The first time I heard about The Ordinary Serum Foundation, it sounded more like a rumor than a product. The Ordinary is the Toronto label from Deciem, founded by Brandon Truaxe, and it launched in August 2016 with 27 plain-spoken skincare products named after their ingredients and strengths. A year later it put out a foundation, and the waiting list reportedly reached 25,000 people. The shade names follow the same lab-sample logic: a number for depth, a letter for undertone, so 2.0N reads like a formula and not a fairy tale. The foundation was discontinued in 2022 and came back in early 2025 in 36 shades, because the community kept asking. What I like about it is how little it pretends. It is a lightweight foundation with a natural finish, thin enough that you shake the bottle before you pump, and it treats your skin as the main event. That is the thread through this edit. I start with the foundation and three Ordinary hydrators that suit the same face, move to a second round of serums, oils and a milky toner, and end with four other brands that borrowed the serum idea.

Grid two is the rest of The Ordinary's shelf, and it shows how the brand thinks. Nothing here has a mood name. Niacinamide with zinc, a multi-peptide serum, cold-pressed rose hip seed oil and a Saccharomyces ferment toner all tell you what is inside, which is the whole appeal of the label that Estée Lauder Companies took a stake in during 2017 and fully owns today. The milky toner is the gentlest of the four and the one I would reach for on a tired evening. The niacinamide is water-based and sits well under base makeup, so it is the natural partner for the foundation. Here is a tip that works for me: press two drops of rose hip oil into your palm with a pump of foundation and warm it between your hands before patting it on. You get a glowy, skin-first finish without opening a second bottle of makeup. If your skin runs oily, leave the oil out and let the serum do the work. Layer the thinnest product first, always, and give each step a minute to settle.

The last grid answers a fair question: who else makes a serum foundation, and how do they differ. Drunk Elephant is the Houston brand Tiffany Masterson started in 2012, and Kamo carries that skincare-first attitude into a complexion drop with peptides. Ilia was founded in Vancouver by Sasha Plavsic, who began after reading the ingredient list on her favorite lip balm, and True Skin is the medium coverage answer with niacinamide. Estée Lauder's Futurist Skin Tint adds SPF 20 and glycerin. Natasha Denona spent four years in the lab on Hy-Glam, a serum foundation built for long wear and blurred texture. They are all fluid, all skincare-minded, and all more pigmented than you expect for the texture. What I would skip is pumping any of them straight onto dry, unprepped skin and rubbing hard with a brush. Serum bases move around, so they grab onto flaky patches and lift what is underneath. Moisturize first, wait a minute, then dot the foundation on your cheeks and forehead and pat outward with fingers or a damp sponge.

Start with one bottle and a small amount. A serum base is easier to build than to remove, so I dot it where I need it, blend, and stop earlier than I think I should. Shake it every single time, since the pigment settles. If you are choosing between a few shades, try the undertone letter first, because it matters more than the number in a fluid formula. Choose skin-first makeup and keep the hydrators from grid one on the vanity for the mornings when skin is dry, and the niacinamide for the days it is not. The whole idea, from Toronto to Houston to Vancouver, is that makeup can behave like skincare and skincare can behave like a lab sample. Buy a single thing, learn it, then decide what else the routine needs. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Laura Mercier Foundation and the Flawless Face Philosophy Behind It and The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Lash and Brow Serum Lists Its Peptides and Keeps Its Promises Small.