The Ordinary’s Experts Taught Us How to Build a Skincare Routine
Sadaf Razi is Adore Beauty's Senior Beauty Editor.
She's a former fashion editor (who worked at various glossy mags) and stylist-turned digital beauty and lifestyle writer. She has been in the lifestyle/media industry for over 10 years and her work has also been featured on international covers like Elle France and Vanity Fair Mexico.
Some of her fave Adore Beauty products include Cicaplast B5, CeraVe Cleansing Oil and Lancôme Renergie Triple Serum.
A good beauty student’s playbook should include these three things: A preparation step, a treatment step and a seal step.
Or as popular skincare brand The Ordinary have coined it - Prep, Treat and Seal.
Sounds like a simple skincare philosophy right? It is. Because skincare shouldn’t be complicated.
The Ordinary’s Prep, Treat and Seal is a great guide to follow especially if you’re not sure how to actually start building a basic skincare routine.
And who better to talk us through these three skincare pillars than The Ordinary’s Chief Scientific Officer, Prudvi Mohan Kaka and Head of Scientific Communications, Clare Evans.
We asked them a lot of skincare questions when we recently visited their Toronto headquarters.
From a podcast interview with Clare to the best Ordinary products for dry and oily skin, there was no skincare question stone left unturned.
Keep scrolling for a helpful guide and exactly what you need to start your personalised skincare routine according to the experts at The Ordinary.
What Is Prep, Treat and Seal?
Think of The Ordinary’s Prep, Treat and Seal guide as the most simple way to structure your personalised skincare regimen.
It’s all about taking it back to the basics:
Prep - The first bookend step in your routine that prepares your skin for receiving your treatment (or your actives). It usually consists of a cleanser and/or a toner.
Treat - Your treatment step. This is where your targeted serums come in.
Seal - The last bookend product that seals in all the goodness from the above. This is your moisturiser and your SPF (for the AM).
And an important reminder: Your Prep, Treat and Seal routine will look different to your bestie’s or your mum’s because everyone has different skin needs and concerns.
Got dry skin? Your Prep, Treat and Seal routine is going to look very different to your best friend’s oily skin routine.
And lucky for us, both Clare and Prudvi shared their advice and product recommendations for each step and skin concern.
For more of Clare's best skincare tips, you can listen to our Beauty IQ Uncensored podcast interview with her below:
Step 1: Prep.
As mentioned above, this would usually be a face cleanser and/or a toner.
Prudvi suggests opting for a basic cleanser with a texture that you prefer.
A crowd-favourite, he recommends the The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser 50ml.
“One of our most popular cleaners. That’s an oil cleanser. If you want to remove makeup, keep it gentle still, that’s what you want to go with.”
Clare’s personal pick for the Prep step is also The Ordinary squalane cleanser.
“It’s amazing.”
“It keeps my skin soft, it removes makeup when you need and it’s one of those products that leaves your skin feeling great afterwards.”
Step 2: Treat.
This is where you would choose a treatment serum targeted to your skin needs.
The most important piece of advice both Clare and Prudvi gave us around the treat step was not making the rookie mistake of buying a bunch of different serums just because they’re affordable.
We get it, it’s exciting and you want all of the things but this is also how you can risk freaking out your skin and comprising your barrier.
Clare's advice is to start off with one product to treat your main skin concern.
“If you have dull skin, you may want to choose something that addresses that concern.”
For blemish-prone skin Clare suggests the The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution - 30ml
“You can use it as an all-over treatment or spot solution.”
“I like The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% - 30ml for blemish-prone skin as well. It smooths, it helps radiance, and it also supports the skin barrier over time.
“If you have signs of ageing for example, you can use retinoids.”
And remember what we told you earlier about not buying the same thing your friend or sister has?
We think it bears repeating and as Clare says, “Some things may not suit you.”
“They may suit your best friend, your mum or your colleague at work who is raving about a product, but skincare is very individual.
Try things, if they don't work, it’s not because they don't work, it may just not suit the type of skin that you have. So try something else.”
For those addressing more than one skin concern Clare recommends not having more than two treat phases.
“Start with your squalane cleanser in the morning and then if you're looking to treat dull skin concerns, or blemishes, maybe you could use The Ordinary Salicylic Acid and then moisturise and add SPF.”
And for a nighttime skincare routine Clare says:
“If you want some more moisture or additional benefits overnight you could again cleanse with the squalane cleanser to remove makeup from the day and then you may want to consider something like The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 - 30ml as your treat, and then moisturiser.”
Clare’s personal pick for Treat step: “For the treat phase, I’m a big fan of The Ordinary “Buffet” + Copper Peptides 1%
“I love the feel of it, I love how it makes my skin feel. It just gives me that ‘something’.
I'm addicted to that for both morning and evening!”
Step 3: Seal.
Your seal step locks in or ‘seals’ in the goodness from the treatment step usually with a moisturiser or if we’re talking morning skincare routine, an SPF.
If you’re on the hunt for the best moisturiser for dry skin, we reckon The Ordinary’s new The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + PhytoCeramides - 100ml is pretty up there.
“Dry skin especially needs that boost of hydration.” Says Prudvi.
And that’s how The Ordinary Natural Moisturising factors + PhytoCeramides was born.
“The team wanted to create something much richer for dry skin.”
I don’t have dry skin but we were lucky enough to road-test the new Natural Moisturising factors + PhytoCeramides before its release and I can confidently say, I LOVE it.
This is going to be a winter-skin saviour for me especially when my cheeks get dry and tight.
It feels rich and silky (not heavy) on the skin and layers so nicely under makeup too.
It didn’t make me look extra oily - just dewy.
Adore Beauty’s Senior Content Manager and Beauty IQ co-host Joanna Fleming can also vouch for how good the The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + PhytoCeramides is - it made her skin look glassy AF!
This also happens to be Clare’s personal pick for the Seal step.
“Having dry skin, I find that it’s perfect but it doesn't feel heavy it doesn't feel greasy, it just makes it soft and plump and smooth.” she says.
Check out all the behind the scenes action from our Toronto trip below.
From helping to make the best-selling hyaluronic acid serum to seeing how the new The Ordinary Natural Moisturising Factors + PhytoCeramides is created...
The Ordinary Skincare Routine for Dry and Oily Skin.
We couldn’t leave The Ordinary’s Toronto headquarters without asking Prudvi what his Prep, Treat and Seal product recommendations were for both dry and oily skin.
The Best Ordinary Products for Dry Skin:
Prep - The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner and a hydrating cleanser of choice.
The Best Ordinary Products for Oily Skin:
Prep - The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner and a cleanser of choice.
Seal - The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + PhytoCeramides - 100ml or a lighter, gel-based moisturiser.
What Skincare Ingredients Work Well Together?
When talking about skincare routine order we often get asked what ingredients play well (or not play so well) together.
Clare’s tip: If you’re someone who uses both a vitamin C and niacinamide, her suggestion would be using your vitamin C in the morning as part of your treat step and using your niacinamide in the evening.
So there’s a gap between using them.
Prudvi echoes this, informing us that niacinamide and vitamin C will penetrate the skin better when applied independently than if they’re combined and applied on the skin together.
If you’ve already been using these two ingredients together, don’t worry, they won’t cause any harm!
He also suggests splitting peptides and acids between your morning and evening routine because, “When you combine an acid and a peptide, it can compromise the functionality of the peptide.”
And there you have it! Your simple guide on how to start a basic skincare routine.
Know someone who is a big The Ordinary fan? Send them this 'The Ordinary skincare routine for beginners' article.
And stay tuned for our The Ordinary natural moisturising factors review!
Can't get enough of The Ordinary? We hear ya. Check out more of our The Ordinary articles and reviews below:
Which The Ordinary Product is right for you? Check out this YouTube video:
