Skin Care Acids You Need to Try: StriVectin’s Advanced Acids

I talk a lot about anti-aging skincare on 15 Minute Beauty. It is a complicated and often very confusing topic, especially when I start throwing around the names of active ingredients that I think you should look for. Those ingredients don’t always have easy to remember names, and sometimes those names are long, chemical, and have multiple forms.

One ingredient you should seriously consider adding to your routine is niacinamide and all of its chemical cousins, they are derivatives of vitamin B3. They are found naturally occurring in foods such as peanuts, seeds, yeasts, some fruits and root vegetables. They are used in over 200 reactions in your skin’s cells, contributing to DNA synthesis and repair, modulate inflammatory cytokines and other important cellular functions. With topical use, niacinamides have been found to improve texture and hyperpigmentation, improve the skin’s barrier function, and increase firmness.

There is a downside to using a niacinamide product, and that is redness. It is known for causing significant flushing, though it is usually temporary. Luckily, by slightly altering the niacinamide molecule, you can eliminate the flushing and even improve penetration into the skin. StriVectin’s NIA-114 is a patented form of niacinamide that does just that, and despite my rosacea I’ve never experienced redness with StriVectin’s products. Because of this, my favorite way to use niacinamide is in StriVectin.

StriVectin recently released a batch of new products, and I’ve been itching to try them out. They’re named the “Advanced Acids”, and each feature NIA-114 along with other active ingredients (the featured one is an acid) for added benefits. No need to fear, while technically these ingredients are acids, there won’t be major redness and irritation.

Glycolic Skin Reset Mask
I’m a big fan of how smooth and glowy my skin looks with frequent exfoliation. I love gentle exfoliation, it’s just enough to get me the benefits without resulting in redness or irritation.

This peel mask sounds like it should be intense, it has Glycolic in the name, right? But it really isn’t! This mask has a micro-encapsulated Glycolic Acid for slow-release, which gets your skin the benefits of the exfoliation but it is gentler. Many peels leave my sensitive skin red and irritated, but this one just makes it feel smooth and my pores look much better.

The mask works in 5 minutes, you can use it once or twice a week. It has an amazing citrus scent that I love! It has kaolin clay to clear out your pores, NIA-114 for a nice anti-aging punch, and caffeine to help temporarily tighten as well.

Oleic Rapid Recovery Milk
The Rapid Recovery Milk is a dream product that I’m having a hard time describing. First, they call it a milk, and in actuality it is a milky white lightweight serum that is not at all sticky or oily. Milk is an accurate description. For about a week I’ve been using this twice a day right after washing my face. It sinks in quickly, offering a bit of hydration but not too much for the oily areas of my combination skin.

The featured acid in Rapid Recovery is Oleic Acid, which isn’t an “acid” as you typically think of an acid. Instead, this is an Omega-9 fatty acid, and it helps support your skin’s lipid barrier.

My skin has been loving this product, areas of irritation and dryness have settled down and I’ve only been using it a little over a week! I’ll be using this all winter.

Hyaluronic Dual-Response Serum
I need to put a disclaimer before I talk more about this product. I love hyaluronic acid. Love it. It is probably my favorite skin care acid. I realize that it is not normal to have a favorite skin care acid, but there you go. Why? Because hyaluronic acid is actually not an acid, instead it is a very large molecule that holds a lot of water at the surface of your skin.

There are 6 forms of hyaluronic in the Dual-Response Serum, and they hold 1000x their weight in water. That’s a lot of hydration! Instead of over hydrating your skin, the end result is actually plumping of the outer layers of skin. Fine lines and pores smooth out, you look younger and fresher! It doesn’t feel heavy on the skin, and it works perfectly under makeup.

Have you tried any of the Advanced Acids yet? Which one are you most interested in?

You can learn more about these products over on the StriVectin Website!
Sponsored Post
This is a sponsored post in collaboration with StriVectin. All opinions are my own.