HOW I SAY BYE BYE TO ACNE MARKS
Do you remember my earlier review on The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution? Remember how scary my skin was before I started using it? That wasn't the only product that I was using to speed up my acne recovery. Although The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution helped me reduce the breakout, I still need something to tone down the acne marks. Here comes the The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%. Something I can no longer live without haha.
INGREDIENT LIST
Water, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Zinc PCA, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum, Xanthan Gum, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin
Bolded are the good/star ingredients in the product whereas underlined are those flagged as 4 & above under 'Safety index' in by EWG. Safety index ranges from 1-9 and the lower the number means the less hazardous. Those with asterisk (*) are more likely to cause acne or irritate skin than those without.
You can read other product reviews containing the ingredients by clicking on them in the ingredient list above.
Note: This is free of paraben, sulphate, alcohol, silicone and EU allergen, is fungal acne safe and has minimal ingredients.
SIMPLE LIST, SIMPLE LIFE
Other than that, this The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% has so little ingredient yet so much benefits and that's what makes me love The Ordinary so so much. They don't put BS ingredients into their products and just name them based on whatever the ingredients are. That just makes us skincare addicts' lives a whole lot easier, isn't it? I know putting names like that can also be a little daunting especially if you're not familiar with skincare, so let me help you out a little bit here.
YAS, THE GOOD ONES
Niacinamide is a vitamin B3 derivatives best known for its skin brightening properties. It can reduce pigmentation as it prevents melanin from migrating to the epidermis. I've seen it featured in many of Klairs products. With this, this product is able to help bring out the glow and give the dull skin a good makeover. Not just that, it also has anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties, allowing it help reduce the appearance of skin blemishes and congestion!
There are debates on whether Vitamin C should be used with Niacinamide and I PERSONALLY (not saying that it works the same for you too, just my skin) think Niacinamide enhances Vitamin C's effectiveness when I used them together on my skin. So I guess it's based on personal experience? But just to put it up front, The Ordinary suggested that there might be contraindications if topical Vitamin C such as L-Ascorbic Acid and/or Ethylated L-Ascorbic Acid is used as part of skincare. They recommend that it should be applied at alternate times with this formula (ideally Vitamin C in the PM and this formula in the AM). Otherwise, Niacinamide can affect integrity of the Vitamin C.
YAS, THE GOOD ONES (contd.)
Zinc PCA (Zinc Salt of Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid) is one of the best moisturising ingredients for our skin. It can also reduce redness and irritation as well as helping to normalise sebum production. This makes it a superb ingredient for products targeted at oily/acne prone skin. Not just that, its presence allows the skincare product to protect our skin from the acne-causing bacteria. There are even studies that revealed that Zinc PCA could be good as an anti-aging active too.
NAH, THE BAD ONES
Phenoxyethanol can potentially cause skin and lung irritation so if you know that your skin has not dealt well with Phenoxyethanol in the past, do be cautious this!
PATCH TESTING
I strongly encourage you to patch test before applying it all over your face. Just swab a small amount of the product on your wrist or behind your ear and wait around 1 day to see how your skin reacts. If your skin experiences any burning effect or has any irritation that is not supposed to accompany the product, wash it off immediately and seek medical attention if the irritation doesn’t go away after washing.
HOW TO USE
This Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% can be used in the morning or at night before heavier creams. Using the dropper, drop one drop each onto your forehead and cheeks. Here's a tip: do not, I repeat, DO NOT, rub. Instead, use your finger to pat it in. Otherwise you might start getting pills everywhere and it will reduce the effect of the formula. If you are using it underneath makeup, this is even more important! Won't want your colleagues to start asking you what happened to your skin (personal experience haha), will you?
Caution: If irritation occurs, cease use and consult a physician. And please use only as directed on unbroken skin.
SENSES AT WORK
Not going to lie, The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% is a colourless liquid that smells like chemical. I personally find the smell perfectly okay because it is neither pungent or heavy. The formula is rather thick in consistency, almost similar to that of the The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution. It can take a while for the skin to absorb as Vitamin B is a water-soluble vitamin but with a little patting (DO NOT RUB), all you need is 20 seconds and the solution will dry down to a matte finish (yay, not sticky!).
MY SKIN NEEDS THIS
It's so cheap and so powerful I see no reason why you shouldn't give it a try if you face the same skin problem as me. My cheeks were ruled by acne-marks and I just couldn't bear to look at myself in the mirror. Luckily there is someone kind enough to come up with such formula and it worked amazingly on my skin, helping me to fade those acne marks. Very highly recommended and I have already bought a second bottle as backup before it runs out!
This post contains affiliate links.
Where to buy:
South East Asia
Shopee
WkRetail - RM32.95
Pursuit of Clarity - RM35.90
International except Malaysia
Amazon - USD11.41 (approx. RM48)
Thank you for reading, see you in the next post!
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I bought this with my own money. The review is 100% my personal opinion of the product after personally trying it out. Please make sure you consult whoever is selling you the product and ask for samples if you can! Read my disclaimer here.
I recently bought this, waiting for it to arrive. I have sensitive blemish prone skin, hoping this will calm my skin and resolve my long term issue with pimples.
ReplyDeleteHey Michelle! Hope it will help with your skin! Do share with me your results too if you don't mind! <3
DeleteI recently experience a severe breakout on my face where in acne and acne marks ruled my face particularly in my cheeks, luckily I found this product The Ordinary
ReplyDelete, Its been a month since I started using it I can see my acne marks are slowly fading and since day 1 that I use it, I never had any active pimples again.