This or That | The Ordinary Vs Paula's Choice Azelaic Acid

As a skincare-geek, I personally love the in depth content, Kelly. And as a marketing-geek I think single battles will see better performance as the key words are more targeted. More people need to see your content - it’s just on point every time and has influenced more of my skincare purchases than I care to admit. You are amazing!! 😘😘

Honestly, for me, the Facetheory Azelaic Acid blows both of these formulations out of the water. It's creamy and moisturising but sooo effective on preventing acne. When you're dry and acne-prone it's super difficult to find a decent spot treatment but this one is perfect. I'm in the UK so I can get the 15% but I think they have a 10% version for US customers.

Hey Kelly! I noticed you often compare these two brands of AA (and Cos de Baha sometimes) but never talk about the Inkey List product. It's the only AA I've tried yet, but I'm having great results with it! From the way you describe the PC and TO ones, I feel like it's a nice in between in both price and texture. It retails around 17 euros, has a light moisturizing consistency that absorbs quickly with a matte finish. It's probably not the most elegant texture ever, but it never pilled or irritated my skin and works great under moisturizer and/or spf. I feel like it could be a nice option for people looking for a budget friendly AA that haven't been able to make TO one work for them, but maybe can't afford the PC one. Also, it's a really simple formulation with no SA in it in case anyone is sensitive to the ingredient or pregnant. After a month or so of slowly introducing it while my skin got used to it (it did dry me down at the beginning, but my skin adjusted nicely), I have now been using it every AM after serums and before moisturizer with great results. It lessened my overall redness, more than halved my active acne, diminished clogged pores and brightened existing post-inflamatory hyper pigmentation. This ingredient changed my life. I want to stick to TIL product for the summer to see the full results, but I will definitely try the other brands later on to see how they compare. I'm also considering introducing it in my PM routine as well to see how my skin reacts. You are great and I've been slowly but steadily binging all your content. Keep up the good work and much love from Italy!

You’re amazing Kelly. Thank you for your constant effort in your reviews. You stand out from other reviewers and I need to remind you of that every time :)

I love the battles! I don't mind just one at a time, as long as you do more of them. 😁

I like the in-depth version of This or That! With your episodes featuring multiple face-offs, I like the ones themed around a common ingredient or product type (e.g. niacinamide, SKII dupes, etc.) and would love to see more of those too. It's hard to get azelaic acid in Canada, so I've been very curious about the Paula's Choice booster and might just take the plunge on my next order!

Been watching your This or That! I think if we are focusing on an ingredient i.e., azelaic acid, 1 on 1 is good. But if it is skincare type like moisturizers or toners 3 on 3 is good because there are a lot of them!

The ordinary AA works way better mixed with another Serum. Such as, hylouronic Acid, Niacinamide, Pycnogenol, you can mix it with the ordinarys Moisturizer too. Personally what i loved to do was mix it with alo vera which worked wonders. And since it's just alo u can add the niacinamide or whatever other product into that too which kind of creats a Serum i guess. Makes the texture amazing.

As diagnosed rosacea and dry skin amazingly TO wins for me just because salicylic acid is too drying for my skin, I do illiyoon moisturizer then spf and has never pill on me. I love this kind of content and see how different skin types likes.

I tried out your hack mixing Azelaic Acid with my sunscreen (note my sunscreen is also my moisturizer) and it worked so well! Thanks for the tip I love all your content :)

I just started using TO AA. I have rosacea, and while Paula’s choice is intriguing, I am afraid of the BHA.

Tretinoin atnight and Azelaic acid in Morning do wonders for someome with acne And Hyperpigmentation

I am currently using the PC one and it’s great - works slowly but no irritation whatsoever, whereas every other product irritates me. However, TO’s texture is the best texture I’ve ever seen in a product. I have oily skin and I hate the look of glass / shiny skin so TO’s matte result was amazing. Unfortunately it broke me out…

Kelly you brought up a good point. I've actually gone back and tried a few products I was meh about when I started my skin care journey last Nov. Now that my skin is in much better condition, I've pulled them out of the closet and I'm appreciating them much more!

I had problems with the PC it was too strong and did absolutely nothing The ordinary did more

This was such a great review, and I think I like the more focused approach of just doing one type of product or two side-by-side rather than a group of things. I personally use the ordinary, because I am just venturing into azelaic acid due to pregnancy! I can no longer use my retinoid. But I have to say I absolutely love it. I started right off the bat, mixing it into my moisturizer just as I did with my retinoid to subdue any potential irritation. I like the texture so much that this is how I use it twice a day. It actually makes a really nice primer base for make up as well. I spritz my face with some rosewater/glycerin, mix the ordinary azelaic acid with La Roche Posay double repair moisturizer, and five. I’ve never had a single issue with it. I also have the Naturium azelaic acid serum, which is just glycinated azelaic acid. But it also has vitamin C, ester and niacinamide of it. I usually use this during the day under sunscreen, but do find it can pill with make up application.

I use The Ordinary last after cleansing and moisturizing with CeraVe and have no problem with pilling. Just use any product that pills last in your routine and you should be good.

Thank you for walking me through these two options!

Hey kelly have you tried cos de baha azelaic acid? It's also very pleasant to use and i wonder how it holds up compared to PC azelaic acid

Your This or That Series is one of my absolute fave from your channel! Tysm for this amazing content. 💕