I’m sure you’ve already noticed that one of my most favourite brands of skincare, and especially when it comes to active skincare (acids, hydrolates, essences and such), is The Ordinary. I find the concept of the brand – concentrated active ingredients in their pure yet stabilised form in minimalist packaging that you, as a consumer, can mix and match based on your skincare savvy knowledge – is innovative yet so convenient for me. I’ve tried a great number of products from the brand and they’ve been ruling my skincare routine for years now. When I came across Typology Paris I was intrigued. A very similar concept but significantly more consumer friendly with a wider range of products. Is this brand a competitor? Are they shameless copy cats? Are they better than The Ordinary??
What is Typology Paris?
Typology Paris is a brand that was founded to challenge the skincare industry. Their key message is simple: You don’t need fancy ingredients, fancy packaging or fancy flagship stores to create premium products that serve their purpose. Moreover you can and you should provide your customers with knowledge base and full guidance to deliver meaningful and effective skincare for their needs.
What I love about The Ordinary – the exciting adventurous approach you take to create your own skincare routine – can easily turn against you. With growing range of products you almost feel like you’d need a pharmacy degree to be able to mix and match products correctly and effectively. With Typology Paris it’s very different. They provide you with your very own skin prescription.
What is a skincare prescription and why do you need one?
By answering a thorough survey about your skin, the online hub that their website sits on, you receive a full skincare prescription to cater for all your skincare concerns.
To illustrate this, I’ve included a screenshot of my own prescription. My skin is very dry and lately my main concerns have been dilated pores, dark circles under my eyes, resilient blemishes after spots as well as melasma (hyperpigmentation, usually caused by sun exposure) under both of my eyes. Typology have assigned me one of 24 skin types and created a tailored AM and PM skincare routine for me.
Is it worth purchasing a full skincare routine?
Yes and no. It’s ever so easy to get swayed by discounts in Boots and deliciously looking moisturisers and micellar waters in Selfridges. But the truth it you really need to consider your lifestyle, your skin needs, your budget and also your ethical values.
Typology Paris have cut down on their cost – they don’t own any stores, they don’t employ any shop assistants, they don’t pay hundreds of thousands on advertising, they don’t sponsor influencers, they don’t package their products in fancy bottles and jars with minuscule spatulas, they don’t send your order in a giant box stuffed with bubble wrap – for you to be able to enjoy premium skincare at its finest for a fraction of the price. Their prescription service is free and available for everyone online. It doesn’t tie you to any purchase, rather it substitutes a consultant that recommends the best products for your skin and its concerns.
I wanted to try the full experience and with the cost of 8 products (4 for my AM routine and 4 for my PM routine) catering for all my key concerns and altogether coming up to less than £100, I was impressed and intrigued.
Are the products any good?
I’ve tried the full monty and I’m pleased to say I’m in love. Some of the products I might be enjoying even more than the ones from The Ordinary to be honest with you.
I really do enjoy the minimalist approach to packaging and also the smaller packaging of some products. It has happened to me multiple times in the past that my acids and serums expired before I’d used them up. Typology packages ingredients which are slightly more prone to being unstable in smaller bottles allowing you to use them up without a drop going to waste.
The products themselves are mostly pure active ingredients such as glycolic acid or rose oil, or pairings of active ingredients such as 5% Caffeine + 5% Niacinamide. They recently started offering also serums which combine several active ingredients in suspension, which I’m keen to try!
Overall, I’ve been using these two routines for more than 2 months (going on 3, I believe) and I can most certainly feel and see the difference in my skin, especially in my melasma, which has been the biggest concern of mine. Despite spending copious amounts of time in the sun this summer, which ultimately darkens the melasma, I’ve seen a great difference in its shade and also size. It’s significantly less visible and smaller in size.
I’ve been enjoying all products from my prescription but one (it’s the hydrating cleansing bar), which comes down to personal preference. I don’t enjoy washing my face with a soap bar as I find it very fiddly. Also – don’t ever, ever, ever (!) get this bar in your eyes, it burns like the devil!
And what about sustainability?
All ingredients in these products are of natural original and have been sustainably and ethically sourced. I absolutely adore their ingredient blacklist which is very comprehensive and you don’t need to be educated in chemistry to understand it. In addition to that, all Typology’s formulations are 100% French. They partner with laboratories in Bergerac, Aix en Provence and Compiègne where they combine laboratory expertise and French heritage to create the unique concept of Typology Paris.
The packaging they use is either glass, aluminium, paper or recyclable plastic. I really appreciate that the packaging can either be reused or recycled. And the fact that they also care for the way their products are dispatched to us, consumers. The packaging is intentionally flat and robust so they don’t need a lot of packaging material to keep it protected on the way to you. This means less waste and also significantly smaller carbon footprint.
To sum up, I believe that Typology Paris is an extremely underrated unique skincare brand, that provides a great complex and comprehensive service, more so than for example The Ordinary. They have their shit together which is reflected in their mission, products, packaging, ideology, website design and customer approach.
Do I think they copy The Ordinary? Definitely not. The beauty industry is moving towards a more savvy, educated customer, who wants to be a part of the decision process. An opportunity Typology Paris have taken advantage of.
Am I going to stop buying products from The Ordinary? Definitely not. There are products from The Ordinary which I love and which work for my skin beautifully. For example the AHA 30% + BHA 2% chemical peel, which is the bees knees. I find that having a set routine created to cater my specific needs is a great base line for my skincare, which I’ve honestly been missing out on. You can easily build upon this skincare base with chemical peels, various acids and other active ingredients which Typology Paris currently doesn’t offer. And that is fine. Pick and choose based on your needs.
You can find all Typology Paris products HERE. And don’t forget to complete your skincare prescription! Oh, and they ship internationally!
Thank you Typology for gifting me the products I’ve chosen as per my own skincare prescription!