What Is Niacinamide?
Niacinamide is a form of Vitamin B3 and is also known as nicotinamide. What makes niacinamide so impressive is that it’s water-soluble, meaning it’s perfectly stable in the presence of heat and light – unlike many similar superstar ingredients (like Vitamin C). Because it’s so shelf-stable, this means niacinamide is much more effective in skincare ingredients and products, so you actually can get the true effectiveness and benefits promised on the bottle.
What Does Niacinamide Do?
A better question might be, what can’t niacinamide do? It’s most famed for its ability to help visibly reduce the appearance of enlarged pores, which is accomplished by decongesting pores. Consistent usage shows that niacinamide can also prevent oil and debris from getting backed up in the pores, which can lead to clogged and enlarged pores. Niacinamide is also anti-inflammatory, meaning it’s great for those that are acne-prone. Plus, it helps the overall health of your skin, thanks to helping skin produce more ceramides, which in turn improves the well-being of the skin barrier.
Benefits Of Niacinamide For Skin
The superstar ingredient has countless benefits. Here are a few of its most impressive.
- Improves Skin’s Hydration Levels
Beyond helping to visibly reduce the appearance of pores, niacinamide also restores skin’s natural moisture levels and can even boost the hydrating abilities of moisturizers applied afterward. The skin-restoring ingredient is particularly special because it’s ideal for a vast array of skin types, from blemish-prone to sensitive, as it can help restore the skin barrier. - Reduces the Appearance of Uneven Skin Tone, Dark Spots, and Fine Lines
Niacinamide can also visibly even skin tone, texture, and discoloration—the ingredient can target excess skin pigmentation and reduce the appearance of discoloration and even prevent new discolorations from appearing. With consistent usage, niacinamide can help pores appear smaller, skin tone appear more even, visibly reduce excessive fine lines and wrinkles, and give skin an overall healthier glow.
How Often To Use Niacinamide
From toners to serums to creams, niacinamide can be found in a plethora of products. No matter your product of choice, if you don’t use it correctly, you may not receive the incredible benefits of the superpowered ingredient.
Wondering how often to use niacinamide? It depends on your formula. For a hydrating exfoliating toner, you may enjoy using it daily or every other day. While a hydrating and soothing niacinamide serum can be used twice a day – same for a healing niacinamide face cream, too. The only time to use caution with a niacinamide product is when the formula includes additional powerful ingredients, like Vitamin C. In that case, introduce it to your ritual slowly to see how the skin reacts, ideally once or twice a week at first to assess how skin handles it.
Best Niacinamide Products
Incorporating a niacinamide product into your skincare routine is beneficial in many ways. Incorporating several niacinamide products though? Innumerous benefits. Here are a few of our favorite niacinamide-boosted products.
A Healing SPF
The Silk Sunscreen is our newest SPF innovation – boosted with mineral SPF 50+ protection, hyaluronic acid, and beloved niacinamide. The niacinamide visibly evens skin tone, reduces redness, and visibly firms the look of pores, while hyaluronic acid helps to immediately boost skin’s natural moisture levels, softness, and skin tone. And as the name hints, the formula features a rather unique ingredient: silk. Surprisingly, silk has an amino acid structure similar to that of skin, which allows the silky liquid to provide a protective veil of hydration without weighing your skin down. Basically, it makes your skin feel healthier, while also providing incredible sun protection. Massage on daily before any interaction with the sun.
A Hydrating Liquid Exfoliant
An exfoliator with niacinamide can be especially beneficial when applied after cleansing to help rehydrate and replenish skin. Try using an exfoliating liquid, like The Texture Tonic. This formula features niacinamide, fruit AHAs, Japanese mugwort, and wild rose. Together, the ingredients visibly even skin tone and texture, all while restoring essential moisture for calm, smooth, and healthy-looking skin. The result is a harmonious yet effective exfoliating treatment that works with skin, not against it, avoiding the irritation and inflammation that can come with harsher formulas.
The ingredients in The Texture Tonic work in beautiful unity – niacinamide visibly firms the look of pores, while the fruit AHAs gently resurface skin for smoothness, and the wild rose, sweet fennel, and rosemary oil help minimize excess oil and sebum. The Texture Tonic also features the sacred Japanese mugwort (or yomogi extract), which has been used to cleanse the body (from the inside and out) for thousands of years. We particularly love this wildflower for its impressive ability to visibly calm skin and reduce redness.
The Texture Tonic is perfect for most skin types, but particularly beneficial for oily, breakout-prone, uneven texture, and those looking for a reduction in the visible look of pores. To use, pour a few drops onto a cotton pad and sweep over your face after cleansing. The Texture Tonic can be used morning and night, and even midday for more oily skin tones to refresh skin and wick away excess oil.
Have sensitive skin? Even though The Texture Tonic is a chemical exfoliant, it won’t irritate or upset the skin’s delicate balance. The Texture Tonic was created to work in harmony with the beautiful ingredients, rather than relying on a high percentage of a single ingredient—because we believe that a formula, like the effective one of The Texture Tonic, is greater than the sum of its parts.
The gentle effectiveness of this formula is powered by niacinamide. The beautiful, proven ingredient delivers time and again, supporting your skin to a healthier-looking complexion.
