PRODUCT REVIEW: GLOW RECIPE WATERMELON GLOW NIACINAMIDE DEW DROPS - What percentage of niacinamide is effective? Can I use niacinamide everyday? Can you use vitamin C with niacinamide?
GLOW RECIPE WATERMELON GLOW NIACINAMIDE DEW DROPS
When people ask me what my favorite skincare product is or prod me to tell them the best face serum for dark spots to fix their sun damage – my answer is almost always a Niacinamide serum. Like if you’re not using one, what are you even doing?
I make no secret of the fact that I think the best Niacinamide serum is the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster serum. IMO it happens to be the best anti-aging serum, too – though the brand doesn’t position it that way. (Of course, the best anti-aging face product of all is a facial sunscreen!)
No joke, I go through a bottle a month of the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster – sometimes two bottles. I tend to use less of it when I’m experimenting with Niacinamide serums from other brands, more of it when I’m not focused on new finds.
A few weeks ago, I posted my review of the new Kiehl’s Ultra Pure High-Potency 5.0% Niacinamide Serum. At first, of course, I was thinking “it’s just 5%?!” That’s half the concentration of my fave from Paula’s Choice and that insanely popular The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% – which was like $6 the last time I checked. But the truth is, Kiehl’s $35 face serum with 5% Niacinamide is a terrific product and one of the best Niacinamide serums for sensitive skin.
And funny, while I first got my hands on Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops a while ago, I hadn’t actually gone all out and reviewed it on the blog until now. I guess I was keeping it to myself. Well the word is out: it’s the most pleasurable Niacinamide Serum on the market. More on why just below!
THE BEST NIACINAMIDE SERUMS
But first, back to my initial proposition: If you’re not using a Niacinamide serum, what are you doing to protect your skin, clear out your pores, and advance your skin health? Niacinamide does all of that. It is perhaps the most versatile ingredient used in skincare – with the broadest range of benefits for your skin. And in my experience, it’s profoundly underestimated by skincare marketers, brand founders and their customers alike.
Not long ago, I was actually advising the founder of a new skincare brand on product development and had been given samples of their initial formulas. One of the brand’s key directives to the formulator was that the products should brighten the skin.
So I found it funny that their chemist left Niacinamide out of the formulas entirely. A deep dive into the INCIs and I wasn’t quite sure what she thought was going to brighten anyone’s skin given what she had made. It was basically just emollient plant oils – and nothing more than a basic moisturizer.
I recommended that the chemist go back and add Niacinamide into the formulas at a high concentration. Not the standard 2% that’s recommended by ingredient manufacturers – the people that guide development of the vast majority of the skincare products we use.
Is 10% or 5% niacinamide better?
Niacinamide is one of the most versatile actives; use it the way you need it. At a concentration as low as 2%, Niacinamide will deliver antioxidant and calming benefits for your skin. At 5%, you can also expect the active to significantly brighten your skin, clear out your pores and prevent clogging and acne breakouts. At 10% and above you’ll benefit from Niacinamide’s retexturizing properties that can help to even out your skin tone and smooth rough skin texture.
Source: CBC - “Everything you need to know about using niacinamide on your skin”
PRODUCT REVIEW: KIEHL'S ULTRA PURE HIGH-POTENCY 5.0% NIACINAMIDE SERUM
A face cream with 5% Niacinamide could easily deliver the kind of visible brightening that the brand marketers wanted. A year later, those products are on the market and indeed brightening complexions.
Unlike that nascent skincare brand and their nutty chemist, Glow Recipe knows Niacinamide is unrivaled – and essential to a daily skincare routine. They even put it in a sunscreen! The brand’s Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Sunscreen SPF 50 is everything – and one of my fave sunscreens picks of 2023. Psst…catch my Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Sunscreen SPF 50 product review on the blog here.
What does Niacinamide do for your skin? And why is Niacinamide so beneficial for your skin health?
Well to start, a lot of Niacinamide’s benefits for your skin are tied to the concentration in the product you’re using, the product format, and how often you use it. As I alluded to earlier, the recommendation is a 2% concentration. At that level, you’ll benefit from Niacinamide’s antioxidant protection against environmental damage and its ability to calm sensitivity and regulate oil production. And, you’ll even see a moderate brightening effect.
PRODUCT REVIEW: GLOW RECIPE WATERMELON GLOW NIACINAMIDE SUNSCREEN SPF 50
At a 5% concentration, you get all that and more! The higher concentration of Niacinamide will significantly brighten your complexion. But more importantly, it will penetrate your pores to clear them out and prevent further clogging – similar to what Salicylic Acid does. Clearing out your pores every day helps to prevent common skin irritations and limit acne breakouts.
In fact, my daily “pore maintenance” routine is centered around a Niacinamide face serum and a Salicylic Acid toner like the iconic Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant. I use both twice daily – in my morning and evening skincare routines.
When you get up to levels at 10-20% of Niacinamide, you really see a difference in your skin health. This includes strengthening of the skin barrier, a more even and reflective complexion, and an exfoliating benefit that smooths out rough skin texture.
The Paula’s Choice Niacinamide 20% Treatment is the ideal product for maximizing everything that Niacinamide has to offer. The brand even claims that their high-potency serum “helps reduce hard, clogged bumps & orange-peel texture” while visibly improving a blotchy skin tone and fading post-acne marks.
CATCH THESE DELIGHTS IN MY SKINCARE ROUTINE!
Before I get into my detailed Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops product review just below, I wanted to explore some of the most frequently asked questions about Niacinamide, including whether or not it’s okay to mix it with Vitamin C…
1. What percentage of niacinamide is effective?
A minimum percentage of 2% Niacinamide is considered to be the starting point for seeing some of the benefits of the active. At that concentration, you’ll benefit from its antioxidant protection against environmental damage and its ability to calm sensitivity and regulate oil production.
At a 5% concentration, Niacinamide can significantly brighten your complexion. And more important to skin health, it can penetrate pores to clear them out and prevent them from clogging. This helps to prevent common signs of irritation and even reduce the occurrence of acne breakouts.
At concentrations of between 10-20%, Niacinamide helps to strengthen and thicken the skin barrier and exfoliate skin’s surface layer to even and unify skin tone and smooth rough skin texture.
In a double-blind, randomized clinical trial comparing 4% Niacinamide vs. 4% Hydroquinone, Niacinamide was found to be as affective in the treatment of melasma and the reduction of melasma severity.
Explore my top picks of the best Niacinamide serums on the blog here.
Sources: NIH, National Library of Medicine - “A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial of Niacinamide 4% versus Hydroquinone 4% in the Treatment of Melasma”;
2. Can I use niacinamide everyday?
Yes, not only can you use Niacinamide every day, but you should! Niacinamide is proven safe for daily use and is well-tolerated by most individuals. When used consistently, Niacinamide is one of the most effective skincare ingredients available for improving your skin health.
Incorporating a face serum with Niacinamide into your daily skincare routine can help regulate sebum production, minimize the appearance of pores, and reduce redness and inflammation. At higher concentrations, a 10% Niacinamide serum can help to improve skin texture, unify and even out skin tone, and strengthen the skin barrier to help prevent trans-epidermal water loss, the leading cause of dehydration.
Explore my top picks of the best Niacinamide serums on the blog here.
Sources: American Academy of Dermatology -11 Ways To Reduce Premature Skin Aging; NIH, National Library of Medicine - Niacinamide: A B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance
3. Is using niacinamide day and night too much?
Not at all! Depending on your skin’s tolerance, you can use a dedicated Niacinamide serum twice daily – in both your AM and PM routines. I certainly do – and it’s the one product that I would never skip in my routine, along with a face cleanser and sunscreen in the morning.
As part of your AM skincare routine, Niacinamide offers superior antioxidant protection from free radical damage and other environmental aggressors that can accelerate photoaging. I consider it essential along with a facial sunscreen for daily protection. And, it’s one of the best actives for calming irritation and keeping pores clear throughout the day.
To understand how your skin reacts to varying concentrations of Niacinamide, consider starting with a 5% Niacinamide serum. The Kiehl’s Ultra Pure High-Potency 5.0% Niacinamide Serum is a terrific option for beginners and one of the best Niacinamide serums for sensitive skin.
If you see no signs of irritation, graduate to a higher concentration of 10%. Of course, my top pick is the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster.
Explore my top picks of the best Niacinamide serums on the blog here.
Sources: IT Cosmetics - 10 Reasons Why You Should Add Niacinamide To Your Skincare Routine; The Sunday Edit - The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Niacinamide
4. Can you use vitamin C with niacinamide?
The question of whether you can mix Vitamin C and Niacinamide is one of the most enduring myths in skincare. The short answer is yes, though there are experts on both sides of the debate.
Some believe the two actives can be used together without any issues; others suggest that they should be used separately to avoid potential interactions – a Vitamin C serum in the morning and a Niacinamide serum in your PM routine, as an example.
The best source for the age-old skincare conundrum is a well-cited article on the Paula’s Choice website titled, Niacinamide With Vitamin C. According to their researchers, “What’s propelling the idea that niacinamide and vitamin C can’t be combined is old research that was interpreted incorrectly. The studies showing incompatibility between niacinamide and vitamin C date back to the early 1960s (yes, that far). These studies were off from the start because they used non-stabilized forms of both ingredients, whereas both ingredients are typically stabilized when used in modern-day cosmetics formulas.”
However, other studies suggest that high concentrations of Vitamin C (such as 20% or higher) may reduce the effectiveness of Niacinamide. This is because both ingredients can work at a similar pH range, and when used together in high concentrations, they may potentially cancel out each other's benefits.
The greatest concern is whether your own skin tolerates high concentrations of actives, no matter the combination. Personally, my skin is accustomed to using both Vitamin C and Niacinamide (and even Retinol!) together in the same routine.
Explore my top picks of the best Niacinamide serums on the blog here.
Sources: Paula’s Choice - Niacinamide With Vitamin C; Kate Somerville - Can you use Niacinamide with Vitamin C?; NIH, National Library of Medicine, PubMed - Niacinamide and its topical use in dermatology
5. Product Review
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops Review
One word: Mmm
Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is hands-down one of the most pleasurable anti-aging serums with Niacinamide that I’ve ever come across. I often allude to what I refer to as “skincare moments of joy” in my social channels. And no skincare brand infuses joy into their products better than Glow Recipe. It should be in the INCI!
I’ve enjoyed everything the brand has put out over the past 8 years or so. It’s hard to believe that Glow Recipe introduced their iconic Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask all the way back in 2017.
You know you’ve been in the game a while when you were a day-one fan of a product and it gets reformulated, repositioned and even renamed. Do you remember The Ordinary’s Buffet Serum? In January, the brand took a 180 and reintroduced it as The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + HA Serum. And last year, Glow Recipe renamed and reintroduced their first-ever product as Watermelon Glow AHA Night Treatment.
I don’t care what they call it; it’s still magically delicious!
In classic Glow fashion, every pump of the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is total skincare pleasure. The texture is everything. It’s silky and gooey without being sticky or slimy. And the ever-so-subtle fruit scent is icing on the cake.
But here’s the thing about the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops. As pleasurable as it is, it’s not the most powerful Niacinamide serum – by a long shot. In fact, as far as brightening serums with Niacinamide go, it’s on the weaker side.
How much Niacinamide is in Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops? The brand doesn’t say. In fact, I can’t find the precise level quoted anywhere online. At ingredient number five in the INCI, I estimate that the concentration of Niacinamide in the formulas is somewhere between 2%-5%.
According to the product analysis site What’s in My Jar, the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops contains between 2.1% - 3.1% of antioxidant Niacinamide – just above the base level of the active that’s recommended by both formula and ingredient manufacturers.
WHY IS THIS PEPTIDE SERUM SO DELISH?
It’s not insignificant; it’s just that I expect a face serum with Niacinamide that has the word N-I-A-C-I-N-A-M-I-D-E in the name to really take it there. At that level, you’ll get solid antioxidant protection and, along with a calming benefit, some degree of brightening.
It’s a good thing there’s more to the formula than just Niacinamide. Glow Recipe isn’t The Ordinary. That is, the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops isn’t a single-note serum. There’s a cocktail of hydrating humectants and antioxidant botanical extracts. Among these is Citrullus Lanatus Fruit Extract – the hydrating watermelon extract the brand heralds.
While the brand doesn’t claim the serum to be oil-free, it essentially is. There’s just one plant oil in the formula, Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil – and it’s nearly the last ingredient.
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is one part hydrating serum, one part antioxidant serum, and one part brightening serum. None of those is exceptionally unique. What’s unique about it is what’s unspoken, what’s not on the label, or in the INCI: it’s pure skincare joy.
6. Pros & Cons
What I like about it: The Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is one of the most pleasurable hydrating face serums with Niacinamide that I’ve ever come across. I would expect nothing less from the leaders in joy-inducing skincare products. The texture and sensorial experience are superb. It’s a great addition to any skincare routine.
What I don’t like about it: I wish it had at least a 5% concentration of Niacinamide in the formula.
Who it’s for: All skin types.
SHOP THE BLOG: Want to try it for yourself? Purchase the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops for $35 here.
The Ingredient List of the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops:
sii|h 0 0, Niacinamide cci|sb|aacne|h, 2,3-Butanediol h|solv, 1,2-Hexanediol solv, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate emo, Citrullus Lanatus Fruit Extract 
aox, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Eclipta Prostrata Extract, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate emu, Tromethamine buff, Glyceryl Stearate emo|emu 0 1-2, Carbomer vc 0 1, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer vc, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Xanthan Gum vc, Polyquaternium-51 h, Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil emo, Fragrance/Parfum 
perf, Benzyl Benzoate solv|perf|amic
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