Battle Of The Azelaic Acids! Paula’s Choice Vs. The Ordinary

battle of the azelaic acids! paula’s choice vs. the ordinary

🌱 the ordinary: $7.90/30 ml, 10% AzA, no frills

feels smooth and velvety on the skin and creates a smoothened, matte finish that looks quite pretty — until you try to layer more skincare or makeup on top, that is, and it starts to roll up. the pilling made me use it only as my last step of my evening routine, but the decrease in redness it helped me achieve was almost instantaneous, and it also faded my hyperpigmentation spots. that price is unbeatable, but i wish the formulation was less annoying.

🌱 paula’s choice: $36.00/30 ml, 10% AzA, also features salicylic acid, adenosine, licorice root extract, allantoin, bisabolol.

more expensive, more lightweight, with an ingredient list that features more interesting actives — and yet the PC AzA leaves my skin slightly less nourished, and i’ve seen less of a drastic reduction in redness, though it does effectively target hyperpigmentation. it does not roll up under other products, either.

the verdict:

it’s really hard to choose, but based on price and results, i’ll go with the ordinary as my winner — i use azelaic acid in my evening routine, anyway, and the simpler formulation is less irritating to my skin! 

you’ll love it it if… you’re prone to redness, rosacea, acne, hyperpigmentation and/or broken capillaries.