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Time to read 12 min
Niacinamide is one of skincare’s most useful multitaskers. A form of vitamin B3, it can help support the skin barrier, improve hydration, balance excess oil and improve the appearance of uneven tone, redness and enlarged pores. Better still, it is generally well tolerated, making niacinamide serum suitable for dry, oily, combination and sensitive skin.
Unlike ingredients designed to tackle one particular concern, niacinamide works across several aspects of skin health. This makes a well formulated niacinamide serum particularly useful if your skin is dehydrated, easily unsettled or simply in need of a little more resilience.
At Raven, we use niacinamide in our Ultra Hydrating Serum alongside hyaluronic acid, plant derived squalane and borage oil, creating a multitasking formula that approaches hydration and barrier support from several directions at once.
Contents
Niacinamide, sometimes called nicotinamide, is a water soluble form of vitamin B3. In skincare, it is valued because it supports several of the biological processes involved in keeping the skin barrier healthy and functioning effectively.
Your skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin and has an enormously important job. It helps keep water in while protecting the skin from external irritants. When that barrier is compromised, skin can become dry, tight, sensitive or more easily irritated.
Niacinamide helps support the production of important components of the skin barrier, including ceramides. By supporting barrier function, it can help the skin retain moisture more effectively and become more resilient over time.
It is also relatively easy to incorporate into a routine. Unlike some stronger skincare actives, niacinamide is generally well tolerated and can usually be used every day, including alongside many other active ingredients.
Niacinamide serum can support several aspects of skin health at once. Its best established skincare benefits include supporting the skin barrier, helping skin retain moisture, improving the appearance of uneven pigmentation and texture, and helping to regulate excess oil.
The main benefits of niacinamide serum include:
• Supporting a healthy skin barrier
• Helping skin retain moisture and feel better hydrated
• Improving the appearance of uneven skin tone and pigmentation
• Helping regulate excess sebum in oily skin
• Reducing the appearance of enlarged pores by improving the surrounding skin
• Helping calm the appearance of redness and irritation
• Supporting smoother, more resilient looking skin
Because niacinamide is generally well tolerated and works comfortably alongside many other skincare ingredients, it can be particularly useful in a simple everyday routine rather than something that needs to be used as an occasional intensive treatment.
One of niacinamide’s most useful roles is supporting normal skin barrier function. It can encourage the production of ceramides and other lipids that form part of the skin’s protective outer layer.
A stronger, healthier barrier is better able to reduce transepidermal water loss, the process by which water naturally escapes from the skin. This is why niacinamide can be particularly valuable for skin that feels dehydrated, tight or easily irritated.
Rather than simply adding moisture to the surface of the skin, niacinamide helps support the mechanisms that allow skin to hold onto that moisture.
Niacinamide can also be useful for oily and combination skin because it may help regulate sebum production.
This does not mean stripping oil from the skin. Sebum is an important part of healthy skin. The aim is balance, particularly for complexions that become noticeably oily through the T zone or are prone to congestion.
This combination of oil regulation and barrier support is one of the reasons niacinamide works particularly well for combination skin, where oiliness and dehydration can exist at the same time.
Despite what you may sometimes read, pores do not physically open and close. Their appearance can, however, become more noticeable when skin is oily, congested or has lost some of its firmness and smoothness.
By helping to regulate excess oil and improve overall skin texture, niacinamide can make enlarged pores appear less prominent and the complexion look smoother and more refined.
Niacinamide is also widely used in skincare for pigmentation and uneven tone.
It works differently from exfoliating acids. Rather than removing surface skin cells, niacinamide can interfere with the transfer of pigment within the skin. With consistent use, this may help reduce the appearance of areas of hyperpigmentation and contribute to a more even looking complexion.
Because niacinamide supports the skin barrier and has soothing properties, it can be particularly helpful for skin that is prone to visible redness or feels easily unsettled.
Sensitive skin often benefits from a relatively simple routine that concentrates on hydration and barrier support rather than continually introducing strong actives. Niacinamide can fit particularly well into this approach because it provides multiple benefits without relying on exfoliation.
If you have a diagnosed skin condition such as rosacea or persistent acne, skincare should complement rather than replace advice or treatment from a healthcare professional.
One of the great strengths of niacinamide is that it is not confined to one particular skin type. The benefit you notice most may simply depend on what your skin needs.
For dry or dehydrated skin, niacinamide is particularly valuable for its role in supporting the skin barrier and reducing moisture loss.
It pairs beautifully with humectants such as hyaluronic acid, which help attract and retain water. This allows you to approach hydration in two complementary ways: helping supply water to the skin while supporting its ability to keep it there.
If your skin frequently feels tight after cleansing, becomes flaky or seems to drink up skincare without remaining comfortable for long, barrier support deserves as much attention as hydration itself.
It is a common misconception that oily skin does not need hydration. In fact, skin can be oily and dehydrated simultaneously.
Niacinamide is particularly useful here because it can help regulate excess sebum without stripping the skin while simultaneously supporting hydration and barrier function.
For combination skin, where the T-zone may be oily while the cheeks feel normal or dry, that versatility makes it an especially useful everyday ingredient.
For sensitive or blemish prone complexions, maintaining a healthy skin barrier is particularly important.
Niacinamide can help support that barrier while calming the appearance of redness and helping regulate excess oil. Because it does not exfoliate the skin in the way that acids do, it can also be easier to incorporate into a routine that already contains other active ingredients.
Very sensitive skin can react to almost any ingredient, however, so introducing new products gradually and patch testing is always sensible.
Niacinamide also has a place in mature skin routines. As your skin changes with age, barrier function, moisture retention, pigmentation and texture can all become more noticeable concerns.
By supporting barrier function, hydration and a more even looking complexion, niacinamide offers a useful multi-benefit approach as opposed to concentrating efforts solely on minimising the appearance of lines and wrinkles.
NOT SURE WHAT SKIN TYPE YOU HAVE?
Niacinamide and hyaluronic acid are often mentioned together, and with good reason. They approach hydration differently.
Hyaluronic acid is a humectant, meaning it helps attract and hold water within the skin. Niacinamide, meanwhile, supports the skin barrier and the processes that help prevent that moisture from escaping too readily.
In simple terms, one helps provide hydration while the other helps create the conditions for skin to retain it.
This is why we chose to use both in our Ultra Hydrating Serum. We then combine them with plant derived squalane and borage oil, so the formula addresses hydration, barrier support, softness and comfort rather than relying on a single fashionable active.
Niacinamide serum is straightforward to introduce into most skincare routines and can generally be used either morning or evening.
After cleansing, apply your water based serum before richer facial oils, balms or creams. If you are using Raven Ultra Hydrating Serum, a small amount applied to clean skin is sufficient.
Niacinamide can usually be used both morning and evening, although there is no need to use it twice daily to benefit from it. Consistency matters more than creating an unnecessarily complicated routine.
For most people, yes. Niacinamide is generally well tolerated and is very commonly formulated into products that are designed for everyday use.
More is not necessarily better, however. High concentrations of an active ingredient are not automatically more effective and can be unnecessarily irritating for some complexions.
We prefer a balanced formulation approach, considering how ingredients work together rather than chasing the highest possible percentage of a single active.
One reason niacinamide is so easy to use is that it pairs so well with many other familiar skincare ingredients.
It works particularly well alongside hyaluronic acid for hydration and can also be incorporated into routines containing ingredients such as vitamin C, retinoids and exfoliating acids.
If you use several strong actives, however, it is worth considering your routine as a whole. Skin does not necessarily benefit from adding every active ingredient at once. A consistent routine that keeps your barrier healthy will usually serve you better than continually layering more products onto stressed skin.
When we formulate at Raven, we rarely look at an ingredient in isolation. The question is not simply what an individual active can do, but how the entire formula works together on the skin.
Our Ultra Hydrating Serum combines niacinamide with hyaluronic acid, plant derived squalane and borage oil.
Hyaluronic acid helps attract and retain water. Niacinamide supports barrier function and helps balance the complexion. Squalane provides lightweight emollience, while borage oil is naturally rich in gamma linolenic acid and helps nourish dry or unsettled skin.
The result is a lightweight, fragrance free serum designed to hydrate without heaviness and support skin that feels dry, dehydrated, sensitive or simply out of balance.
It is also a useful example of why we do not believe skincare needs to revolve around one headline ingredient. Skin is complex, and thoughtful formulations should be too.
Niacinamide has become a skincare staple for good reason. Few individual ingredients can support so many different aspects of skin health while remaining suitable for such a broad range of complexions.
Its benefits are not about dramatically changing your skin overnight. Niacinamide is most useful as part of a consistent routine that supports what healthy skin already needs to do: maintain a strong barrier, retain moisture, regulate oil and protect itself effectively.
For us, that is also what makes it such a natural fit within Ultra Hydrating Serum. Combined with hyaluronic acid, squalane and borage oil, niacinamide becomes part of a wider approach to hydration and barrier health rather than simply another trending active.
Niacinamide is one of those ingredients I think can get a little lost amongst all the skincare hype! It isn’t the sort of ingredient that promises to transform your skin overnight, but that’s actually what I like about it. It's a real staple in almost any routine and comes with benefits for all skin types.
For me, good skincare is much more about keeping your skin happy, hydrated and resilient than constantly trying to fix it. Niacinamide fits beautifully into that way of thinking. It does several useful things at once, it works for so many different types of skin, and it’s an ingredient you can easily use every day without having to build a complex routine around it.
That’s exactly why we put it into our Ultra Hydrating Serum. It’s one of the products I come back to again and again, especially if my skin feels a bit dry, tired or generally out of sorts. Nothing too complicated, just a really useful formula that helps your skin feel fresh, hydrated and at peace. We hope you enjoyed this article!
Charlotte x
Founder, Raven Botanicals
Niacinamide serum can help support the skin barrier, improve moisture retention, regulate excess oil and improve the appearance of uneven tone, redness, enlarged pores and skin texture. Because it addresses several aspects of skin health at once, it can be useful for a wide range of skin types.
Yes. Niacinamide is generally well tolerated and can usually be used daily. Depending on the formulation and your skin, it can be applied in the morning, evening or both. If your skin is particularly sensitive, introduce any new skincare product gradually.
Niacinamide can be an excellent ingredient for oily and combination skin because it can help regulate excess sebum without stripping the skin. Its barrier supporting properties are also useful because oily skin can still be dehydrated.
Yes. Niacinamide can be particularly useful for dry and dehydrated skin because it supports the skin barrier and helps reduce moisture loss. Combining it with humectants such as hyaluronic acid provides additional hydration support.
Yes. Niacinamide and hyaluronic acid complement one another particularly well. Hyaluronic acid helps attract and retain water while niacinamide supports the skin barrier and its ability to hold onto moisture. This is why we use both ingredients in Raven Ultra Hydrating Serum.
Apply a niacinamide serum after cleansing and before heavier moisturisers, facial oils or balms. If you are layering several serums, lighter water based products should generally be applied before richer oil based formulas.
Niacinamide does not increase skin cell turnover in the same way as ingredients such as retinoids or exfoliating acids, so it is not normally associated with skin purging. If a new niacinamide product causes persistent irritation or breakouts, stop using it and consider whether another ingredient in the formulation could be contributing.
Some effects, particularly improved hydration and skin comfort, may be noticed relatively quickly. Changes to the appearance of pigmentation, texture or pores generally require consistent use over a longer period. Skincare results vary according to the formulation, concentration, individual skin and the rest of your routine.
Charlotte Harvey
Co-founder and formulator at Raven Botanicals.
With a background in botany and plant science, and a Distinction in Organic Skincare Formulation, Charlotte creates Raven’s formulas in our rural Scottish studio. Her approach combines a passion for plants with pioneering skincare science, creating thoughtful and effective formulas designed to support healthy, resilient skin.
