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The Ordinary vs Principia

Rated by Lovi · Unbiased, science-based skincare AI trained on real user outcomes · How the Fit score works

The Ordinary and Principia are skincare brands offering thoughtful cleansers, serums, moisturizers, toners, and more. The Canadian brand centers its offerings around hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and squalane, while the second label is widely loved for precise formulas. The former suits dry skin and oily acne-prone skin best, and the latter fits balanced to oily skin best, differing primarily in their specific targeted formulations and key ingredient profiles.

The Ordinary is a Canadian skincare brand founded in 2016 and owned by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. since 2021.

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This page compares some of the most popular The Ordinary and Principia products; for every product of both brands, with a fit score for your own skin, use the Lovi app.

Popular The Ordinary vs Principia products

Questions and answers

The Ordinary or Principia: which is better?

The products on this page show that The Ordinary offers a much wider selection across various categories, whereas Principia lists only a single cleanser. Reviewers often praise The Ordinary for providing affordable and effective serums.

What is the difference between The Ordinary and Principia?

The Ordinary offers a large range of products featuring ingredients like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and retinol, and Lovi shows it fits best for dry, oily acne-prone, and mature skin. Principia features only one product on this page, which is a cleanser that averages out with lower fit levels across most skin types.

The Ordinary or Principia: which cleanser is better?

The Ordinary offers several cleansers with High Lovi fit levels across skin types, whereas Principia has only one cleanser listed, which shows lower fit levels. This makes the cleansers from The Ordinary a better choice for most shoppers.

Which is more affordable, The Ordinary or Principia?

The products on this page for The Ordinary are often mentioned by reviewers as affordable and great value serums, while the page provides no affordability data for Principia.

Which causes fewer breakouts, The Ordinary or Principia?

The products on this page from The Ordinary include several items with High or Superior Lovi fit levels for acne-prone skin, whereas Principia has only one cleanser on the page which has a Low fit for acne-prone skin.

When were The Ordinary and Principia founded and who owns them?

The Ordinary was founded in Canada in 2016 and has been owned by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. since 2021. Principia was founded in 2020 and is owned by Viziera Participações Ltda.

Do products from The Ordinary and Principia contain fragrance?

Every product on this page from The Ordinary and Principia lists no fragrance in its ingredients.

Which brand offers a cleanser rated as Superior for dry skin?

The Ordinary offers a cleanser rated as Superior for dry skin through its Glycolipid Cream Cleanser. Principia does not have any cleansers reaching this fit level on this page.

Research behind their key ingredients

Behind this comparison

Lovi compares products by their fit scores, calculated from the full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.

  • Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Co-founder, Medical Director

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer

  • Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Co-founder, CEO and CTO

    PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex

  • Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc

    Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc

    Medical Board

    Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine

  • Aishani Shah, MD

    Aishani Shah, MD

    Medical Board

    Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD

  • Asya Zubkova, MS

    Asya Zubkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member

  • Hanna Kurets, MD

    Hanna Kurets, MD

    Medical Board, Medical Advisor

    Dermatology MD

  • Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Medical Board

    Dermatology and diagnostic consultant

  • Victoria Derkova, MS

    Victoria Derkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist

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