Drunk Elephant compared to the Ordinary

I've tried almost every product from Drunk Elephant and religiously repurchase and use the Protini Polypeptide, A-Passioni Retinol, and quite a few other products. Big fan. I'm a BIG skincare junkie but I've not tried the Ordinary because a weird part of me prefers to pay more for skincare. According to Hyram on youtube though (he does great reviews on skincare), the Ordinary is better for supplemental-type products to use in conjunction with other skincare.
 
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I use a bunch of products from The Ordinary. The only part of my regimen that isn't from there is my cleanser, which is an oil-based cleanser from Kiehl's. All I know is my skin is much less dehydrated now and my sister tells me my skin looks really good now. She loves their products, too, and our other sister told her that her skin was looking really good.

I do think The Ordinary is really good if you want to target certain issues or are looking for a specific product/ingredient. Otherwise, it can be too easy to end up using so many of their different products all at once.
 
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The Ordinary will overwhelm you with their retinol and retinoic acid derivatives. Give yourself some time to get an education on the Ordinary and Deciem brands on YouTube, Instagram, and the blogs. SF Stef, Hyram, and the videos you'll see on the sidebar with huge viewed numbers are a good place to start. The Ordinary is a great line if you are well educated about your specific skin behaviors and preferences. Instagram has some great resources too (happy to DM a list of some longtime followed accounts that I can recommend).

Drunk Elephant is a respectable line, and I use a few products that work with my very dry, dehydrated skin. They have one of the best, albeit overpriced, vitamin C serums (C-Firma). That distinction of "best" comes mostly to the airtight and opaque packaging. Their bronzer is my favorite and I keep multiple bottles of D-Bronzi on hand because I go through it so regularly. DE sunscreens should be avoided and A-Passioni is one of the worst retinol products I've ever used due to a deeply flawed ingredient list. A-Passioni is the controversial product that caused a fracture between Caroline Hirons and DE's Tiffany Masterson.

I like The Ordinary overall because the breadth and depth of their products addresses more concerns. DE is fine, but there isn't much that they offer that isn't done more elegantly and at a better price elsewhere.
 
I was a really big fan of DE but the line has multiple areas of weakness (sunscreens, cleansers, eye creams) so for those items I use other brands.

I'm still a fan of Protini moisturizer, B Hydra, Babyfacial and the Frambos glycolic serum, although the latter two are probably dupable with cheaper products. Their vitamin C serum was really great but I wouldn't use it due to the smell (like campfire mixed with sour fruit and hotdog water). I think their new body skincare line is meh. I've used the cream and cleanser, which smell nice like almond extract, but aren't musthaves.

I use The Ordinary argan oil (I think they had a marula oil before too? I swear I bought a bottle from Sephora a while back). For eye serums, I really like NIOD's fractionated eye contour serum.
 
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I use The Ordinary argan oil (I think they had a marula oil before too? I swear I bought a bottle from Sephora a while back). For eye serums, I really like NIOD's fractionated eye contour serum.
The argan oil is a must. I actually don't use it topically -- I mix it with my leave-in conditioner. The Ordinary's marula oil is fantastic. Marula oil is a very simple and easily sourced oil, and it should never cost $72. Their rosehip oil is good and the price is fantastic, but it's not my favorite (RIP to Sunday Riley's Flora). NIOD has some excellent products on a smaller scale and at a higher price point, but those are definitely still a good value. I recommend CAIS.

Vit C actually should smell disgusting, but I don't blame anyone for finding it prohibitive. For vitamin C products, I've used DE (several repurchases) Paula's Choice, Skinceuticals (outrageously overpriced), Cosrx (highly recommended), and Timeless (Amazon purchase, risky). I also keep my vitamin C products in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life (usually about 3 months).

No matter what, one must be very mindful to use and reapply SPF. The best ways to fight signs of aging are SPF and Botox.
 
Vit C actually should smell disgusting, but I don't blame anyone for finding it prohibitive. For vitamin C products, I've used DE (several repurchases) Paula's Choice, Skinceuticals (outrageously overpriced), Cosrx (highly recommended), and Timeless (Amazon purchase, risky). I also keep my vitamin C products in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life (usually about 3 months).

I love Timeless Vitamin C serum but I highly recommend buying it directly from the Timeless web site. It arrives extremely fresh and lasts for months in the refrigerator. I also love their Matrixyl Synthe'6 and Coenzyme Q10 serums. If you sign up for their emails, a few times a year they will have sales where they offer special deals on serums.

https://www.timelessha.com/
 
Oh, and if you're interested in trying The Ordinary, you can email them to talk about what skin issues you have and what your current regimen is and they'll give you good suggestions of what products from their line that you can try.
 
I was turned off by Drunk Elephant's social media presence. Unprofessional and ungracious to anyone who doesn't have a positive opinion. Their interactions with Caroline Hirons pushed me further away.

That being said, I do really like Protini, which for me is a good layer in the morning - between Hyaluronic and sunscreen or tinted moisturizer. I had used Lala Retro at night, and my facialist thought it clogged my pores. I've also tried the B Hydra, which is a nice product, but doesn't really have a place in my routine.

I did really like the C Firma, but have gone back to Skincueticals. C - Tango is a nice eye cream, but I won't repurchase. Their other eye cream, Shaba isn't moisturizing enough for me. I have also used their Marula Oil, but as someone mentioned, there is no reason to pay DE prices for that.

I used BabyFacial a few times, and didn't really see anything from it. Many people say the Ordinary Peeling Solution is a good dupe.
From others I follow/read I have heard terrible things about their Retinol, and nothing special about the hair and body lines.

I don't use anything from The Ordinary, but do use Niod CAIS.
 
Love the ordinary, just looking for rosehip oil recommendations. Any advice?

All the websites recommend the ordinary and trilogy, but I have never seen any from Drunk Elephant?
Not the biggest fan of the rosehip oil from The Ordinary. It just didn't do anything for me. I'm going to eternally chase a product that compares to Sunday Riley's Flora (discontinued) that was rosehip-heavy. Flora is hands-down the best oil I've ever owned. Juno is great, but that's off topic. I haven't tried Trilogy's rosehip oil yet because I'm still trying to force myself to use up what I have from The Ordinary (and the 18 other oils I have), but I will once I can rationalize the redundancy.
 
I used to use Drunk Elephant religiously because I had sensitive, reactive skin and kind of bought into their marketing hype that all skin issues could be solved if only you used their products without the "Suspicious Six". It took me awhile to get off the DE train when I started to really educate myself on skincare ingredients and realized that a big part of their marketing was unnecessary fear-mongering (esp. the stuff regarding all silicones being bad and to avoid "chemical" (aka organic) UV filters). I also was super turned off by their social media presence, especially when customers would mention issues they had with products, and DE would insist that any issue must be due to some other factor and couldn't possibly be caused by one of their products (neglecting to recognize that literally any ingredient can cause irritation in some subset of people). It didn't help that I only found their products to be just ok (B-Hydra, Protini), and even had not-so-great reactions to some of them (T.L.C. Framboos, Babyfacial, JuJu Bar, Slaai cleansing balm). I jumped off the train, really started mixing and matching my routine, and my skin has never been better.

With respect to The Ordinary, I think a lot of their products are decent, but I actually have enjoyed The Inkey List products more (same price point, also available at Sephora). I love Inkey List's rosehip oil, hemp moisturizer, polyglutamic acid, and eye creams.