How does the new Boots Ingredients line compare with The Ordinary skincare. Review of the whole range and recommendations.

Boots are throwing their hat into the ring with their ingredient focused new line. When an ingredient is printed on the box you would tend to assume that there is a decent amount of that ingredient in the product. Boots Ingredients is very new so I haven’t had a chance to try the products for a clinically appropriate 6+ weeks, but I am going to take a deep dive into the ingredients (and this is really key to how a product will affect the skin) as well as give first impressions on the actual products. I’ll pit the Boots against The Ordinary and we’ll see what is worth trying from the range.

Boots Ingredients- Key Facts

There are 8 products in the Boots Ingredients line. Their slant on it is “This new skincare range allows you to personalise your regime without breaking the bank“. Not to overstate things but I’m a huge The Ordinary fan, if you’re not a regular reader you might not know but I moderate The Ordinary chatroom on Facebook (120,000 members strong, chatting TO intricacies 24/7, I love it). So I’m going to come down hard on Boots, they have big shoes to fill with this range (ho ho!). The Ordinary is all about that, personalising your routine with high concentration products with no crap- no alcohol, no fragrance, clearly stated concentrations and pH levels. The concentration is key. Levels of actives that will be sure to have an effect.

So, Boots Ingredients skincare products have these points in their favour, before I go into each product in turn and start pulling them apart-

• The range is vegan and cruelty free
• None of the Ingredients range contains fragrance or essential oils
• The packaging is decent- no pots or jars
• The price is good- less than £8 across the board
• Widely available in the UK from Boots, online and in stores

I like the packaging, there’s a whiff of old school Boots the Chemist. It would be nice if Boots provided us with a line of functional, effective skincare that met our needs. Something that is sorely lacking in the UK. To be honest though, I feel like they’ve jumped on the bandwagon, slammed buzz words like “hyaluronic acid” and “vegan” on their packaging, without any thought to our real skincare needs.

And I feel that I need to point something out, The Ordinary doesn’t announce themselves as a vegan line, but it does explicitly state whether each product is vegan. So I checked all of their products one by one, and they are all vegan. (The Ordinary IS vegan and cruelty free).

Here we go, I’m going to examine each Boots Ingredients product one by one and draw comparisons with it’s corresponding The Ordinary product, if there is one. Similar to my Revolution Skin vs The Ordinary post. Also if you’re curious about TO, this is a great starting guide.

Boots Ingredients Caffeine Eye Cream

Ingredients Caffeine is £6 for 15ml from Boots (more than twice as much as The Ordinary’s Caffeine per ml) 5/10.

The Ordinary doesn’t do a caffeine cream, but they do have a 5% Caffeine serum with EGCG (aka green tea extract). The consensus on The Ordinary Caffeine is 50/50, some people love it and find it reduces puffiness. Clinically speaking, caffeine has a very small molecule which soaks right into the skin and it acts as an antioxidant. Did you happen to know that caffeine absorbs so well though the skin that you could get a caffeine buzz from bathing in coffee.

But anyways, back to the point, Boots Ingredients Caffeine Cream has caffeine, but they don’t tell us how much. Here is the ingredients list-

Aqua(Water), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Peg-100 Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Dimethicone, Siloxanetriol Alginate, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Chlorphenesin, Xanthan Gum, Caffeine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Disodium Edta, Sodium Methylparaben, Sorbic Acid, Propylparaben

Looking at this, it’s really not very similar to The Ordinary Caffeine- TO Caffeine has caffeine as it’s second ingredient after water. I don’t think the Boots Ingredients has much caffeine in it at all. The caffeine is way under the preservatives in the list- this is relevant because preservatives are generally only allowed to be used at around 1%. This makes sense because preservatives are there to kill microbes so they are by nature aggressive chemicals. If you see parabens and phenoxyethanol- they are at the 1% mark and anything under them in the list is going to be at less than 1%. There is also no green tea anti oxidant, the ECGC that the Ordinary’s caffeine boasts. 

On the plus side, there are moisturising ingredients, and there are a lot of people who find The Ordinary Caffeine very drying. I can also see Siloxanetriol Alginate, this is an anti puffing ingredient that is used in anti cellulite creams.

To sum up– Boots Ingredients Caffeine Eye Cream doesn’t have much caffeine in it, it’s just an eye cream which may have some depuffing capabilities due to the Siloxanetriol Alginate.

Boots Ingredients Glycolic Acid Toner Review

Ingredients Glycolic Acid Toner is £5 for 100ml from Boots (Nearly twice as expensive as The Ordinary’s Glycolic, which is £2.83 per 100ml) 4/10.

This is one I bought myself to try. First thoughts- I like the packaging design. The simple typography and light pink of the box, it’s very pleasing. The bottle looks minuscule. It’s very small for a toner. Let’s take a look at the ingredients-

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Betaine, Phenoxyethanol, Glycolic Acid, Peg-40, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tocopheryl Acetate.

I see hydration from glycerin and sodium hyaluronate, but there is less than 1% glycolic acid in this. There is 7% glycolic in The Ordinary, as well as many lovely soothing anti inflammatory ingredients. I also checked the pH. Since the words “This Glycolic Acid toner promotes a clear and even skin tone, which helps skin look renewed” appear on the Boots website, they are making out like this is an exfoliating toner. It really isn’t going to do any exfoliating.

On the skin it feels hydrating but there is absolutely no sting. Not a hint of a tingle that you would generally expect from an acid toner.

Acid fact- For an acid exfoliator to do it’s thing and actively break apart the bonds between skin cells, it needs a pH of around 3-4. I have a pH meter and the pH of Boots Ingredients Glycolic is 5.3. It isn’t going to exfoliate anything.  

I’m going to treat this as the hydrating toner that it actually is and slap it on after cleansing to get rid of it and I certainly won’t be repurchasing. I urge you not to purchase in the first place, by The Ordinary one, it will actually exfoliate and brighten.

In a nutshell– Glycolic Toner by Boots is nothing but a hydrating toner with a little tiny bit of glycolic acid.

Boots Ingredients Vitamin C Review

Ingredients Vitamin C Serum £6 for 30 ml from Boots 6/10.

There is no direct opposition from The Ordinary- TO does many excellent vitamin C products but no water based serum with the same active. This is another one that I picked up in store, So I can give you the lowdown. Here are the ingredients-

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Peg-12 Dimethicone, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Ppg-26-Buteth- 26, Sodium Citrate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Chlorphenesin, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Bisabolol, Disodium Edta, Maltodextrin, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate

In this serum the active appears above the preservative, so, fingers crossed there is more than 1% of the ethyl ascorbic acid. 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid is a close derivative of vitamin C  and one of the best. Pure vitamin C is a tricky customer and 3-O-EAA is a very good second candidate- it’s more stable and still effective. This serum also has soothing and hydrating ingredients, like bisabolol and liquorice extract.

The pump bottle looks absolutely minute. I don’t get how much smaller it looks than The Ordinary droppers, it’s teeny. It has a watery gel like texture and it absorbs without stickiness. There are reports online of the pump dispensing too much product, which isn’t great considering how small the product is. There is no stinging, tingling or warmth either, I usually get some sort of sensation when I use vitamin C products.

I like Boots Ingredients Vitamin C Serum, it’s not bad, there are hydrating and soothing ingredients. It can slot into my routine as a hydrating serum. But I wish I knew what percentage the active is and it looks flipping tiny. 

The Hyaluronic Acid Products Review

Boots Ingredients Hyaluronic Acid Serum and Moisturiser, both £5 for 30mls. 

I didn’t manage to get either of these in store, they were both sold out. I can tell a lot from the ingredients though. It looks like these are the most popular products, which is good, hydration is super important for healthy skin. This one comes in a tube, so no issues with pump splurge.

Here is the list of the Boots Ingredients Hyaluronic Moisturiser–

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Squalane, C14-22 Alcohols, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Carbomer, Peg-100 Stearate, Methylparaben, Glyceryl Stearate, C12-20 Alkyl Glucoside, Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Isohexadecane, Disodium Edta, Polysorbate 80, Sorbitan Oleate

There are hydrating ingredients- glycerin, butylene glycol and sodium hyaluronate (this is a version of Hyaluronic Acid that penetrates well into the skin). There are moisturisers/occlusives- squalane and dimethicone there too. Also high up on the list is something called Ethylhexyl palmitate, this is known as a fungal acne trigger and has a comedogenic rating of 4. I’m going to give this moisturiser a wide berth on the basis of the ethylhexyl palmitate being there, I don’t think it’ll do my acne prone skin any favours. You are far better off getting the Cerave Moisturising Lotion instead of this, it contains Hyaluronic Acid, no acne triggers and skin replenishing ceramides. Adding to the vote for Cerave is the fact that it costs £4.03 for 100mls compared to £16.67 for 100mls of the Boots Ingredients Hyaluronic Moisturiser.

The Boots Hyaluronic Serum contains-

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Propanediol, Betaine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Chlorphenesin, Carbomer, Allantoin, Methylparaben, Xanthan Gum, Disodium Edta, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopheryl Acetate.

Again there is no percentage to go by, Hyaluronic Acid can be present in small amounts and still be effective- it is so good at holding water that a little goes a long way. Out of the two Boots hyaluronic products, this is the one I would get, it doesn’t have the potential acne trigger that is ethylhexyl palmitate and also contains soothing allantoin. There is only one version of HA in this, while The Ordinary HA serum has three. This HA serum looks pretty meh to me, there are definitely better options.

I’m going to give the Hyaluronic Serum 6/10-it has soothing and hydrating ingredients and nothing irritating or comedogenic. Boots Ingredients Hyaluronic Moisturiser only gets 3/10, there are much better options.

Boots Ingredients Salicylic Acid

Boots Ingredients Salicylic Acid, £7 for 30ml- 5/10

This one should have plenty of appeal because Deciem has shelved their salicylic serum for the time being and it is not available. Salicylic acid is one for oily acne prone people and blocked open pores. It has the ability to infiltrate pores and clean them out. Salicylic is generally at 2% concentration, we don’t know how strong the Boots one is, they won’t tell us. This one comes in one of those dinky pumps.

The ingredients list-

Aqua (Water), Butylene Glycol, Ethoxydiglycol, Salicylic Acid, Ppg-26-Butet, Ammonium Acryloyidimethyluate/Vp Copolymer, Peg-40 Hydrogented Castor Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Peg-12 Dimethicone, Allantoin, Chlorphenesin, Disodium, Edta, Dipotassium Glycryrhizate, Bisabolol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Maltodextin, Glycerin, Potassium Sobate Benzoate

Without the percentage, it’s pretty difficult to know how effective this is going to be. There is no alcohol or fragrance in the list and there are soothing ingredients like allantoin, bisabolol and aloe which is nice.

Boots Ingredients Bakuchiol Serum

Available from Boots £7 for 30ml 4/10.

Bakuchiol is a very interesting ingredient. It’s a plant derived and it’s molecule is similar to resveratrol. There is evidence that it has a retinol like action as well as anti oxidant, anti microbial and anti inflammatory abilities. Studies have shown that Bakuchiol seems to be able to influence skin cell DNA in a retinoid way, but without the retinoid style irritation. It’s the sort of thing you want to be smearing all over your face. Revolution Skin does a 1% Bakuchiol moisturiser, I have it and it’s very nice. And helpfully Revolution Skin told us what percentage it is.

Boots Ingredients Bakuchiol has these ingredients-

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Isononanoate, Peg-20 Methyl Glucose Sesquisterate, Phenoxyethanol, Bakuchiol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Chlorphenesin, Bisabolol, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Hydroxide, Disodium Edta, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Maltodextrin, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate

It has hydrating glycerin and synthetic emollients, then the preservative, then Bakuchiol. So it’s not going to be any more than 1% concentration, if that. The Ordinary doesn’t do a Bakuchiol product at the moment to compare this to, but there is the Revolution one and that is 1%.

Boots Ingredients Hemp Seed Oil Review

Normally £6 for 28ml from Boots, currently 25% off. Last and least, 1/10

Hemp or Cannabis seed oil is very fashionable at the moment. Hemp isn’t the same thing as CBD oil- it has no cannabinol which is the active part of CBD. The Ordinary doesn’t do a hemp oil, they do many other excellent oils but not hemp, maybe they should, it sounds great. 

Hemp a good choice as a skin moisturiser as it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids (contains 53%) and is non comedogenic. Hemp is a good choice for acne prone and eczema prone skin and is known for it’s inflammation reducing properties. This is shame because it doesn’t look like there’s much actual Hemp Seed Oil in this “Hemp Seed Oil”-

Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil, Tocopherol.

The first ingredient is that nasty Ethylhexyl Palmitate which can cause acne and block pores. The next is Paraffinum Liquidum or mineral oil like liquid vaseline. Which not a bad ingredient- it traps water in the skin. But if you’re expecting Hemp Seed oil, and why wouldn’t you be, you’re not going to get much of it. This product seems like a massive con to me.

All in all, it’s a near miss. It’s good that there’s no fragrance or alcohol but we really need to know how much active there is in these things otherwise you can hardly call it “ingredient led skincare” if there is hardly any of the ingredient in the skincare. Out of the bunch I would get the Hyaluronic Acid Serum and the Salicylic Acid. Definitely not the Hyaluronic Moisturiser or the (not) Hemp Oil.

Boots Ingredients is available in store and online, or if you want something a bit stronger and more effective there’s The Ordinary. (This post is not sponsored, I bought the products. The links are affiliate so if you click and spend I get a little money that goes straight back into my blog).