The Ordinary by The Abnormal Beauty Company (or how I dipped my toe in to Deciem)

 The Ordinary by the Abnormal Beauty Company; If you haven't heard about this cult brand yet then you might not know they are hot shit right now and with their parent company, Deciem, being bought up by Estée Lauder they're only going to get bigger. 

 The internet has been a buzz for months now with beauty gurus far and wide raving about these high end products for low end prices. I couldn't believe it myself when I saw that there wasn't a product in the range that cost more than 8.00 quid! 

So I joined the cult. I have to say that I was really impressed by the counter staff in House Of Fraser Belfast, they were friendly, knowledgeable and able to point me in the direction of the products I needed with just a short chat about my skin. I bought the Hyaluronic Acid 2% and the Niacinimide 10% Serums. If you have no idea what these mean then basically the Hyaluronic is for hydration and, whilst The Ordinary say that Niacinimide combats blemishes, I would actually say that the Vitamin B3 formula is more suited to helping pigmentation than actual spot removal. This is an important distinction if, like me, you're trying to combat severe breakouts. 

I have to be honest and say that my first impressions of The Ordinary serums weren't great. Cheap prices means cheap ingredients; Cheap ingredients mean that you're not necessarily left with instant results. The serums have a thick tacky consistency and leave my skin sticky, which I hate! However, after a few minutes left to sink in this stickiness goes away and my skin feels soft again leaving me surprised. Ok, so they aren't instant wonders but I can see why people are hooked. Over a month later and I'm still alternating each serum every night. My spots haven't cleared up and to be honest neither has my pigmentation but my skin does feel soft so I guess they're doing something. I'm not overly enthused or hyped up but I just can't seem to say anything really truly awfully bad about them because "for the price" they're fine. 

Not great. Just fine. 

I think next time I'm looking for something new I'll step up a price level with Deciem's slightly more expensive sister brand, Niod, to see if they work with my temperamental skin but it is fabulous to know that when I'm broke, as I regularly am, I can trust that I will be able to keep up good skin care without breaking the bank!

*NB since scheduling this post I have been catching up on YouTube subscriptions and the beauty guru that is Caroline Hirons has done an awesome side by side demo (starting at 13:40 minutes) on the Deciem ranges to show the difference that the price of ingredients makes on the consistency of the formula. It's a long video but if, like me, you are fussy about the texture of your products it's worth checking out!