Some of you may remember my mention last year about Deciem Hylamide Photography Foundation. I discovered this product so randomly and ever since it’s been a holy grail product in my makeup bag. I don’t even know how to really categorize it other than it is a primer like product that corrects skin tone, blurs imperfections and optimizes light reflection. You can mix it with foundation, wear it on top, or wear it as a primer as I do. 

The company and especially the founder behind that product is very interesting and I’ve been following them for a long time now. The company is called Deciem which has several sub brands of product lines called ‘niod’, ‘hylamide’, ‘the ordinary’, ‘the chemistry brand’, and many more. You may have seen their first cult hit product ‘hand chemistry’ at your local pharmacy, and they recently sold their ‘Grow Gorgeous’ brand to another company to fund product development. Deciem was founded by Brandon Truaxe who has founded several other companies in the past, and as part of a non compete contract that he signed when he sold one of those companies, he could not produce skincare for face for three years. Deciem became known as a cult favourite in the UK for their ‘hand chemistry’ lotion which used hyaluronic acid – women in the UK purchased this hand lotion to use it on their faces. I purchased a tube of it when I was in Paris and have also been using it as my face cream What is amazing to me about this brand is that they are not only a Canadian brand, but they own a lab on their site that produces and develops ALL of their products. When I was in Toronto this week, I actually saw their head office and peeked into their adjoining lab space. Usually cosmetic companies are actually in the business of marketing products that they have produced by other cosmetic chemistry companies. They start from a marketing perspective and then follow through with the product. Deciem actually is in the business of skincare. Much like generic pharmaceuticals, Deciem is creating generic options for skincare active ingredients that cost pennies to produce. 

When I was in Toronto, it was my mission to find the Deciem stores and look and play with the products. I was particularly interested in their ‘The Ordinary’ line which is individual active ingredient serums such as stable 23% vitamin c, retinoid 2%, azelaic acid 10% (my rosacea prescription is this acid), Niacinimide etc. My first venture to find the store I accidentally ended up at their head office (after a 2 mile walk) and the closest store was 3 miles in the opposite direction. It was so neat being able to see their very active lab on one side of the building with their office space on the other side of the building. I saved my trip to the Deciem store for the following day. 

I was amazed when I saw the prices at the store that these little bottles of active ingredients where so affordable. Take for example this lactic acid I got for $6.50 CAD. Sunday Riley Good Genes (lactic acid percentage not known – I’ve read that it’s possibly 40% but the PH is too acidic to allow the ingredient to work) is $147 CAD for the same 30ml. The Niacinimide 10% + zinc 1% was $5.90 CAD but the similar Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinimide is $42. These active ingredients are actually very cheap ingredients to produce but what we are paying for in these other brands is the marketing (first and foremost), the combination of other ingredients (botanicals, fragrance, color, carriers), and the stabilization of all of these multiple ingredients together. Deciem uses no fragrance or botanicals, just simply stable carriers such as high quality silicones or emulsions.

I made my purchases of  a few products. The Vitamin C 23%, Niacinimide + Zink (reduces inflammation and redness), Lactic Acid (exfoliator), Hylamide Sensitive Fix (for my rosacea) and the Niod photography fluid. When I got home I realized that their Azelaic acid is the very same active ingredient in my rosacea prescription (finacea) at a a slightly lower percentage. This prescription is cheapish for me since it’s covered under my extended health benefits, but in the US it is very pricey at about $300. I also ordered the Organic Cold Pressed Rose Hip Oil for $9.90, and I really want to order the Niod Sanskrit Saponins Cleanser in the future and the Niod Hydration Vaccine. The whole Niod line is very interesting and I plan to write about it in the future after testing it out. I’ve been using my purchases shown below for the past 5 days and my skin is glowing! I’m happy to report that I’ve had no break outs or skin freak outs in my very fussy and reactive skin. 

If you’ve tried this brand out before I’d love to know your thoughts. I think it’s so cool to be able to purchase pared back active ingredients and really customize your skincare, and see immediate results because the product is so stable and concentrated. 

Here is an article about the brand Meet Deciem, The Toronto Beauty Disrupter.

Deciem “The Abnormal Beauty Company”｜The Ordinary, Hylamide and Niod lines

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** I have used shopstyle links on this post but I am not in any way affiliated with Deciem. This is not a sponsored post, I purchased all of these products myself.