The Ordinary Colours: My Review

My Friday  review of 'The Ordinary' Colours foundations:

As a user of vegan makeup I've really struggled to find fabulous foundations at an affordable price.  I use some great high end products (Arbonne do my favourite foundations) but I've have been struggling to find a reasonably priced one that I can use and recommend to my clients.

If you haven't come across Deciem yet ... They are all about producing affordable products, with proven ingredients that actually work. No frills, no un-proven claims or fancy packaging.

There has been huge hype about this range which was released in April - and there was a waiting list of around 25000 when it was first released.  I've been meaning to try it for ages and am very excited to finally get my hands on it (yes I've been a little slow).  

​There are two foundations in their range and I've tested both – the Coverage and the Serum, which are pretty self-explanatory,  In a nutshell: The Coverage has a medium, buildable coverage that blends well and doesn’t seem to cling to dry patches, the Serum is far more sheer, has less longevity but gives a more natural and fresh look.  

Plus I've also tried and reviewed the 2 primers in their range.  High-Adherence Silicone Primer and High-Spreadability Fluid Primer. 

In terms of packaging, It isn’t the most beautiful packaging I've ever seen, but as you are paying less than £6 for the foundations or primers I don’t think you can complain if the packaging isn’t exquisitely beautiful. It comes in a matte plastic bottle, which is extremely travel-friendly and actually quite cool-looking. The bottle is small and, unlike most foundations on the market, doesn’t try to convince you that it contains more product than it does - it contains 30ml.

With regard to the colour options for both foundations I absolutely love the naming system (possibly a little sad, I know). I can get behind an interesting or clever product name, however  for foundation I prefer something much more descriptive and relative when it comes to naming the colours. I personally don’t know if “true beige” is darker or lighter than “shell beige” or “neutral beige”, nor do I have a clue what the undertones of those shades are. However, The Ordinary make it super simple and I can easily tell that 1.1N is neutral and lighter than 2.1N. The foundations are divided into three base numbers, 1 (for light), 2 (medium) and 3 (dark) and contain a letter or letters which indicate undertone. Many brands don’t denote undertone in their shade names, and when they do you’d be lucky to have a neutral option in addition to warm and cool. The Serum Foundation comes with a whopping six undertones: Neutral, Pink, Yellow, Red, Neutral Silver, and Yellow Gold. 

The shade range is extensive. There are 21 shades with multiple undertones represented. From what I can glean from their colour chart, there do seem to be more extensive, nuanced options for light to medium skin tones than for dark skin tones, but the range does go quite deep.

The Ordinary Colours - Coverage Foundation:  The Coverage Foundation is the one I decided to try first.  I chose the shade 2.0P which is "light medium pink" - and this was spot on for me.  I don't tend to go for higher-coverage bases.  I think as you age (I'm almost 45) a lighter formation works better, but I was absolutely blown away by this. The coverage is great - it completely evened out my redness. It's not absolutely full-coverage, but a very solid medium that covers while looking incredibly natural on the skin. Not cakey at all. It lasted all day and I didn't need to touchup at all. Seriously impressed.   My only slight negative with this foundation was that when I used it with their silicone primer it sat in my forehead wrinkles which wasn't great.  That said, for this price this foundation is fab. 

​My pics below show me completely makeup free, with just the primer and foundation, but pre-concealer and then fully made up.

The Ordinary Colours - Serum Foundation: I chose a few shades to try for this because lighter foundations are my preference and they didn't have the shade in stock that I preferred (2.0P) so I thought I'd try a few and see how they went and see which shade is better for me (Based on previous reviews I had high expectations and I thought they'd be great for my makeup kit which is why I didn't mind buying so many) The ones I went for were 2.0N and 2.0YG and 2.1P, which are “light medium neutral" "light medium yellow undertones with gold undertones" and "medium with pink undertones". 

I have to say I actually really love this foundation as well.  Yes, it’s a lighter coverage with a more moisturising feel to it.  I would like to point out that the other one isn’t drying at all.  My opinion with this one, if you are prone to more oily skin you will need to powder a tiny bit more, but if you’re after a dewy, lightweight looking base for the daytime this is nearly perfect. It actually has more coverage than I was expecting, considering the name.  If you are after a lightweight foundation that offers more coverage (I'd say this is light to medium)  than a tinted moisturiser or BB cream then this is the foundation for you.  

With regard to 'The Ordinary' foundations I would be happy to recommend them both.  For the price I think you will really struggle to find something even half as good.

Have you tried either of them ?  What are your thoughts ?  Or what is your favourite foundation ?

​Emma x