is really lovely as I didn't experience any dryness, peeling or irritation which are normally things you have to look out for when using retinoids. I've been using it for several months now & I am a huge fan of this product. I tend to alternate between using this & the Lactic Acid serum at night. I hardly get any blemishes now, my skin looks smooth & refined and I'm generally much more confident when it comes to baring my face without makeup. I can't recommend it enough! Be careful not to confuse this product with their Retinol 1%. This 2% serum might sound like the stronger product but it's a retinoid as opposed to pure retinol so it's a lot gentler on the skin & less likely to cause irritation.

Much like the Hyaluronic Acid serum, you could say that this product dupes the effects of another luxury skincare product. I'm talking about Sunday Riley's Luna Oil. Luna is a truly wonderful product but you have to admit that the price is ridiculous & to be honest I kinda regret paying it now. If only The Ordinary had brought out their Advanced Retinoid 2% sooner! I mean if the results were the same would you rather pay £85 for 30ml of product or a mere £8? It just goes to show how overpriced the beauty industry can be & that's why I love The Ordinary.

Overall I was very impressed with the items I picked up from The Ordinary. Not everything worked well for me but I got to try out five serums formulated with highly potent skincare ingredients for less than £30. I don't think there's any other company that offers clinical formulations at such a low price. I have since ordered five more serums from The Ordinary which I will be reviewing shortly as well as their new foundations so stay tuned for that!

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