Fall and winter are my absolute favorite seasons of the year, not only for the Holidays associated with them but also because of the cozy, bundling up element of it all. With that being said there are the not so fabulous results of all the cold and coziness: dry, parched and flaky skin! Generally my skin exhibits some element of dryness throughout the year and it’s not consigned to my face alone; it’s a head down to my toes sort of thing. Because of this I seem to be in a perpetual search of different moisturizers, creams, lotions and lip balms to help treat my various afflicted areas. In one such search I came across Olay Total Effects Body Lotion (13.5 oz, $7.99 but varies) which contains niacinamide and since I’m in a huge anti-aging kick I thought I’d give it a go. Normally I’m a bit hesitant on purchasing scented body lotions because I like to wear perfume and don’t want the scents competing but I did find this particular fragrance pleasing; it has a subtly warm scent that lingers for less than 20 minutes.
Niacinamide or vitamin B3 is a skin care ingredients that has been shown to improve the appearance of redness, uneven skin tone, fine lines/wrinkles, sallowness and texture. The study I came across with those findings is based on a 5% concentration of niacinamide and while I don’t know the exact percentage in the Olay lotion I can say that I do think it’s a fair amount since it shows up as the third ingredient on the list right after water and glycerin respectively.
I definitely have to say that I do enjoy this lotion a lot, the fragrance is warm, the texture is substantial (midway between a lotion and a cream, not watery or too thick by any means), and it absorbs easily enough while still leaving skin nicely moisturized. I’ve been using this lotion for a good 3 weeks and while I can’t say much about its anti-aging elements yet, I can say that the dryness and overall texture of my skin has improved tremendously, especially on my heels and feet. For those reasons alone I think that this lotion is a keeper for me and a definite repurchase.
Final Beauty For Us All Rating: A
Topical niacinamide reduces yellowing, wrin... [Int J Cosmet Sci. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI. (n.d.). National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18492135
Full Disclosure: All products in this post were purchased by me for review purposes only, for any questions or concerns regarding this matter please refer to my Disclaimer/Disclosure page.
