Beauty review: The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation

There is so much to say about The Ordinary, which has to be one of the most consistently rule-breaking and insanely affordable, high performance beauty brands to have ever hit the marketplace. Their formulations – and price points – have been game changers from the get-go, so when they announced they were moving into makeup under the ‘Colours’ name, it’s fair to say that the galaxy exploded. Over 25,000 people added themselves to the waitlist to try the two foundation formulas that went up online, and it would fair to say that the hype was REAL.

Now, they are finally available in New Zealand and yep, they were well worth the wait. I’ve been playing with both - the Lightweight Serum Foundation and High Coverage Foundation. - both of which offer 21 shades ranging from pale to deep and truly are a revelation.

The shades are divided into three tiers of light, medium, and dark, which are then varied by pink, red, yellow, and neutral tones. There are also incremental decimals of shades within those three tiers, and they check off the vegan, cruelty-free, oil-free boxes too.

My personal foundation routine is pretty minimal, and I generally avoid anything with too much coverage because I hate the feeling of wearing a ‘mask’ and like a little of my own skin tone to show through. This can change up for after hours however, and The Ordinary have both scenarios covered.

The formula I have really fallen in love with is The Serum Foundations (RRP $14.70), which is a lightweight medium-coverage beauty that looks natural with a very lightweight serum feel. In fact, upon application it almost just felt like skincare, and my skin wonderfully nourished and plump-feeling as a result. I first applied it with a damp beauty blender and my fingers, and found that a brush works well too if you’ve got a little more time on your hands (all of us right now, amiright?).

It was amazing to watch it literally melt into my skin, which is mainly due to the fact that the serum is crafted from colour pigments suspended in The Ordinary’s proprietary ‘spreadability system’. This unique formulation allows the pigments to look natural on the skin, stay on for longer and resist collecting within lines – I love that. It glides on for a subtly perfected, semi-matte finish that lasts and lasts, with my first attempts getting a great result for up to eight hours with just a little powder touch up when my t-zone got oily on our more humid days. I think this will be a wonder as we head into winter as it nourishes as it covers, and the price point is such that you can grab a few shades to match the season.