The Abnormal Beauty Company

Hey guys!

 

So this is a topic I have been thinking about writing about for a while. With the company in the news recently I thought what better time! I am talking about The Abnormal Beauty Company, Deciem. The company has been around since 2013 and has been taking the beauty and skincare industry by storm ever since.

 

When I first heard about the Abnormal Beauty company it was a sponsored post on my Instagram. The simple bottle designs that make their makeup and serums look more like potions was intriguing to me. It seemed as though there were no gimmicks, no fancy packaging, just what you see is what you get kind of skincare brand, and honestly, I liked that. The minimalist approach they had for their marketing and bottle design meant to me that their products must really sell themselves if this was all there was to them. Brandon Truaxe, the company’s somewhat nutty and random CEO (if you follow the company on Instagram you know what I mean with his posts and recent firing of his entire US staff, including the co-founder...yikes) is a former computer scientist, who wanted to take a highly analytical approach to skin care and sell time tested ingredients at hugely reduced margins.

 

That was another thing that intrigued me about the company was the price point of most of their items. Ranging anywhere from $4-$30, it seemed amazing to find skincare products that were gaining a good reputation for working at this price. Several brands are represented by Deciem, but I have seen and purchased mostly products by “The Ordinary”. After visiting their locations in the PATH in Toronto and at the Distillery District, I decided to purchase a few items to try out.

 

The products that I have personally purchased were the following:

1. The Ordinary’s Serum Foundation - $7.00

Review: I absolutely love this foundation and have started using it in place of my long time love Maybelline’s FitMe foundation. The color is almost an exact match and its spreadability on my skin is incomparable to none. It gives me a dewy complexion and has long staying power. It blends super well too. The foundation comes in a pump bottle and has a water like texture but it goes on super well and is very buildable. I even use this under my eyes as concealer. I like this foundation so much that I got my mom and a couple of friends hooked.

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   2. The Ordinary’s High Adherence Silicone Primer - $10.00

Review: I had high hopes for this primer because I actually needed to buy one and because I fell inlove with the foundation. Unfortunately, I actually started breaking out a few days into using this primer, in areas of my face I usually never get zits. I ended up returning it after about 2 weeks of use.

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   3.The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid - $10.00

Review: After chatting up the sales people in the PATH location, I decided to purchase this as it was their number one seller. Hyaluronic Acid seems to be all the rage these days. H.A helps with dry and aging skin. It helps your skin increase its ability to retain moisture in the tissue. What I found was that this oil as well did not sit too nicely with my skin and I started breaking out as well after a few days. I think it is because I didn’t properly understand what H.A was in the first place, seeing as though my skin is quite oily. On another note, a good friend of mine who has psoriasis can’t get enough of this stuff. Unlike creams that just sit on top of the skin, this serum sinks below to really provide itch relief! (I actually returned this product as well)

 

   4.The Ordinary’s Caffeine Solution Under Eye serum: $10.00

Review: I am a sucker for any under eye cream that has caffeine in it because it instantly depuffs and makes your look more awake. I used this for about 3 weeks straight to see if there were any visible differences however after not seeing anything significant, I returned to using my Kiehl’s under eye treatment. I kept this product though.

 

So on the whole, there are obviously many, many more products from this company I have yet to try, including more brands I will eventually look into. The Ordinary gave me a great new foundation to use but I’ll stick to other primer and serum brands. I think if you are new to skincare it might be kind of hard to navigate between all the offerings, from serums to acids etc. But with some research and knowing what your skin needs and how different products will benefit you, it will be worth it to see what all the hype is about.

 

I find that a lot of the ingredients listed on the company’s website for their products are quite hard to comprehend, meaning I am not really sure what I am putting onto my face. The terms seem super scientific, which the company is going for, you know, “expertly curated in the lab” type feel. But yet in the store, the sales people were touting how all the ingredients were simple and natural and tried and tested. But they couldn’t tell me exactly what anything was.. Makes you wonder eh?