I’ve been using hyaluronic acid products for a few years now to try and combat skin dehydration. I’ve tried a couple of different brands and gone through tube after tube, bottle after bottle.
Throughout this time, I never saw a noticeable difference in my skin although it felt good straight after application. I was convinced it must be doing something though. It’s one of the few products that has been proven to plump and hydrate the skin and I am forever hearing how it can ‘attract up to one thousand times its weight in water’.
I persevered with hyaluronic acid, even as my skin deteriorated last autumn and I developed an extremely dehydrated, flaky patch on my cheek. My skin had become ‘compromised’.
Then after becoming intrigued by The Ordinary, I read on the DECIEM website that the effectiveness of hyaluronic acid to penetrate the skin depends on the size of its molecules. The Ordinary’s offering has three different sizes of molecule but the site actually points customers to sister brand NIOD for a more advanced formulation. Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex (MMHC) has – count them- 12 different sizes of molecule as well as a precursors to hyaluronic acid.
“Many products have used HA to claim hydration benefits, but HA is too large of a molecule to penetrate the skin and instead sits on the surface and can draw moisture out of the skin making the surface feel soft and hydrated temporarily.” – The Ordinary website
Therefore when I visited the London DECIEM store with Val the Cookie Queen in mid-May I decided to go straight for the big guns and purchased the more expensive NIOD version (£25 for 15ml or £38 for 30ml).
I cracked open NIOD’s MMHC and applied a few drops after cleansing as instructed.
After one day there was a marked improvement, after two days the dryness was almost gone, after three days I was so happy to get my smooth skin back I can’t to tell you. I know it was the Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex that made the difference because I hadn’t changed anything else.
Hyaluronic acid had finally lived up to its hype and done the business.
Since then NIOD have released MMHC2 with an improved formula, which they are calling ‘the second generation’ of MMHC. I will be purchasing it as soon as my bottle runs out.
How have you got on with hyaluronic acid products? Do you recommend anything else from DECIEM brands?
A Bottled Rose 
Oh, I’ll need that, I think. I am using their advanced retinol at the moment, but canlt say whether it’s any better than other retinol products I’ve used. I am also intrigued by their hair product brand, might get some before I’m going on holiday.
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MMHC is the business, Sabine. I’ll be putting in an order for the new version when I get back from holiday.
I’m interested in The Ordinary’s 2% Retinolid but am currently using Paula’s Choice 1% Clinical Retinol. Uh-oh there’s a hair brand? Will have to investigate that too.
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This sounds amazing! I will have to give it a try – and I’ve never heard of the brand before.
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Ines, the DECIEM brands have some really great stuff. I love using this serum after spraying with NIOD’s Superoxide Dismutase Saccharide Mist,
I think the product I’m enjoying the most though is The Ordinary’s Marula Oil. It’s fabulous and a complete bargain.
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Same. Not much effect plus too many layers don’t work for me at all. Have quite a few years on you, I daresay. Finding that intermittent application of facial oils, especially jojoba, and a light mask now and then the most beneficial so far. Don’t laugh but a little Weleda skinfood once a week puts things right more often than not.
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No laughter here – I use Skinfood pretty regularly too. It’s great.
I’ve gotten into the habit of doing a facial massage with marula oil every night and I love it.
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I have tried some hyaluronic acid products before, but not in such a focused way. Will have to check out these products out the next time I am abroad. Thanks. R
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Their products really are a game changer.
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Hmm, all very interesting – I have been on the NIOD site and boned up on all the ingredients, including the wondrously described “hyaluronic support system of adaptogenic water-starved clary sage flavonoids”. Which begs the question of how effective those flavonoids would be if they were allowed to drink and bathe to their hearts’ content. I have The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid as you know, that offers the basic plumping / hydration action, but it seems like this one has all the big guns. For a while, Indeed’s Hydraluron was seen as the gold standard, and it costs the same too, albeit it’s £25 for the 30ml size. In its blurb it claims to have ‘pure hyaluronic acid’ but in the ingredients it is still only called this ‘sodium hydraluronate’, which is not the same as the pure acid according to NIOD. It is clearly a tricky field to navigate your way through, but on the face of it, face being the operative word, the NIOD people would appear to have cleaned up with their souper douper version!
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There is a lot of jargon and convoluted descriptions on the DECIEM website generally but even more so for NIOD. You are probably one of the few people who could make sense of it!
Indeed’s Hydraluron is one of those that did nothing for my skin after making it feel more comfortable on application. No lasting effects whatsoever. I haven’t tried The Ordinary’s version but know a lot of people like it. Now I’ve had such great success the NIOD though, I won’t be going elsewhere.
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So, I finally get around to commenting, but not before I had also investigated nad promptly bought some hyaluronic acid for my dry skin. In fact I’m off to the post to collect it now 😊 Thank you ( or not 😉) for the lemming.
I hope you’re enjoying your vacation, and am pleased that it gives me the chance to catch up with the comments. Xx
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Thanks so much for taking the time to catch up and comment!
If you ordered the NIOD version I’m sure it will give you some relief for your dry skin.
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I think I just ordered a ‘the ordinary’ one, I’ll report how it works.
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Great. Hope you notice a difference.
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