PRODUCT REVIEW: FIGURE 1 BEAUTY (FIG. 1) N4 NIACINAMIDE NOURISHING TREATMENT - BEST NIACINAMIDE SERUM FOR DRY SKIN, BEST BRIGHTENING SERUM
FIGURE 1 BEAUTY (FIG. 1) | N4 NIACINAMIDE NOURISHING TREATMENT
I first featured this remarkable new Niacinamide serum from sustainable brand Figure 1 Beauty (Fig.1) on my IG page a month ago on #skincarmasaturday — when I share a glimpse of my new skincare discoveries of the week.
I’ve been exploring just about everything Fig. 1 has to offer since.
With a genuine sustainable mission that features fully refillable glass packaging, Fig. 1 offers a range of serious pro-skin health skincare. My faves include Glycolic Glow Treatment and RP Repair Eye Cream.
But…
Nothing gets me like a new Niacinamide serum! The Fig.1 N4 Niacinamide Nourishing Treatment has a rich, velvety texture that makes it ideal for transitional seasonal skincare as summer gives way to fall. In the colder months ahead, my skin is going to want lots of thick, rich, nourishing creams made with replenishing non-fragrant plant oils.
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
The Fig.1 N4 Niacinamide Nourishing Treatment is powered by what I estimate to be a 7-10% concentration of antioxidant, brightening Niacinamide. That’s a solid dose and right up there with my favorite Niacinamide serum ever — the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster.
If you aren’t employing a Niacinamide serum in your AM and PM skincare routines, you’re missing a vital opportunity to up your game and defend your skin against the aging forces of time, stress and the environment. And, a little daily pore maintenance goes a long way toward pushing your skin health forward.
PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA’S CHOICE 10% NIACINAMIDE BOOSTER – THE BEST NIACINAMIDE SERUM
Niacinamide has played a central role in my own skin health maintenance for about five years now. My journey began with what I consider to be the OG Niacinamide serum, 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. Have I tried every anti-aging serum in the world? Of course not; I don’t have to. I’ve already found it!
No joke, I go through two bottles of the 10% Niacinamide Booster every month. Truthfully, there is no better Niacinamide serum than that one. In fact, as I’ve said, I consider the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster to be the best anti-aging serum on Earth. I’ve reviewed it on the blog several times. If interested, you can catch my review of it here.
And like the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster, the new Fig.1 N4 Niacinamide Nourishing Treatment is a whole lot more than a straight up Niacinamide serum.
In the top five ingredients are three of the best non-fragrant plant oils, including Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Evening Primrose Oil and Squalane. All of these are superbly replenishing, infusing skin with the nourishment and moisture it needs to stay healthy in the cooler, dehydrating air.
For me, that’s a godsend in the winter months.
Ingredient number two, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, is the most intriguing to me. According to the Paula’s Choice Research Team, Limnanthes alba (meadowfoam) seed oil is among the “best” ingredients used in skincare. They describe it as a “non-fragrant, edible plant oil originally developed as an agricultural crop in the 1950s. It functions as an emollient and softening agent in skin- and hair-care products. This plant oil is exceedingly stable because it is primarily composed of long chain fatty acids.”
With its light creamy texture, my skin soaks this stuff up like fresh bread in a plate of olive oil.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Fig.1 N4 Niacinamide Nourishing Treatment for $28 here.
WATCH VIDEO REVIEW OF
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The Ingredient List of the Alpyn Beauty Wild Nettle & Niacinamide Firming Serum:
so|h, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil emo 0 0, Glycerin 
sii|h 0 0, Capryloyl Glycerin/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Niacinamide cci|sb|aacne|h, Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract so, Nephelium Lappaceum Leaf Extract, Squalane sii|emo 0 1, Sodium Phytate chel, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Superoxide Dismutase aox, Lactic Acid exf|h|buff, Sodium Levulinate, Potassium Sorbate pres, Lysolecithin emu, Sclerotium Gum vc, Xanthan Gum vc, Curcuma Longa (Turmeric) Root Oil perf, Pullulan, Diheptyl Succinate emo, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate aox|sb, Tocopherol (Mixed) aox 0-3 0-3, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil emo 0 0-2, Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi (Bearberry) Extract aox|sb, Taraxacum Officinale (Wild Dandelion) Extract, Vaccinium Membranaceum (Huckleberry) Extract, Prunus Virginiana (Chokecherry) Extract, Salix Alba (White Willow) Extract so, Borago Officinalis (Borage) Flower Extract emo, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract surf, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract so|aox 0 0, Arnica Montana (Arnica) Flower Extract 
perf, Calendula Officinalis (Calendula) Flower Extract so|aox|perf, Lactobacillus/Punica Granatum Fruit Ferment Extract exf, Maltodextrin, Silica vc, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate amic|presThe Ingredient List of the Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2%:
cci|sb|aacne|h, Propanediol solv|h, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Zinc Pca aacne|h, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-11 vc, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Tocopheryl Acetate aox 0 0, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Dimethicone emo 0 1, Hexylene Glycol solv|emu|perf|surf 0-1 0-2, Xanthan Gum vc, Glyceryl Polyacrylate, Potassium Sorbate pres, Citric Acid buff, Phenoxyethanol presThe Ingredient List of the Algenist Algae Niacinamide Moisture Veil:
sii|h 0 0, Isododecane emo|solv|perf, Dimethicone emo 0 1, Isostearyl Isostearate emo 1 4, Niacinamide cci|sb|aacne|h, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate emo, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyhydroxystearate emu, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate emu, Magnesium Sulfate vc, Sodium Chloride vc, Parachlorella Beijerinckii Exopolysaccharides, Phloretin aox, Fucus Spiralis Extract emo, Tetraselmis Chui Extract emo, Spiraea Ulmaria Extract so, Hydrolyzed Algin, Sorbitan Oleate Decylglucoside Crosspolymer emu|surf, Disteardimonium Hectorite vc, Polyglycerin-6 h, Xanthan Gum vc, Triethyl Citrate perf, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract perf, Bergamot/Grapefruit/Orange/Tangerine Fruit Ferment Extract aox, Mica col, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Phenoxyethanol pres, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891) col 0 0The Ingredient List of the StriVectin Super-B Barrier Strengthening Oil with Vitamin B3 and Prebiotics:
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Shea Butter Ethyl Esters, Isopropyl Palmitate, Squalane, Myristyl Nicotinate, Passiflora Edulis Seed Oil, Plankton Extract, Bacillus Ferment, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Extract, Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Quercus Suber Bark Extract, Oak Root Extract, Panthenyl Triacetate, Glyceryl Caprylate, Glycerin, Naringenin, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Fragrance/Parfum, Tocopherol, Citric Acid, Hydroxycitronellal.
The Ingredient List of the Synergie Skin Vitamin B 13% Essential Niacinamide Serum:
cci|sb|aacne|h, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Panthenol (Vitamin B5) so|h 0 0, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Sodium PCA sii|h 0 0, Pelargonium Capitatum (Rose Geranium) Leaf Extract, Polysorbate 80 emu|surf 0 0, Phospholipids sii|emo, Aroma (Natural), Hydroxyethylcellulose vc, Alcohol (Grain Derived) amic|solv|vc, Caramel (Natural Colour) col, Citronellol perf, Geraniol perf, Linalool perf
