Incorporating skincare acids into your routine can help improve many complexion concerns. These ingredients are packed with nutrients that can help complement your other skincare products and give you the gorgeous glow you’ve been dreaming of.
Let’s talk about Azelaic Acid and Niacinamide, two powerhouse ingredients. We’ll discuss how to incorporate them into your skincare routine and whether you should use them together or on their own.
How Can I Combine Azelaic Acid and Niacinamide?
Not only are Niacinamide and Azelaic Acid ingredients known to interact safely with each other, but using them together can also greatly complement their individual benefits. This means you can get your skin glowing faster and brighter than you thought possible!
Let’s walk through a simple, luxurious skincare routine that takes advantage of these amazing ingredients.
1. Cleanse With Azelaic Acid
To get all the benefits without risking any side effects, you’ll want to use Azelaic Acid in a way that doesn’t leave it sitting on your skin — and ideally in combination with extremely hydrating ingredients. This is particularly important if you have sensitive skin.
Our Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm is the makeup-removing cleanser of your dreams. It effectively removes makeup, sunscreen, dirt, and impurities without stripping your skin of necessary moisture.
Our Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm is formulated with makeup-melting Yucca Extract and skin-soothing Turmeric and Ginger Root Oil.
It also uses the natural plant-based power of Cucumber Seed Oil, Oat and Argan Oils, and Mango and Avocado Butters so that your skin feels perfectly hydrated and pillow-soft when you’re done cleansing.
Most importantly, Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm uses Azelaic Acid and Lactic Acid to help gently exfoliate your skin. This means that while you’re removing your makeup, you’re also sloughing off dead surface skin cells, promoting an even-looking skin tone, and overall brightening and refreshing your skin’s appearance.
2. Use a Niacinamide-Enriched Serum
While many nighttime treatments are formulated with photosensitizing and potentially skin barrier-damaging ingredients like Synthetic Retinol, we prefer a gentler, more effective solution: our Niacinamide-inclusiveRenew Repair Nightly Treatment.
Instead of a traditional water base, our Renew Repair Nightly Treatment uses a Green Tea base, which supports the skin with nourishing and purifying antioxidants. Unlike other serums, which are formulated with toxic preservatives, fillers, and sensitizing ingredients, every ingredient in our Renew Repair Nightly Treatment is intentionally included for a specific, skin-nourishing reason.
In addition to helpful Niacinamide, our Renew Repair Nightly Treatment comes with a bevy of anti-aging ingredients, from bioactive Seaweed Peptides to super hydrating Hyaluronic Acid and Ceramides that help to make up for the key nutrients your skin tends to have less of as you get older.
3. Hydrate with a Moisturizing Face Oil
If you’re looking for Azelaic Acid and Niacinamide to help brighten your sensitive complexion and improve the appearance of redness or irritation, our Calm Pure Radiance Oil is the perfect complement to your skincare routine.
Our Calm Pure Radiance Oil helps support your skin barrier and delivers potent hydration using the very finest Calendula Oil sourced from a nutrient-dense regenerative farm and moisturizing Jojoba Seed Oil.
What’s more, while it’s formulated without any sensitizing, artificial fragrances, the formula is still luxurious thanks to skin-calming Ginger and Neroli, which give it a beautiful aromatherapeutic smell.
When you’re experiencing sensitized skin, what you apply topically becomes more critical than ever, and that’s why each of the 27 plant actives in this formula is curated from the highest quality sources. These oils also feature molecular structures that closely mirror
the structure of the lipids (oils) that are naturally produced on the skin, so your skin can easily recognize and use them.
You may be more familiar with cream moisturizers, but moisturizing face oils are highly beneficial for dry and aging skin because they work as occlusives. That means they don’t just hydrate your skin — they help lock in moisture and nutrients while locking out irritants and impurities.
This means your skin stays hydrated longer. Even better, it means that the benefits you’re seeking from your Niacinamide and Azelaic Acid products have a better chance of working to their greatest potential.
Why Azelaic Acid Belongs in Your Routine
Azelaic Acid occurs naturally in grains such as barley, wheat, and rye. It’s one of those all-important skincare acids that can help to support proper surface skin cell turnover and provide gentle exfoliation. This can help a wide range of skincare complaints, from breakouts and blemishes to discoloration.
Azelaic Acid for Breakouts
Azelaic Acid also has soothing and cleansing properties. This is great news if you struggle with skin irritation or if you have particularly painful breakouts.
Azelaic Acid can help clear out your pores and minimize irritation caused by blemish-causing bacteria. It can also help to soothe your skin overall, leaving you with a smoother, more even complexion.
Azelaic Acid for Dark Spots
Azelaic Acid can be particularly effective when it comes to evening out your skin tone.
When your surface skin cells get stressed or damaged by UV rays, they call upon tyrosinase to ramp up melanin levels as a stress response. This is why dark spots and freckles often occur after time in the sun.
Azelaic Acid can help address concerns like dark spots, sun spots, and even acne scars by working to minimize their appearance and restore a radiant, youthful glow.
Is Azelaic Acid Safe?
The short answer is yes! Azelaic Acid is a much safer alternativeto other brightening agents like hydroquinone, which has been linked to serious side effects.
Your dermatologist may prescribe Azelaic Acid in gel, foam, or cream form. However, it can also be formulated into over-the-counter skincare products in lower (but still effective) concentrations.
Like other skincare acids, Azelaic Acid may be a little too much for hypersensitive skin. If you have sensitive or overly dry skin, you may experience burning or tingling, peeling, dryness, or redness when you begin using Azelaic Acid.
You can reduce the likelihood of these side effects by patch testing Azelaic Acid and introducing it into your skincare routine gradually so that your skin has time to adjust. And, of course, be sure to moisturize.
Any Tips For Using Azelaic Acid in My Skincare Routine?
For counteracting the effects of drying skincare acids, you can opt for our best-selling moisturizing face oil, Renew Pure Radiance Oil.This luxurious, cult-favorite face oil addresses signs of skin aging while giving an off-the-charts, youthful-looking glow.
This hydrating oil does more than just moisturize – it also helps to prevent and tackle signs of
aging using biocompatible seed oils with nutrient-rich Omega-3 Fatty Acids.
Featuring a revolutionary blend of 14 highly Absorbable seed Oils, Algae Extract, and Astaxanthin, we’re here to help deliver more moisturized, plump, youthful-looking skin.
Why Niacinamide Belongs in Your Routine
Niacinamide is a form of Vitamin B3, known formally as Niacin. B3 is an essential nutrient for your diet, but it’s also helpful when it comes to your complexion!
Niacinamide and Your Skin Barrier
Niacinamide can help to support your skin barrier health.Your skin barrier is your body’s first line of defense, and without it, you may be bombarded with germs and may lose all hydration.
Supporting and maintaining your skin barrier health can help your skin retain moisture, prevent breakouts, and stop impurities and bacteria from causing problems.
Basically, keeping your skin barrier strong is the most important element of any skincare routine — and Niacinamide can help you do just that.
Niacinamide for Sensitive Skin
Beyond supporting the skin barrier, Niacinamide can also soothe irritation. Physical signs of irritation such as dryness, redness, and itchiness are also typical signs of a compromised skin barrier.
Niacinamide has incredibly soothing properties and can help reduce the appearance of redness and soothe dry skin. Even the most sensitive skin can typically reap the benefits of Niacinamide!
Niacinamide for Skin Protection
On top of all that, Niacinamide is helpful in supporting your skin during exposure to harmful UV rays. Niacinamide is a powerful antioxidant that can help keep your skin protected and strong. Environmental stress is often a main culprit behind fine lines, wrinkles, and other visible signs of aging, and Niacinamide may help your skin stay strong.
Niacinamide is also a great tool to help maintain a proper balance of natural oil in your skin. Sebum is an incredibly important part of your skin’s natural hydration mechanisms, and imbalanced production can lead to breakouts and irritation. Niacinamide helps to balance oil-prone skin so that your skin can feel smooth and look radiant.
Is Niacinamide Safe?
This powerhouse ingredient doesn’t tend to cause any side effects. However, if you have sensitive skin or known allergies, you may want to discuss this ingredient with your primary care physician. While side effects are uncommon, extremely sensitive skin can sometimes react to this ingredient.
Any Tips For Using Niacinamide in My Skincare Routine?
The wrong skincare products can neutralize Niacinamide’s skin-supporting effects. Make sure to use formulations that also support the skin barrier, such as our Chebula Extreme Cream.
Chebula Extreme Cream is an anti-aging moisturizer that 100% of subjects agreed made their skin look and feel smoother, softer, more glowy and deeply hydrated.* This moisturizer is clinically proven to deeply moisturize and fight five signs of aging.*
Instead of pore-clogging waxes, this skin barrier cream is formulated with aHydra-Cocktail of protein rejuvenators, humectants, emollients, and breathable occlusives to lock in moisture and support the skin barrier.
It also features potent plant actives like Acerola Cherry, Calendula Oil, and Wild Pansies Extract to provide soothing benefits and dramatically improve moisture levels.
In Conclusion
Niacinamide and Azelaic Acid both offer a wide range of benefits to your skin. Whether you’re looking to clear your pores, improve skin congestion, even out your skin’s tone, or fight off frustrating dullness, these ingredients can work wonders for your complexion.
By including these two ingredients as part of a hydrating, nourishing skincare routine, you’ll be on your way to a radiant complexion in no time.
Looking for guidance on other ingredients for your specific skin? Take our skincare quiz here!
*Clinical results disclaimer: Based on a 6-week single blind comparative clinical study of 30 women aged 35-65 with twice daily use.
Sources:
Nicotinic Acid/Niacinamide and the Skin | National Library of Medicine