ALPYN BEAUTY | WILD NETTLE & NIACINAMIDE FIRMING SERUM

I’m always up for discovering new Niacinamide serums. And as far as Niacinamide serums go, Alpyn Beauty’s new Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum is intriguing.

It’s not a Niacinamide powerhouse like my all-time fave, the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster serum.

With what I estimate is about a 4-5% concentration of the brightening antioxidant, it’s on the tamer side as far as Niacinamide serums go.

Like the OG Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster, there just happens to be a lot more going on here than Niacinamide. The Alpyn Beauty Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum is a veritable cocktail of pro-skin health goodness.

If you’re unfamiliar with Alpyn Beauty, the brand prides itself on wildcrafted ingredients harvested in the mountains overlooking Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I don’t know much about Jackson Hole, but I know a good serum when I see one.

The Best Niacinamide Serums and Treatments

What is Niacinamide and What Does Niacinamide Do for the Skin?

I found a comprehensive article on the form of Vitamin B3 written by the skin experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team, titled simply, How Niacinamide Helps Skin. It doesn’t do it justice! They should have titled the article, Niacinamide is the Game Changer You Need to Defend Against Skin Damage and Maintain Optimal Skin Health.

From the piece….

How Niacinamide Helps Skin
Niacinamide is a skin care ingredient worthy of your attention and your skin will love you for using it. Among a handful of other amazing skin care ingredients such as retinol and vitamin C, niacinamide is a standout because of its versatility for almost any skin care concern and skin type.
As many of you know about us, but for those who don’t, the conclusions we make about any ingredient are always based on what the published research has shown to be true—and the research about niacinamide unanimously demonstrates how special it is. New research keeps showing it’s one of the most exciting skin care ingredients around.
What is Niacinamide?
Also known as vitamin B3 and nicotinamide, niacinamide is a water-soluble vitamin that works with the natural substances in your skin to help visibly minimize enlarged pores, tighten lax pores, improve uneven skin tone, soften fine lines and wrinkles, diminish dullness, and strengthen a weakened surface.
Niacinamide also reduces the impact of environmental damage because of its ability to improve skin’s barrier (its first line of defense), plus it also plays a role in helping skin to repair signs of past damage. Left unchecked, this type of daily assault makes skin appear older, dull, and less radiant.
Why You Should Use Niacinamide
As you might have gathered, we’re very impressed with all that niacinamide can do for skin when applied via skin care products like toners, serums, and highly concentrated leave-on treatments. Niacinamide is uniquely compatible with any of the products in your skin care routine, including those that contain retinol, peptides, hyaluronic acid, AHAs, BHA, vitamin C, and all types of antioxidants.
You can use multiple niacinamide-containing products in your routine, and it will still be non-sensitizing as this ingenious B vitamin is well tolerated by all skin types. It’s even suitable for use by those with sensitive or rosacea-prone skin.
Other helpful benefits of niacinamide are that it helps renew and restore the surface of skin against moisture loss and dehydration by helping skin improve its natural production of skin-strengthening ceramides. When ceramides become depleted over time, skin is left vulnerable to all sorts of problems, from persistent patches of dry, flaky skin to increasingly becoming extra-sensitive.
If you struggle with dry skin, topical application of niacinamide has been shown to boost the hydrating ability of moisturizers so skin’s surface can better resist the moisture loss that leads to recurrent dry, tight, flaky skin. Niacinamide works brilliantly with common moisturizer ingredients like glycerin, non-fragrant plant oils, cholesterol, sodium PCA, and sodium hyaluronate.
How does niacinamide help pores? Great question, although the answer here isn’t certain. Simply put, research hasn’t come to a full understanding about how this B vitamin works its pore-reducing magic, but it does! It seems that niacinamide has a normalizing ability on the pore lining, and that this influence plays a role in keeping debris from getting backed up, which leads to clogs and rough, bumpy skin. As the clog forms and worsens, the pores stretch to compensate, and what you’ll see is enlarged pores. By helping things get back to normal, niacinamide use helps pores return to their normal size. Sun damage can cause pores to become stretched, too, leading to what some describe as "orange peel skin". Higher concentrations of niacinamide can help visibly tighten pores by shoring up skin’s supportive elements.

NIACINAMIDE IS THE GAME CHANGER YOU NEED TO DEFEND AGAINST SKIN DAMAGE AND MAINTAIN OPTIMAL SKIN HEALTH

Read Review

The slightly pulpy Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum is loaded with antioxidant botanicals and vitamins, humectants and replenishing plant oils. Nettle Extract (ingredient no. 7 in the INCI) is rated by the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team (my muses!) as an average botanical with skin-soothing properties.

But what intrigues me even more about the Alpyn Beauty Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum is the inclusion of a botanical extract (at ingredient no. 8) called Nephelium Lappaceum Leaf Extract — or rambutan, a superfruit similar to lychee.

I’ve never see Nephelium Lappaceum Leaf Extract in a skincare product INCI before. So I googled it.

“Studies have shown that rambutan peel extract strengthens and hydrates the skin while also locking in moisture and giving the skin a radiant glow. Rambutan extract is the ingredient that's oftentimes compared to retinol, the powerhouse ingredient that has the ability to stimulate collagen and promote cell turnover.”

I have no doubt that it has a humectant benefit on the skin — similar to the water-binding properties of aloe vera and even common seaweed.

Like extracts from lychee and other fruits, rambutan extract likely also has a degree of antioxidant activity on the skin. As for whether it is a legitimate substitute for Retinol as Bakuchiol has been proven to be remains to be seen.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Alpyn Beauty Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum for $58 here.

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