Now and again a skincare product comes along that makes me sit up straight, swallow hard, square my shoulders and pay real attention. Those days are rare. I love skincare products, I get giddily excited about anything new, but in a small, dark, chamber in my heart, I know that most of them are just slight improvements of stuff that already exists.
But Niod’s Hydration Vaccine seems different.
Honesty compels me to tell you that I didn’t buy it: it arrived in the post and, left to my own devices, I’d probably never have bought it because I didn’t know what it was. The gas thing is that even now, when I’m in giant love with it, I’m still not sure exactly what it is.
Okay, here's what I've established: it's from Niod, one of the companies under the Deciem umbrella. (The Ordinary is another of its brands.) Its products are "science-y", effective and more affordable than their peers.
This little medicinal jar of delight calls itself a Hydration Vaccine, but it’s not a vaccine. However, the word “hydration” is always of interest because my skin is as dry as the pubs of Riyadh and I’m on a forever-quest for a torrential drencher of a moisturiser.
To my alarm, the first thing I read in the folding words of information is that the gear doesn’t add any oil and lubricants, but instead acts as “a breathing, adaptive, hydration seal” preventing loss of the skin’s own natural resources. As a more is more merchant, I was concerned. But I gave it a go anyway.
Texture
The texture is the first sign that we’re not in Kansas any more. It’s thick, unctious, almost like a balm, but it’s dry – not oily, not greasy, not slippery, not sticky. Because it contains silicone, it spreads with delightful ease. A little goes a long way, then it stays put. Put put.
To my great surprise and delight, it kept my clob feeling supple and comfortably hydrated, for many long hours.
But there’s a lot more to it than that. What I think this product really is, is a top-notch primer. It creates the most perfect finish – it fills in pores, it smooths out lumps, it (temporarily) vanishes fine lines. It’s like pimped-up Polyfilla or an Instagram filter in a jar.
The finish is matte and you could easily skip any foundation. But with foundation, I swear to god, it’s a gamechanger. Honestly, I can’t rave about it enough. The foundation gliiiiiides on and the finish is gloriously smooth and professional.
Sadly, if you’re prone to acne, this product could block your pores. And some people have been giving out about the jar it comes in (unhygienic, they say, and awkward) and are asking for a tube instead.
But me? I never buy a new jar of something I’ve just finished, even if I’ve loved it, because I’m like a skincare shark, always moving. But this time is different.
