Earlier this week Beyoncé used a $16 Glossier brow gel for her Grammy Awards makeup look, and now Kim Kardashian has recommended a $10 retinoid serum from The Ordinary to “slow the aging process.” Considering the reality TV star normally shells out serious cash on luxe beauty products and treatments—she’s a big fan of Guerlain Orchidée Impériale The Cream, which retails for $455 per jar, and her beauty routine has been estimated to cost between $1000 and $2000—the fact she’s seemingly so impressed with a budget product is interesting.
This week however, in a post outlining her exact skincare routine on her website, Kim showed us she also uses more affordable skincare products, including an under-$10 topical retinoid: The Ordinary Retinoid 2% Emulsion.
Canadian skincare brand, The Ordinary, has grown a significant cult-following in the past 12 months, and gained even more momentum since landing at Sephora in late 2017. The brand is known for offering effective, potent products powerful products at seriously wallet-friendly prices. In fact, nothing in the entire line is priced over $20, which is refreshing.
It’s not just the Insta-famous entrepreneur who loves this product either, customers have left rave reviews on Sephora. “I use this every other night and wake up to clearer, smoother skin than I thought possible. My skin is fairly sensitive and oily and this retinoid isn’t irritating at all,” one five-star fan wrote. Another said, “My skin feels great and I’ve only been using for a few days,” while a third customer wrote: “I have used this every night for almost a year now and it has made the texture of my skin so much smoother. I have noticed a difference in the size of my pores and I don’t break out quite so much using this product. I have acne prone skin and I have realized that nothing will ever work 100% like I would want it to, but I do notice the improvement in tone and texture when using this.”
The particular The Ordinary skin serum that Kim uses is designed to speed up cellular turnover to prevent fine lines from setting in, and to also help with scars and breakouts. At only 2% strength, this is also considered a more gentle retinoid than some of the other products on the market, so shouldn’t dry out or irritate most skin types and doesn’t require a prescription to use, like some retinoid products do. Really, there’s nothing stopping you from adding this budget buy to your shopping cart.
