When I visited the DECIEM store in NYC a few months ago, I asked the store associate to color-match me for The Ordinary Serum Foundation, and she selected 2.0YG. That shade was out of stock, so I ordered it online a few weeks later. Here are my impressions of this product (spoiler alert: this post is categorized under “disappointing products”).

The Ordinary Serum Foundation Ingredients

Note that The Ordinary Serum Foundation includes coconut alkanes, which are also included in The Ordinary Vitamin C suspension 23% + HA serum. According to anecdotal evidence on SkincareAddiction, this ingredient may cause breakouts in some people with acne-prone skin. In the amount of time I’ve been using the Vitamin C suspension, I haven’t noticed any new breakouts, so I don’t think I’m negatively affected by coconut alkanes. It also contains tocopherol, or vitamin E. It also includes phenoxyethanol as its natural preservative (is it just me, or is this ingredient everywhere I look?).

The Ordinary Serum Foundation review

The Ordinary Serum Foundation is more watery than creamy, so when you apply it, it feels a little like painting your face with tinted, watered-down paint. The company recommends shaking it up before using it—you’ll hear it sloshing around when you shake it. The pump is pretty easy to use, and the product comes out pretty runny, as you can see in the image above.

The 2.0YG shade can be broken out into three categories:

• 2.0 = medium skin tone
• Y = yellow undertone
• G = gold highlights

I’d say this is pretty accurate—I have medium-tone skin with yellow undertones and gold highlights. I tan pretty easily but I do get kind of paler/yellower in the winter. And my veins show up blue/greenish, but not icy blue.

This markets itself as a lightweight foundation, so I wasn’t expecting it to cover my acne scars that much—I just wanted something that would blur and/or smooth out my uneven skin tone. However, this serum foundation not only didn’t counteract my imperfections—it seemed to highlight/exacerbate the uneven areas on my cheeks. At first, I thought it was because I had applied too little. But then, when I added a little more, I instantly regretted it—it left a cakey consistency that felt the opposite of “lightweight.” I actually really disliked how it felt on my face…I wiped it off pretty quickly when I couldn’t take it anymore.

Caveats

As a person who doesn’t normally wear makeup, it’s possible that I applied it wrong, and that I should have used a sponge rather than my fingers. However, I’m specifically looking for a low-maintenance cream that I can apply with my fingers—something that gives me a bit more coverage than a tinted sunscreen like Australian Gold Tinted Face Sunscreen. So I don’t think I’ll be using this again.

That said, I think the 2.0YG shade was a pretty good match for my Asian skin tone. I just disliked the way it left a cakey residue when it dried on my skin. So if you have a pretty smooth complexion already, and you’re just looking for some an extra bit of oomph, this lightweight foundation might be a good fit for you. Personally, I’ll be sticking with my tried-and-true Australian Gold tinted sunscreen until I find something better.

Further reading

• Australian Gold Tinted Face Sunscreen review
• The Ordinary Vitamin C 23% + HA review
• The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% vs. Paula’s Choice Niacinamide
• Tinted sunscreen guide
• Other The Ordinary product reviews