The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10%: a Guru Score of 83%

Every take, in full

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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✓Approved

"Mandelic acid is great for exfoliation and it can help to brighten the skin as well. I really love the one from The Ordinary. I was once really consistent with this product from The Ordinary and I really love it. It's also very hydrating on the skin, super gentle. I've never experienced irritation with it and it can be used every day, but depending on skin tolerance, if you just want to use it a couple of nights per week you can do that. It's a nice alternative to glycolic and lactic acid."

All 3 takes from Sincerely Miss Ash

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"Mandelic acid is great for exfoliation and it can help to brighten the skin as well. I really love the one from The Ordinary. I was once really consistent with this product from The Ordinary and I really love it. It's also very hydrating on the skin, super gentle. I've never experienced irritation with it and it can be used every day, but depending on skin tolerance, if you just want to use it a couple of nights per week you can do that. It's a nice alternative to glycolic and lactic acid."

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"The mandelic acid from the ordinary is another great option, it's even more gentle than lactic but this one does a good job to give your skin that brighter look."

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"Mandelic acid is still a part of the AHA family but it also has a large molecule to it as well where it penetrates slower into the skin. There is a lovely mandelic acid from The Ordinary which I do like to use occasionally. It's a nice starter point if you're just starting off with a chemical exfoliant and you're a little bit unsure on how your skin is going to react to an exfoliant."

Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.22M subs

✓Approved

"The mandelic acid from The Ordinary is one of the products that I like on the market. For skin of color, mandelic acid is great because the trick is to remove enough dead skin cells to see young juicy glowing skin. You want to make sure you're getting hydration into the top layer, so you want humectants in the actual chemical exfoliator. It's a gentle exfoliant that can help to calm down the melanocytes, the cells producing the pigment melanin, and you want all this to happen in a very anti-inflammatory way."

All 2 takes from Dr. Vanita Rattan

GLASS SKIN FOR SKIN OF COLOUR

"I do like this one from the ordinary so I like lactic acid and I also like the mandelic acid but in addition to really make it special you want to have 7% humectant in it too that will then give you hydration at the same time as exfoliation also you want to avoid deaged alcohol fragrance or essential oils especially in an exfoliator which is already irritating the skin."

30s Haircare/Skincare Routines 2025

"The mandelic acid from The Ordinary is one of the products that I like on the market. For skin of color, mandelic acid is great because the trick is to remove enough dead skin cells to see young juicy glowing skin. You want to make sure you're getting hydration into the top layer, so you want humectants in the actual chemical exfoliator. It's a gentle exfoliant that can help to calm down the melanocytes, the cells producing the pigment melanin, and you want all this to happen in a very anti-inflammatory way."

208SkinDoc

2.08M subs

✓Approved

"One of the stronger exfoliants I used was mandelic acid. This is an alpha hydroxy acid, it is a little more gentle than some of the other AHAs you can use, but it's a good way to help turn the skin over and help sort out the scars. It's important to wear SPF when you're doing any type of exfoliation whether you're using mandelic acid or glycolic acid."

Beyond50Skin

31k subs

✓Approved

"Mandelic acid is great for rosacea and dry acne because it breaks up the oil in the skin, it hydrates the skin, and it also kind of reduces the redness. If you have dry acne, if you have rosacea, or if you just are very sensitive and have very sensitive skin, this is a very gentle exfoliator. It's anti-microbial, it's antibacterial, it will mop up the oil in your skin and just give that skin a little bit of a break and gentle exfoliation while your skin is healing. It's a perfect exfoliator to kind of get rid of those dead skin cells very gently. The one thing that folks who have regular acne or just not dry acne might not like is it feels a little bit oily on the skin, so it might feel a little uncomfortable on people who have oily acne skin."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

✓Approved

"Their [mandelic] acid is great for exfoliant if you're looking for a more gentle one. It's pretty good for being kind of gentle on the skin and it's really nice."

Common questions

Frequently asked.

What is The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10%?

A 10% mandelic acid exfoliating serum designed to gently remove dead skin cells, brighten the complexion, and support skin turnover.

Is The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10% worth it?

Yes. All 5 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 83%.

What is The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10%'s Guru Score?

The Ordinary Mandelic Acid 10% holds a Guru Score of 83%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 5 independent expert reviewers we have collected.