15 Best Niacinamide Serums and Creams of 2024 for Glowing Skin, Tested & Reviewed

Editor Tip: After you rinse it off, you can apply an overnight mask before heading to bed.

Key Ingredients: Niacinamide, turmeric, glycolic acid | Fragrance-Free: Yes

Best Budget: The Inkey List Niacinamide Oil Control Serum

Why We Love It: Niacinamide wears many hats, but for The Inkey List’s Niacinamide Serum, its favorite use for the ingredient is oil control. This straightforwardly named serum contains 10% niacinamide—an especially effective level, according to Dr. Allenby—which helps prevent breakouts, as well as the redness often associated with them. Incredibly lightweight and nonsticky, it’s also made with 1% hyaluronic acid to boost your skin’s moisture levels.

Editor Tip: You can mix and match this with other serums for added benefits, like vitamin C serums or salicylic acid serums.

Key Ingredients: Niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, allantoin | Fragrance-Free: Yes

Frequently Asked Questions

What does niacinamide do?

Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 with a wide range of benefits, including supporting the skin barrier and minimizing the look of fine lines. “Niacinamide works with your skin’s natural chemistry to improve overall skin texture by rebuilding a lipid layer, minimizing the appearance of pores, and preventing UV damage and inflammation as an antioxidant,” Seattle-based board-certified dermatologist Brandith Irwin, MD, previously told Allure.

Niacinamide is also believed to reduce redness, discoloration, and even acne, according to New York City board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD. “In topical forms, it has been shown to reduce sebum production,” she previously told Allure, noting that it’s quite gentle on the skin.

Meet the experts

How we test and review products

When Allure tests a product, our editors look at it from every angle in an effort to best serve you. We review ingredients, scrutinize brand claims, and, when necessary, examine peer-reviewed scientific and medical studies. In addition to testing each and every product that’s included in each and every review, we rely on experts who shape their fields, including dermatology, cosmetic chemistry, and medicine, to help us vet the ingredients and formulas.

For our list of the best niacinamide serums and creams, we considered each product’s performance across five primary categories: product ingredients and efficacy, packaging, fragrance, texture, and product wear. Every product was determined to have excelled in each category by our editorial team, which is composed of in-house writers and editors as well as contributors—along with special consideration from board-certified dermatologists. To learn more information on our reporting and testing processes, read our complete reviews process and methodology page.

Our staff and testers

A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.