Advanced Skin Care and Beauty Treatment Reviews - SkinGeek.com

After testing my own skin with more active ingredients than able to fill a library index (okay okay I’m exaggerating), I am coming to a year-end (2008) conclusion on what I feel is the most effective, most convenient, and most economical skin regimen:

NIACINAMIDE CAPSULE-MASKS!

The number one reason why I love this regimen is… it just cannot get any easier!   Especially for the freshness and potency of the active ingredient.  Niacinamide capsules applied topically are also extremely safe with little complications, unlike other effective skin-prettying regimens that often pose unavoidable cons of being highly acidic, irritating, and peeling (grrr!).

With niacinamide, you don’t have to worry.  Open up a capsule, dab with a bit of water (I’ve even used St. Pellegrino and Perrier sparkling water to test out Italian and French water!!  how fun!) , toners, serums, contact-lens solution, green tea, or any liquid you like (no juices because vitamin C in natural fruit juices fights with nicacinamide), rub it all over your face (get a good micro-exfoliation going while you’re at it), let sit until all dry, scare yourself in the mirror with the kabuki-theater look, try to make funny faces through the thick white cake of niacinamide “clay”, and finally, rinse when you’re done scaring everyone sharing your flat.  Guaranteed the best pick-me-up exhilarator of the day, everyday!

Because of how ABUNDANT (vs. a 1 ounce tube of $200 dollar serum) and affordable bottles of high-quality niacinamide capsules are (manufactured with oral supplement standards, of course, and thus safe enough to eat!), you can even use it freely in the bathtub to scrub your whole body before a nice shower.  This body mask can brighten underarms, nipple areas, and other darker, less pampered skin areas on your body.  Plus, it doesn’t stain like vitamin C and other plant-based antioxidants (such as resveratrol and green tea EGCG) and guarantees easy clean-up.

The benefits of niacinamide is becoming more and more prominent as more cosmetic companies follow Olay’s lead in exploring niacinamide’s anti-acne, skin-healing, and anti-aging benefits.

On my New Year trip to Vegas, I brought with me a handful of niacinamide capsules.  Just as I thought about washing and scrubbing my face with them to calm down my over-smoked, over-partied, over-travelled skin, I decided to check out the spa at the hotel I was staying at (The Palazzo), “Canyon Ranch”.  It turns out that the spa carries their own signature skin care collection that touts niacin, the mother of niacinamide, as a featured ingredient.

Delighted, I slather the testers on my face, neck, and chest like a hungry child digging into a gingerbread house.

Here are some “updated” modern verbage on the decade-old skin-saving active ingredient family.

Below taken from the Canyon Ranch brochure on their “Your Transformation” collection based on ProNAD technology (ProNAD is a fancy name this company coined for niacin)

“The science of transforming skin health inside and out

Our clinically proven and proprietary ProNAD (bio-active Vitamin B3 aka niacin) + Ceraplex + AntiOx-3 is designed as a multi-dimensional approach to help reduce signs of skin aging and replenish skin.  Developed in conjunction with award-winning University of Arizona scientists (Roger J. Williams Award in Preventive Nutrition, NCI RAPID Award, and covered by U.S. Patent 6,337,065), the ProNAD technology was selected by the National Cancer Institute for study as a potential skin cancer prevention agent.  ”

Sounds impressive!  In fact, this active being researched by University of Arizona is quite popular, being used in another line only sold through doctor’s offices: NIA 24 Niacin Powered Skin Therapy.  I will introduce this line in detail in another article.

The Canyon Ranch line also makes generous use of many natural and pharmaceutical whitening agents and skin-friendly antioxidants.

If anyone wants to check out the line you can find it through Canyon Ranch’s website here “www.canyonranch.com”

To explore this topic further, niacin and niacinamide are not the same chemical actives despite being closely related.  Both members of the Vitamin B family, niacin and niacinamide are VERY beneficial to skin and hair health, and possess potent, efficient antioxidative benefits.

Canyon Ranch spa provided the following information on the line:

the Canyon Ranch Your Transformation skin care line does not contain niacinamide.  It contains a patented form of niacin which is nicotinic acid.  

Our exclusive niacin molecule has a revolutionary delivery system which allows the niacin to penetrate the skin.  Over twenty-five years of research have gone into the development of our niacin molecule which was the brainchild of two award-winning biochemists out of the University of Arizona working on DNA repair in the formation of cancer.  With over 30 patents, this technology is so effective it has been chosen by the National Cancer Institute for development as a possible skin cancer prevention agent.   

SkinGeek readers can email me to make a skin rejeuvenating niacinamide and niacin concoction for you.  If you’re of the less patient type please reference the following link to start making your own niacinamide masks:

http://www.skingeek.com/generic-niacinamide-recipe-for-at-home-masks/

HAPPY PRETTY NEW YEAR TO ALL SKIN GEEKS!