Sensitive · drugstore
The Ordinary
Actives desk — not a base house
On the desk as claim-literacy context: named, dosed actives belong in skincare, not as an excuse for thicker makeup. Serum first, tint second.
Earns the bag
Honest doses that make hybrid makeup claims look thin.
Loses the bag
Using actives as a reason to buy opaque 'treatment foundation'.
Best when · Separating treatment dose from makeup film · Prep under sheer base
Less ideal · Anyone hunting a foundation range here
Catalog reviewed August 2026 · review 12 months. Positioning note — not a ranking.
This entry was covered by a catalog-wide review, not verified individually on that date. Prices, shade counts and formulas drift between passes — check the unit before you buy.
Formulas on the desk
- Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%$6
- Niacinamide 10% (under makeup, not instead of building it properly)$14
- Hyaluronic Acid 2% before tint$14
Next
A house is positioning, not a fit
Chosen from your own record: 3 things open at the beginner stage, and what usually follows this page.
Back to the houses
Six families and four price tiers, with what each one earns and loses.
Formulas by lane
Search by what a formula does and what it weighs, rather than by whose name is on it.
Say what your skin is doing
Answer the brief
0 of 8 so far. Every engine weights your own answers. Until they exist, the desk is scoring an average face rather than yours.
When this is not a makeup question
Nothing is written into another desk without you choosing it. These links carry only the context named on them.
- Skincare Intelligence
Carry your skin, climate, sensitivity and named concerns across so the routine can be evaluated with the same stated inputs the makeup desk used.
- Vanity or Vice · Routines & Ingredients
The order you apply things in, what each film is intended to do, and where the evidence is uncertain — argued long-form rather than scored. This is the reading behind the sequence this desk just gave you.