The Ordinary: the honest verdict.
The brand that democratised skincare by pricing actives at cost. Eight weeks across retinol, vitamin C, niacinamide, and the hyaluronic.
- Position
- Value · Science-led
- Founded
- 2013 · Toronto, Canada
- Available at
- Adore Beauty, Priceline, Chemist Warehouse, Amazon AU
Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
The most-bought serum in the AU market. $13. The one product that made The Ordinary.
The baseline every AU skincare routine should start from.
The Ordinary's pitch — pure actives at raw-ingredient prices — is largely accurate. The formulas are stripped (fragrance-free, no marketing-driven fillers), but stripped also means sometimes harsh-textured, sometimes less tolerable than competitors. For people starting a skincare routine, The Ordinary is the right first investment — try the category, learn what you tolerate, graduate to premium only where it adds value. Retinol and Niacinamide+Zinc are the two strongest picks.
What they do right
- Lowest-cost active actives in the AU market
- Ingredient lists are transparent and short
- Fragrance-free, colour-free across range
- Retinol and Niacinamide+Zinc are genuinely category-best at price
What to know
- Vitamin C Suspension texture is grainy
- No support for layering — you have to learn yourself
- Glass bottle packaging breaks easily
The lineup
Retinol 1% in Squalane
The retinol that democratised the active. Squalane base, cheap, works. Start at 0.2%, graduate up.
Vitamin C Suspension 23%
Raw L-ascorbic acid suspension. Grainy texture, no-nonsense formula, $14. Good value if you can tolerate texture.
Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
The $13 serum that normalised niacinamide. Oil-regulating, pore-minimising, genuinely good at the price.
Affiliate disclosure: Glow earns commission from qualifying purchases. Read more.
"The retinol ranking is the only skincare thing I've bookmarked. Every time I see a new product launch I check here first."
What's actually in it.
- Actives
- Niacinamide 10% + Zinc PCA 1% (well above evidence threshold). Retinol 1% in Squalane (water-free for stability). Vitamin C in multiple forms across the range.
- Preservation
- Phenoxyethanol at low concentration, with chlorphenesin in some SKUs (within safe limit).
- Allergens
- Largely fragrance-free across the range — DECIEM's brand position.
- Editorial concerns
- The Salicylic Acid 2% Solution carries a pregnancy precaution — not a quality flag, a use-context flag.
Index grade is editorial, not paid. The grade reflects what's in the product against Glow's v1.0 watch list — it sits beside the Glow score, not instead of it. The Ordinary's transparency on INCI lists is itself a category-leading practice.