PRODUCT REVIEW: THE ORDINARY MULTI-PEPTIDE + HA SERUM - BEST PEPTIDE SERUM, BEST ANTI-AGING SERUM, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORDINARY BUFFET SERUM?
THE ORDINARY | MULTI-PEPTIDE + HA SERUM
My most recent deep dive into one of my favorite skincare brands, The Ordinary, was at the outset of summer in an article titled, The Best Salicylic Acid Treatments From The Ordinary - What Is Salicylic Acid? What Does Salicylic Acid Do To Your Skin?
In it, I explored one of the brand’s most popular products – The Ordinary
Salicylic Acid 2% Solution. You can catch the full article on the blog here.
I have numerous product favorites from one of the most affordable skincare brands of all time. The Ordinary revolutionized the entire concept of affordable skincare, democratizing the use well-formulated skincare products and making healthy skin available to everyone. After all, who else was offering a Hyaluronic Acid serum to hydrate dry skin and a Niacinamide serum for clogged pores for like $7?
Among my faves are The Ordinary’s Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Oil Control Serum and The Ordinary Azelaic Acid 10% Suspension Brightening Cream — one of the best brightening creams for acne-prone skin and oil control. (You can catch my review of it on the blog here.)
PRODUCT REVIEW: THE ORDINARY AZELAIC ACID SUSPENSION 10% – ONE OF THE BEST BRIGHTENING LOTIONS
One of the things The Ordinary did was to put the focus onto individual ingredients, engaging skincare users and newbies alike with ingredient knowledge. Suddenly people were asking questions like What does Niacinamide do? and Is Hyaluronic Acid good for sensitive skin?
Before The Ordinary, no one was asking questions related to specific ingredients; certainly not the average skincare user. I worked for Kiehl’s for nearly eight years and I don’t once remember conversations about Niacinamide and Hyaluronic Acid. Vitamin C, yes; but that was an increasingly popular ingredient then.
By pushing the benefits of active ingredients, The Ordinary popularized the use of single-note serums to target specific skin concerns like oil control, dullness and sensitivity.
Yet while fans of The Ordinary became accustomed to face serums named after ingredients like Salicylic Acid, Hyaluronic Acid and olive-derived Squalane, one product seemed to come out of left field, defying the brand’s naming conventions: “Buffet”.
What’s a buffet? Don’t answer that!
I don’t know the backstory behind the naming of “Buffet” and why the company’s founder at the time decided to take the focus off of the single ingredient strategy; but, my guess is that it was because “Buffet” was just that – a blend of numerous pro-skin health actives. To be exact, “Buffet” is an anti-aging serum with peptides.
I think, too, that Deciem founder Brandon Truaxe, was poking fun at big beauty marketing. On the face of it, The Ordinary’s strategy seemed no different than the marketing of every other anti-aging serum, then and now. It’s what the more established, entrenched beauty brands like Kiehl's Since 1851, Clinique and Creme de la Mer have been doing forever; that is, load up a skincare product with a bevy of ingredients and market it as an anti-aging serum.
The Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Correcting Serum is an anti-aging cocktail intended to fade dark spots and hyperpigmentation and contains approximately 25 ingredients. La Mer’s The Concentrate Serum is marketed as an anti-aging face serum and is formulated with nearly 50 ingredients.
(For the recored, The Concentrate Serum is $425 and contains nothing that’s truly exceptional. The first ingredient is Cyclopentasiloxane – a silicone that’s banned in the EU in wash-off products because it’s an environmental hazard. It’s apparently okay to leave it on your face, though.)
With a cocktail of ingredients (approximately 25), “Buffet” at least featured actives that do something for the skin. But “Buffet” recently disappeared. What happened to The Ordinary’s “Buffet” exactly? Well, according to the brand, the company’s marketers recognized that “Buffet” didn’t quite live up to The Ordinary’s promise of ingredient-focused transparency so they renamed and relabeled the product.
Meet the new, and not-so-new, Multi-Peptide + HA Serum…
The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum
So, as I said, The Ordinary’s “Buffet” and its new iteration Multi-Peptide + HA Serum is an anti-aging serum with peptides. Specifically, it contains a blend of peptide complexes intended to treat the look of surface lines and wrinkles in the complexion. And, as the new name suggests, the formula contains humectant Hyaluronic Acid to help hydrate skin.
Peptides fascinate me! The use of peptides in facial skin care like The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + HA Serum has grown increasingly popular in the last couple of years. In fact, peptides are a trending ingredient popular in Google searches. Curious skincare users everywhere regularly google terms like Vitamin C, Niacinamide and, yes, peptides.
But what are peptides and what do peptides do for the skin?
According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team, “Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as building blocks of proteins such as collagen, elastin and keratin. When applied topically to the skin, peptides act as little messengers, triggering skin cells to perform specific functions such as building collagen and elastin, encouraging skin to look and act younger.”
What Are Peptides in Skincare and What Do Peptides Do for Skin?
Of course, there’s a superbly insightful article on the Paula’s Choice website from the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team. Titled What Are Peptides and What Do They Do for Your Skin?, the article goes deep into everything from what peptides are to how they benefit the skin — and what makes them among the best anti-wrinkle treatments used in skin care. Here is an excerpt.
Peptides are one of the most talked-about ingredients in the field of anti-ageing skincare. When applied to your skin, they demonstrate remarkable benefits, revitalising your skin and making it more resilient and stronger. But peptides do not possess magical properties, as some brands claim. The fact is that there is no single ingredient that will address all the signs of skin ageing - and peptides are no exception. Peptides are a great asset to your skin, but it’s best to be realistic in your expectations to avoid disappointment. Peptides have amazing benefits for skin but the results will never be the same as a cosmetic procedure.
What are Peptides?
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as building blocks of proteins such as collagen, elastin and keratin. These proteins are the foundations of your skin and are responsible for its texture, strength and resilience. Without peptides, our skin is less intact which can lead to a loss of firmness, the appearance of wrinkles, a change in texture and less ‘bounce’.
When applied topically to the skin, peptides act as little messengers, triggering skin cells to perform specific functions such as building collagen and elastin, encouraging skin to look and act younger.
Extensive scientific research has proven that peptides can support your skin on multiple levels, for example firming, soothing and hydrating the skin.
PRODUCT REVIEW: THE ORDINARY NIACINAMIDE 10% + ZINC 1% – BEST NIACINAMIDE SERUM FOR ACNE-PRONE SKIN
The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + HA Serum actually contains three distinct, proprietary peptide complexes. None are proprietary to The Ordinary, however; each is used in multiple anti-aging face serums in the skincare marketplace.
Matrixyl 3000 is a trademarked peptide developed and distributed by the French company Sederma. Matrixyl 3000 is composed of the matrikines palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 and is a unified peptide complex that prompts cells to produce more collagen, helping to plump and firm the skin and, as a consequence, smooth the appearance of surface lines and wrinkles.
Patented Matrixyl Synthe-6 is the catchy trademarked name for palmitoyl tripeptide-38 – a peptide produced from derivatives of the amino acids lysine and methione sulfone. It was developed to help regulate skin cell activity, accelerate wound repair (wrinkles are essentially wounds in the skin) and encourage collagen production. It’s also believed to have an effect on skin’s natural production of Hyaluronic Acid.
The third proprietary peptide complex in The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum is Syn-Ake peptide complex. It’s patented and was developed by the Swedish company, Pentapharm. And it does exactly what its name seems to imply: mimic the action of snake venom. The Syn-Ake peptide complex was developed to work as Botox does, relaxing the facial muscles to help reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles.
The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum truly is a buffet of anti-aging peptides! But that’s not all. The serum also contains multiple amino acids and humectants – in addition to Sodium Hyaluronate, the salt form of Hyaluronic Acid that’s more compatible with human skin.
It has a pulpy, rather than watery texture that is quite easily layered. And while it sounds like it would be easy to use, it’s actually got a troublesome quality to it. Peptides don’t play well with Vitamin C.
Thus, if you’re using a dedicated Vitamin C serum, particularly one formulated with Ascorbic Acid, the pure form of Vitamin C, you shouldn’t use The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + HA Serum and your Vitamin C serum in the same routine. On nights when I’m using a peptide serum like the Multi-Peptide + HA Serum, I refrain from layering it with a Vitamin C serum, which I always use in my morning routine.
What I like about it: The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + HA Serum is one of the best anti-aging serum with peptides. With three proprietary peptide complexes, it’s a veritable powerhouse wrinkle serum – and one of the best anti-aging serums for the price. I love its additional cocktail of hydrating humectants.
What I don’t like about it: Because peptides and Vitamin C don’t play well together, it can be complicated to use. But, it’s not that challenging to just use the Multi-Peptide + HA Serum in your PM routine and a brightening serum with Vitamin C the following morning.
Who it’s for: All skin types, even oily, very oily and acne-prone skin.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum for $17.50 here.
The Ingredient List of The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum:
sii|h 0 0, Lactococcus Ferment Lysate 
, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 cci|h, Pentapeptide-18 cci, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 cci, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 cci, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38 cci, Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate cci, Acetylarginyltryptophyl Diphenylglycine cci, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer sii|aox|h, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Allantoin so 0 0, Glycine sii, Alanine sii, Serine sii, Valine sii, Isoleucine sii, Proline sii, Threonine sii, Histidine sii|h, Phenylalanine sii, Arginine sii, Aspartic Acid sii, Trehalose h, Fructose h, Glucose h, Maltose h, Urea sii|h, Sodium PCA sii|h 0 0, PCA sii|h, Sodium Lactate buff|h, Citric Acid buff, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin , Sodium Chloride vc, Sodium Hydroxide buff, Butylene Glycol h|solv 0 1, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Acacia Senegal Gum, Xanthan Gum vc, Carbomer vc 0 1, Polysorbate 20 emu|surf 0 0, PPG-26-Buteth-26, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil emu|surf, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate chel, Ethoxydiglycol solv|h|perf 0 0, Sodium Benzoate pres, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Phenoxyethanol pres, Chlorphenesin pres|amicWATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW
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