Review | The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + Hyaluronic Acid

Heya! I’m really glad that I got this blog back to the way it was.

Just last week, I meddled with some file names via a plugin to increase my security in case of hackers and I lost everything. An error appeared during the changing process, so I did the most natural thing to hit the refresh button.

When I refreshed my website, they asked me for my preferred language to install WordPress and that’s when I panicked (for real).

My heart was beating SO fast, I was feeling so distraught that I let this happen.

Thankfully, right before I proceeded with the changes, they recommended me to backup my database files (and I did) and honestly, that was what saved everything that you still see here.

I took about an hour plus to sort everything out though at 3am in the morning. So glad there was Google and helpful samaritans sharing their solutions 😭.

Anyway, the only changes I couldn’t revert were the question marks in my posts (that used to be emojis).

So if you see any ?????? like that, just know that they were emojis previously.

I will be going through post by post here to rectify that but just keep in mind that I’m not usually that inquisitive 😂.

Okay! Back to this post that I almost never managed to release – I honestly was gonna forgo restarting a blog due to how time consuming it was to begin if I really lost everything.

I began using this product on the night of 29 May 2020 and will show you some before and after photos later.

If you’re interested, do keep reading!

Read my previous review: Review | KUNDAL Hydro-Intensive Protein Premium Hair Treatment

What: The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + Hyaluronic Acid (HA)

Price: S$13.50 (from Shopee)

Weight: 30 ml / 1 fl. oz.

Period-After-Opening: 12 months

Look & Feel

Right off the bat, it’s in a familiar form of what I’m used to for The Ordinary’s products.

My previous favourite of theirs were their Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, but this might top that – p.s. I rated that product 5/5 and have before and after photos. The difference could be that I did not experience a sting with this product that I’m reviewing today!

Took a peek at that review that’s dated 2 years back on 8 Aug 2018 and wow, how much my skin has improved! LOL.

Related review: Review | The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

It comes in a sturdy glass bottle with a glass dropper just like their usual products, nothing out of ‘the ordinary’ hehe – couldn’t help it.

I do place the product back into the box after every night’s use though, just in case direct sunlight will affect it.

Here are some of the information on the box and actual product itself for your own reference.

On the box, it is said to visibly target:

• Uneven tone
• Texture irregularities
• Fine lines

Application

Like any other serum, ampoule or essence in dropper form, it performs the way it’s expected in terms of usage.

The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + HA consistency is almost like water, with a slight hint of beige pink, which is hard to tell once it’s on your face or palms.

For me, I prefer to drop about 1/3 of the dropper length onto my palms before lightly rubbing them together.

Then, I go ahead to gently pat and press into my cleansed and dry skin. The instructions mentioned applying this onto dry skin and preferably in the night time.

Make sure to apply sunscreen in the day during your usage with this as this product contains Alpha-hydroxy Acids, a.k.a AHA (Lactic Acid) which makes your skin more sensitive to sunlight.

I know I said this, but I haven’t been using sunscreen as often during this stay at home period. Though I do make it a point to close curtains and windows to prevent sunlight from coming in while it’s bright out.

So if you’re going ‘commando’ with your skin, i.e. skipping sunscreen, try to prevent sunlight from your face if possible.

If you’d like to know whether you need to apply sunscreen at home, you can try watching this video to learn more. She breaks it down in a very informative yet easy way to understand!

Another thing to point out for this product would be the smell. It smells almost like nail varnish – imagine applying that onto your face.

With that being said, the smell does not linger. You may also give it a couple of minutes (if you’d like) to let it fully absorb before feeding your skin with your remaining skincare routine.

I do it sometimes but in all honesty, I do not think it affects the results.

So, after roughly 2.5 months of usage, here are some photos of the before and after!

P.S. first photo was taken at night with artificial lighting, hence the vastly different tone.

There isn’t too big of a difference when you look at this as a whole, but if you noticed, I had small pimples around my cheeks (likely MASCNE – mask acne!) on 5 July, and by 10 July, it visibly lightened and improved.

The biggest differences I’ve felt were how quick my scars heal and how smoother my skin was. Also, my blackheads didn’t pop out as much on my nose compared to pre-lactic acid usage.

Although my skin was smoother, they haven’t gotten to the extent of baby butt smooth.

This product did also greatly reduce the appearance of my enlarged pores around my nose.

Since AHA helps to remove oil, and dead skin cells, I do notice that I produce much lesser oil than normal which is a great thing for me (oily combo skin), making my pores appear smaller!

Additional notes: I decided to take 1 week off of using the Lactic Acid 2 weeks before this review. I noticed my blackheads appearing more and skin did start to feel a little oily like as though it was pre-Lactic Acid usage.

I can say for sure that this helped switch it back for the better once I started using it again.

If you’re looking for an exfoliant that’s gentle yet effective (depending on the troubled areas you’re looking to improve), definitely give this a try.

I have tried other exfoliants before so I got the 10%, if you’re new to it, do try the 5% first and patch test!!! (Just in case you don’t develop an allergic reaction)

Yes

• Effective at reducing blackheads and appearance of enlarged pores
• Gentle, did not break me out (personally) or sting my skin
• Affordable – have about 1/3 left after ~2.5 months of nightly usage
• Smoother skin (not too sure about fine lines, as I can’t vouch for that yet)
• Visibly lightens fresh acne scars
• Free from fragrance, alcohol, oil, silicone, gluten, nut (also vegan)
• Cruelty-free

No

• Nail varnish smell (may be off putting for some, I’m fine with it)
• May not do as much if you already have pretty good skin lol

Am I Repurchasing?

Yeah I would. The niacinamide did sting me once in a while but this was really gentle yet worked efficiently.

If you’re allergic to niacinamide, please give this a try!

I rated this 4.5 / 5 as while it helped heal my troubled skin, it does not ‘prevent’ it. Therefore, when I do repurchase it, I will not be using this for prevention but as a solution.

Overall Rating

This is actually my second The Ordinary product but definitely not my last. Shout out your favourite TO product or any other recommendations in the comments below!

With 💕,

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