What happened to The Ordinary Foundation?

Launched in 2017 with a waitlist of over 25,000, The Ordinary's foundation range was popular before it even came to the market and it didn't disappoint. This critically acclaimed range won fans the World over, selling millions of units and securing many loyal customers.

But fast forward to 2023, The Ordinary's foundation ranges are in short supply with major retailers either sold out or have just the least popular shades left. Even The Ordinary website itself is entirely sold out. So what happened to The Ordinary foundation?

Let's start from the beginning.

The Ordinary Foundation Range

The Ordinary launched their serum and coverage foundation ranges in 2017 and there was a lot of hype at the time. With over 40 shades and tints, The Ordinary wanted to provide a lightweight foundation using high quality ingredients, in a convenient format, that was affordable to the mass market. Their foundations delivered on this. 

With The Ordinary being synonymous with skincare, their foundations combined their skincare expertise within a foundation, providing SPF protection and moisturiser with a lightweight matt coverage. With millions of units sold across the World, this high quality but affordable foundation has a loyal band of followers.

With shades ranging from very fair to darker tones and an array of undertones such as pink or yellow-gold, the range caters for pretty much all skin tones. Many use The Ordinary shade guide to match their skin tone to the foundation.

Why can't I buy The Ordinary foundation?

Firstly, with the pandemic, supply chains have been severely impacted. This has been no different for The Ordinary with a number of products experiencing out of stocks. However, the main reason for the lack of supply for The Ordinary's foundation range is due to their recent announcement that they will be soon discontinuing both their serum and coverage foundation ranges. With no more production scheduled, there has been bulk buying from many users and stockists around the World are running short of supply.

Is The Ordinary foundation being discontinued?

At the end of 2022, The Ordinary announced on its social media channels that they were going to discontinue its foundations and concealers early in 2023. The Ordinary cited that demand was less than expected leading to a lack of profitability for the range.

'Despite many people loving the formulas, we didn’t manage to reach enough of you with our Colours range and the products have not been profitable since their launch. Although we really strongly believe in both products, their popularity simply was not strong enough to make their production sustainable.'

We can only assume that the trading conditions and economic climate post COVID-19 has only exacerbated the situation for The Ordinary.

When is The Ordinary foundation being discontinued?

The Ordinary stated that their foundations and concealers were going to be taken off the market in the first half of 2023. But, on the back of this announcement many customers have rushed to stock up on their favourite shades. This does mean that the foundations are already in short supply with many major retailers already sold out or running very low on stock.

Where can I buy The Ordinary foundations?

With The Ordinary discontinuing their foundation range many, including The Ordinary's own website, is now out of stock and there's limited supply available.

Sellers on Amazon are selling the £6.40 RRP foundations for over £20. 

However, liquidation.store has supply of some of the most popular of The Ordinary shades available and they are on sale for as little as £3.99.

With no expiry dates on the range, simply use within 12 months of opening, customers are taking advantage of this last opportunity to stock up. With limited stock available, we recommend being quick.