DERMALOGICA | SMART RESPONSE SERUM

Dermalogica’s Daily Microfoliant Exfoliator was the very first product I ever tried (and fell in love with!) from the brand. I had never used an exfoliating powder cleanser before and I’ve never forgotten it.

That was maybe 15 years ago. Dermalogica has sure come a long way from the simple efficacy of a cleansing powder.

Dermalogica’s new Smart Response Serum couldn’t possibly be any more high-tech or high-performance.

I’ve spent the last month playing around with Smart Response, trying to understand what this intriguing anti-aging serum is really all about. After reading a piece on it in Wired Magazine titled, “The Skin Care Tech of the Future is Here,” I wanted to get all wrapped up in the romanticized science of what the brand calls a “next gen smart serum”.

In the end, though, I decided it’s simply a well-formulated anti-aging serum that hydrates, nourishes and brightens the skin. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. From the Wired article:

These days, almost anything can be personalized to fit our needs—and it often happens without us even asking for it. We’ve come to expect that our music streaming platform will deliver us custom playlists, and that our web browser will offer us tailored product suggestions. So why shouldn’t our skin care products, something that’s so different and personal for everyone, do the same thing? Up until now, we’ve always had to be thinking about our skin’s changing needs: Is it dry? Dull? Feeling lifeless? Dermalogica designed the new Smart Response Serum so we never have to think about what our skin needs again—the serum gives it just what it needs, exactly when it needs it.
Up until now, we’ve always had to be thinking about our skin’s changing needs: Is it dry? Dull? Feeling lifeless? Dermalogica designed the new Smart Response Serum so we never have to think about what our skin needs again—the serum gives it just what it needs, exactly when it needs it.

The Wired article continues, “We all have so many smart devices that can anticipate our needs before we can. So we got to thinking, why can’t we have that same level of responsiveness and intelligence in our skincare?” says Dr. Angela Murphy, VP of Technology and Development for the International Dermal Institute and Dermalogica (a company that was founded by a skin therapist). “That’s exactly what we’ve done with our Smart Response Serum. We spent over two years doing research on the active ingredients before we even started formulating the product.”

The Dermalogica Smart Response Serum has all the bells and whistles you want in a well-formulated anti-aging serum, including a healthy dose of brightening Niacinamide at what I estimate to be a concentration of between 5-7%. That’s a good amount to get your complexion glowing, but not quite enough to take advantage of Niacinamide’s extraordinary power. And it’s certainly not enough to rival the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster. With a 10% concentration of the active, it’s hands down the best anti-aging serum available in the world today.

No joke, I go through two bottles of 10% Niacinamide Booster every month.

PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA’S CHOICE 10% NIACINAMIDE BOOSTER – THE BEST NIACINAMIDE SERUM

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

There’s a comprehensive article on Niacinamide by the skin experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team, titled simply, How Niacinamide Helps Skin. An excerpt from the article:

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

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The Smart Response Serum formula contains multiple actives that the skin needs in order to maintain its healthy functions, including several effective humectants; among these are Hydrolyzed Beta-Glucan.

Beta Glucan doesn’t get the kind of popular acclaim of Hyaluronic Acid, it’s as effective if not more so, with the ability to better penetrate the skin barrier. According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team, Beta-Glucan is one of the “best” ingredients for the skin.

“Beta-glucan is a polysaccharide (complex sugar) that can be derived from various natural sources such as yeast, fungi, seaweed, or oats. It is commonly included in skin care products as a soothing agent and is considered an excellent ingredient for minimizing redness and other signs of sensitive skin.
Beta-glucan also offers antioxidant properties and has been shown to help visibly minimize signs of aging/sun damage (including reducing the look of wrinkle depth and rough, uneven tone). Certain sources of beta-glucan also offer film-forming moisturizing properties.
In early research, it was hypothesized that beta-glucan’s high molecular weight would inhibit it from penetrating skin, thereby limiting its benefits to just the surface, but in more recent studies, beta-glucan has been proven to permeate skin by passing between cells.”

Dermalogica’s Smart Response Serum also contains numerous antioxidant and nourishing plant oils and extracts.

While it’s intriguing and certainly pro-skin health, Smart Response is not a perfect formula. There are a few fragrant plant oils (aka fragrance!) that can cause sensitivity and honestly don’t belong in a $135 anti-aging serum. And I find it odd that it smells like an old-school mass-market face cream even with the fragrance.

Hmm…that’s not so smart really.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Dermalogica Smart Response Serum for $135 here.

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