What will you replace The Ordinary with? Give me ideas.

[DaisyRenton18]

Apologies if there is already a thread about Ordinary alternatives, but I haven't seen it.

I'm trying to look after my skin more as I get older. I know a lot of people on here use The Ordinary - which totally confuses me - and have routines which sound exactly like they know what they're doing.

With The Ordinary disappearing, I'm thinking a lot of people will be switching to other products and am hoping to tap in to some of that knowledge about what to look for in a product/recommendations for other brands. Ideally one or two good products - the thing that put me off TO was the overwhelming amount of choice and the sheer number of products to use each day.

Please can you help me navigate the minefield of retinol etc. with brands you recommend and trust? There are so many options, I don't know where to start.

Skin is very combination, prone to redness. Pai rosehip oil works well but I'm not a fan of the smell at all.

Has the Covent Garden store shut? I was hoping to pop in for Buffet next week....

I placed an order yesterday direct with Deciem online. It's been shipped according to the website. I spent £80 to stock up on essentials!

Bagel thank you for that list of recommendations! I really appreciate the time you took for that. I love the Pai oil and my skin looked better overnight the first time I tried it, but I really can't stand the smell. That cleanser sounds like it should smell nice, though! Gentle is good as my skin tends to turn bright red with no encouragement whatsoever. I keep seeing Vit C recommended everywhere, but never quite sure where to start, so will look at Mad Hippie and Garden of Wisdom. Pumpkin and Elspeth thanks for the recommendation too - sounds like GoW is a good brand to investigate so will start my Googling there. Had never heard of it before this thread! I knew there'd be good ideas here :)

Trucking, thank you - will do.

Pleasure, Daisy. I'm on a few groups as I find it interesting although I can't use 90% of it! Pretty sure you can still email Victoria Health (who sell Garden of Wisdom) and ask for advice.

Grim from what I've seen online, the Covent Garden Shop is closed but Spitalfields is still open.

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the Inkey List yet:

m.feelunique.com/brands/inkey?url=inkey&blang=EN

Some of their 3rd party retailers still have stock left if you need to stock up.

I love Kiehl’s products, it’s quite the price jump from the ordinary and they don’t have individual serums like TO does, but I really love their clearly corrective serum, the micropeel exfoliating serum (?) and loads of their other products. You may find products that have the same activr ingredients as TO like glycerin, squalene etc. Sorry I can’t be more comprehensive but I’m currently out!

Arg! I went to the Covent garden store today and it was all locked up but no signs up indicating anything! I was going to ask on social media tonight what the deal was but this is a surprise! What struck me as weird was their two card machines had very long receipt papers coming out of them, both to the floor. Hmph. Will have a look at nadine baggots YouTube advice, her channel is excellent.

Try fenwicks @MrsJamin

Order TO from Beauty Bay. Alternatively, try the new Makeup Revolution skincare (TO dupes - literally), Garden of Wisdom from Victoria's Health website, or The Inkey List (the UK version of TO).

Also Spitalfields shop should be open in London! I think it's the last one standing.

I made a big stock pile order from Deciem yesterday morning and it’s due to arrive tomorrow 🙌

Oh wow, Brandon seems to be having a total meltdown on the deciem Instagram account today. I hope he gets the help he needs before he does something he will regret when he recovers.

Qvc have a small collection of products on line

@FabulousTomatoes I did mention Inkey List but my post got deleted 🙄

I ordered last night from Deciem website and it's being delivered tomorrow.

Shmithecat how odd 🤔

House of fraser have a lot of products, and they say in stock etc so they must have it ready for shipping. I think I might stock up!

Someone online told me she'd been for a look around today for the Ordinary - apparently Spitalfields is closed as well. 😮 but Fenwicks has some stock.

Another one to add to the list - e.l.f is now in Boots

Nooooooo! I've only just discovered them and I LOVE the products. I remember the guy had some kind of breakdown months back about people being out to get him. He's obviously quite unwell.

Yeah the IG is awful to see. So sad.

Garden of wisdom for niacinamide, azelaic acid and vitamin c + ferulic acid from Victoria Health. I have been using them for a while and prefer to The Ordinary stuff, all absorbs better, less sticky feeling and pilling issues, and pump bottles instead of dropper bottles. Next for me to try from GOW is the PHA serum.

Possibly Revolution niacinamide, and the AHA/BHA peel, I have heard they are quite good but not tried yet. They do quite a lot of The Ordinary style serums.

For hyaluronic acid I either use La Roche posay Hyalu B5, Vichy 89 serum or Hada Labo Gokujun premium hyaluronic serum. The Hada labo is amazingly cheap (around £11-12 for 170ml on amazon) and not bad at all, but the LRP is my favourite.

Bravura London for salicylic acid 2% peel and the AHA/BHA toner (and the azulene moisturiser is amazing too). All reasonably priced and I am getting better results. Plus very pretty packaging, lovely different coloured glass bottles and jars with dragonflies on. I am yet to try the Lactic acid or the glycolic acid, but I will try it out at some point.

Facetheory for squalane - it's a huge 100ml bottle for not a lot more money. I find it a little easier absorbed than The Ordinary one.

Sukin rosehip oil.

I've been slowly swapping out products for a while, and I prefer all the stuff I am currently using. I might try some of The Inkey list products at some point too.

Thanks floofydoof! Have screenshotted your post for when I run out of my TO stash. Am so gutted about this. I have learnt so much about my skin and specific ingredients and whats needed instead of 'try this magic cream that will fix everything' and never did. There was a post on reddit a while back on TO alternatives just for the UK which I'll dig out when I'm officially awake instead of just having an insomnia moment.

I need some help please, my order came and in addition to my usual I have ordered salicylic acid 2% because my nose is full of blackheads that nothing has shifted! Where do I fit it in to my routine? I cleanse, use glycolic toner then hyaluronic or azelaic acid and rose hip oil in the evening. Do I use the salicylic to replace something or add it in?

@tshirtsuntan, use the salicylic instead of the glycolic.

About time.