The Ordinary is the best high-end skin care dupe around. Nylon 2 017 BEAUTY AWARDS 2016
Beauty Sali Hughes A big shout out to The Ordinary t s unlike me to devote a column to one brand, but in this case I feel it s entirely warranted. The Ordinary range of skincare seems, to me at least, to be based on the concept of generic pharma. This is an industry that, after a drug company s legal monopoly on its expensive medicine expires, produces generic drugs using the original recipe, minus any marketing frills, and sells it at a much lower price (hence paracetamol at 19p a pack), saving consumers and the health service fortunes on what is essentially the same product. What we have in The Ordinary is a cosmetic skincare company, namely Deciem, that follows similar principles by stripping back unnecessary scent, packaging and fancysounding but unproven ingredients, leaving behind only the things that acutally work active ingredients such as retinol (anti-wrinkle), vitamin C (brightening), hyaluronic acid (plumping, hydrating) and zinc (anti-inflammatory) and flogging each product for less than a tenner. After three weeks of using the products pretty diligently, it s still too soon to review the efficacy of any of them, except perhaps the Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 serum ( 5.90), which works instantaneously and well, but isn t quite humectant enough for my taste. (If you re a user of Vichy s Aqualia Thermal or Clarins HydraQuench, for example, you may find this lacking in slip). But the level of actives is clinically sound, so there s no reason they shouldn t work: vitamin C, for example, is proven beneficial only in concentrations of 20% and above, a fact ignored I by many brands, which use its stingy inclusion as a selling point. In Vitamin C Suspension, it s clearly labelled as 23% and sold for only 4.90. I can also say, much to my surprise, that unlike with so much of Deciem s output, I do like the textures. The gloopy, silicone-heavy consistency of many of the products is mercifully dialled down in this range. Buffet Serum ( 12.90, the collection s highest price point) is a tad sticky (normal in a peptide serum), but plumps, smooths and doesn t interfere with makeup application. Overall, The Ordinary is a solid range, and I m not surprised it s causing such a stir in the beauty industry. What it perhaps lacks in luxury and elegance, it delivers in transparency, realism and affordability. I can t help thinking this is how all modern skincare should be sold. @salihughes 1 2 3 Try these e 1 The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Serum, 5.90 2 The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension, 4.90 3 The Ordinary Buffet Serum, 12.90
INDIA KNIGHT Pores BEGONE This science-backed formula controls oil, banishes blemishes and it s only a fiver In 2003, nearly 15 years ago, I wrote a vaguely memoirish book about the joys of shopping, called The Shops. It wasn t about shopping for jewels or frocks, but about shopping for little things that, in their min uscule way, made you happy the wooden spoon that becomes the one you automatically reach for, an insanely delicious chocolate, the softest yarn. It went on at some length about beauty products, in which (as I really do hope you can tell by now) I have always been interested. In the book I wrote about Paula Begoun, an American who used to call herself the Cosmetics Cop. I had been to the States and come across her book Don t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me. It was a giant volume (you could really only take it to the cosmetics counter if you had a wheel ie case about your person ), but it was brilliant because it took popular cosmetics products and examined (and rated) them solely on a cold, clinical analysis of the ingredients : not packaging, not advertising, not PR, just chemistry. It found many bestsellers to be absolute swizzes, successful only because people so badly wanted to believe in X or Y product. I thought this was thrilling talk about pointing at the naked emperor. I still think it is thrilling. I can think of a couple of brands whose successes are to do with determination and not-quite-lies, rather than brilliant products. But you know what? Good luck to them. Products that are actually transformative are few and far between. Meanwhile we all dream of magic and adapt our credulousness accordingly. Besides, glamour can exist in a lipstick case that sits on your dressing table just as easily (better, perhaps) as in a boring-looking bottle of some unsexy concoction. ( Begoun now has her own line and still reviews ingredients you can find both at paulaschoice.co.uk. ) This all leads me, somewhat circuitously, to today s product, which is Niacinamide, or to be precise The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% ( 5). Niacinamide is vitamin B 3 and it is magic on oily skin. Begoun gives it the highest rating and, although we come from completely different places, I do too. You know how I am constantly saying there s not much you can do to shrink pores? That s true. However, slap this on twice a day, as I have been doing for four weeks, and come back to me. It also improves skin tone, as in skin evenness, and I have found it to improve radiance, as though you ve just scrubbed your face with a flannel and were now all pink and fresh-faced. D eciem, the manufacturer, says it regulates sebum production, and I m not going to disagree. You can t use it with topical vitamin C, and it s not suitable for persistent acne. Ordinarily oily skin with big pores, though? Oh boy. YOU KNOW HOW I SAY THERE S NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO TO SHOP FOR MORE THE ORDINARY NIACINAMIDE SHRINK 10% + ZINC 1%, 5; PORES? SLAP THEORDINARY.COM THIS ON TWICE A DAY BUY IT NOW VICTORIA ADAMSON
LILY P E B B LE S
Edition: Country: Date: Page: Area: Circulation: Ad data: Phone: Keyword: UK Sunday 21, May 2017 33,34,3... 3781 sq. cm ABC 779785 Weekly page rate 60,690.00, scc rate 144.00 020 7782 5000 Source: Edition: Country: Date: Page: Area: Circulation: Ad data: Phone: The Ordinary Keyword: The Sunday Times {Style} UK Sunday 21, May 2017 33,34,3... 3781 sq. cm ABC 779785 Weekly page rate 60,690.00, scc rate 144.00 020 7782 5000 The Ordinary BEST MEN S GROOMING PRODUCT Kiehl s Age Defender Eye Re pair, 28.50 BEST OF BEAUTY The results are in! These are the Almost 22 ONE MILLION VOTES reader winning products you need now. BEST PREMIUM SKINCARE BRAND Chanel Sublimage La Crème Yeux, 128 BEST SKINCARE BRAND Clinique All About Eyes Rich, 43 cast BEST ANTI-AGEING BRAND KEVIN DUTTON The Ordinar y Buffet, 12.50 RUNNERS-UP BEST MEN S GROOMING PRODUCT 2nd L Oréal Men Expert Skin & Stubble Moisturising Gel, 13. 3rd Clinique for Men Sonic System Cleansing Brush, 79. BEST PREMIUM SKINCARE BRAND 2nd Sisley Paris. 3rd La Mer. BEST SKINCARE BRAND 2nd Garnier. 3rd Elemis. BEST ANTI-AGEING BRAND 2nd No 7. 3rd Clarins Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further copying (including printing of digital cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright Reproduced by Gorkana under licence from the NLA (newspapers), CLA (magazines), FT (Financial Times/ft.com) or other copyright owner. No further owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. 391007788 - LINDUF - A22892-1 - 125509878 Article Page 1 of 7cuttings), digital reproduction/forwarding of the cutting is permitted except under licence from the copyright copying (including printing of digital owner. All FT content is copyright The Financial Times Ltd. 391007788 - LINDUF - A22892-1 - 125509878 Article Page 4 of 7
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