The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Review

Who it is for

It is the best budget pick in our niacinamide guide. Here is who it suits:

The version we reviewed

Some lists online are years old: one retailer still prints the 10-ingredient list from before December 2017. This review covers the serum sold in the US today, and every ingredient fact below comes from its current US list.

The Ordinary Niacinamide ingredients: the full list, mapped

The full list, in the brand’s order: Aqua (Water), Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Zinc PCA, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum, Xanthan Gum, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.

Two numbers in the name, and the list backs both up: niacinamide is 2nd of 11, after water, and zinc PCA is 4th. Below, each ingredient in the order it is printed, colored by what it does. New to reading a list? Start with our guide to reading an ingredients list.

Two gums, and why it can pill

Tamarind seed gum, 6th, and xanthan gum, 7th, give the water its slightly slippery body. A L’Oréal patent on pilling says it is often tied to high amounts of thickeners (US 2023/0046148); the label cannot show whether these two are high. In a Clarins-funded study of 528 women, 41% had pilling at some point, most of it after sunscreen, and rubbing in circles or lines caused the most (Lua, 2024). The brand puts pilling down to using too much or layering in the wrong order: 2 to 3 drops cover the face and neck, it says (The Ordinary).

Solvents, not drying alcohol

Pentylene glycol, 3rd, dimethyl isosorbide, 5th, and ethoxydiglycol, 9th, dissolve and carry the rest, and isoceteth-20, 8th, helps keep them mixed. None is the drying alcohol a US label means by “alcohol”, which is ethanol (FDA), and the list has none. Ethoxydiglycol is diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, a solvent widely used to help other ingredients into the skin (Hashemzadeh and Jouyban, 2022). The EU allows it up to 2.6% in leave-on products and not in eye products (CosIng); here it comes after the 1% zinc PCA, so it is at about 1% or less.

What “Zinc 1%” means: about 0.2% zinc

The 1% is zinc PCA, as the brand’s own graphics and its Amazon listing say, not 1% zinc. Zinc PCA is zinc bound to PCA, a moisturizing factor found in skin. Its formula is C10H12N2O6Zn and it weighs 321.6 grams per mole (PubChem), of which zinc is 65.4, about a fifth. So 1% zinc PCA puts about 0.2% zinc in the bottle. The EU caps zinc salts like this one at 1% counted as zinc (CosIng); this serum is at about a fifth of that.

The brand says zinc PCA balances excess oil and helps deliver the niacinamide into the skin (The Ordinary). We found no published test of either claim, and no human trial of zinc PCA alone on oil or acne. Plain zinc sulfate on the skin did no better than placebo for acne over 12 weeks and irritated more (Cochran, 1985). Zinc on the skin has done better as zinc acetate, alone or mixed with the antibiotic erythromycin (Gupta, 2014). The one trial we found of a cream with niacinamide, zinc PCA and antibacterial agents, used with adapalene, helped only at week 2 and only for blackheads and whiteheads; an Indonesian drug company, P.T. Transfarma Medica Indah, funded it (Sitohang, 2020).

Has The Ordinary Niacinamide changed? Once on the brand’s page, in 2017

We opened the brand’s page as archived from February 2017 to October 2026. The list changed once:

• Dimethyl isosorbide joined in late 2017. The page listed 10 ingredients on November 16, 2017 (archived page) and today’s 11 on December 2, 2017 (archived page), with dimethyl isosorbide, a solvent, added 5th. The same 11, in the same order, are in every copy we opened since.
• Before that, carrageenan. Lab Muffin, a chemist’s blog, wrote in April 2017 that an older version “contained carrageenan and hydrogenated castor oil”, which some people blamed for trouble layering it and for clogged pores (Lab Muffin). We found no archived brand page from 2016 to check it against.
• The pH moved. “5.50-6.50” until November 2020, “5.00-6.50” from December 2020 (November, December), the same list both times.
• The acne note left in 2024. From 2017 the page carried a note that niacinamide and zinc PCA are not a treatment for acne, and in 2017 it pointed people with persistent acne to benzoyl peroxide or retinoic acid (February 2017). The note was on the page on November 10, 2024 and gone by November 30 (before, after).
• New names, same bottle. The bottle still says “High-Strength Vitamin and Mineral Blemish Formula”. The website has called it “a universal serum for blemish-prone skin” since 2022 (archived page) and, in its page title since spring 2026, an “Oil Control Serum” (The Ordinary); Amazon calls it a “Smoothing Serum” (Amazon).

Under all that, the list has held for almost nine years. The brand’s page warns that its list “may vary from the box of the product depending on time and region of purchase” (The Ordinary). We found no photo of the printed list on a US box to compare, so check yours against the list above.

What The Ordinary claims, and what backs it

The brand’s page says the serum reduces excess oil in 3 days, improves smoothness and hydration within 7 days and reduces pore visibility in 4 weeks, “based on a clinical study of 35 subjects applying the product twice daily for 8 weeks” (The Ordinary). Three things about that:

• Two different head counts. The before-and-after photo on the same page, and on Amazon, says “33 panellists” (The Ordinary, Amazon). It may be the same test with two dropouts, or two tests; the brand does not say.
• Footnotes that lead nowhere. A newer graphic on the brand’s page claims smoother texture in 1 week, “with best results after 6 weeks”, and that it “Improves Skin Radiance by 46%”, with footnotes 2 to 4 that we could not find defined anywhere on the page.
• No published report. We found no report of this test in PubMed, Europe PMC or ClinicalTrials.gov, under DECIEM or Estée Lauder. Its “non-comedogenic” claim, in the FAQ on its product page since June 2025, is footnoted to the same 35-subject study.

A brand’s own use test is not nothing, but it cannot be checked: we do not know who ran it, what was measured, or how the results compared with doing nothing.

Does The Ordinary Niacinamide work? What the studies show

We found no published trial of this serum. What exists is evidence for niacinamide, almost all of it at lower strengths:

• Oil. A 2% niacinamide moisturizer lowered sebum production over 4 weeks in a Japanese study, and lowered the oil on the skin over 6 weeks in a smaller US one (Draelos, 2006).
• Dark spots and aging, from Procter & Gamble. Its scientists found 5% niacinamide faded dark spots within 4 weeks (Hakozaki, 2002), and over 12 weeks improved fine lines, spots, red blotchiness and sallowness in 50 women (Bissett, 2004). In a Mexican trial, 4% niacinamide gave good to excellent improvement in melasma in 44% of patients, against 55% with 4% hydroquinone, with fewer side effects (Navarrete-Solís, 2011).
• Acne. 4% niacinamide gel did about as well as 1% clindamycin gel over 8 weeks: 82% improved against 68%, a difference that could be chance, in a trial partly supported by Genderm (Shalita, 1995; Cochrane), and similar results came from Iran (Khodaeiani, 2013). Even so, the AAD’s 2024 acne guideline found the evidence “insufficient to develop a recommendation” on topical niacinamide or zinc (Reynolds, 2024).
• What dermatologists agree on. In a 2025 survey of 62 cosmetic dermatologists, niacinamide reached agreement for redness and dark spots, not for acne, large pores or oily skin (Alvarez, 2025). The AAD lists niacinamide among mask ingredients “to help reduce shiny skin and acne” (AAD).
• At 10%, no clean test. Every 10% niacinamide trial we found added other actives, such as a vitamin C and hyaluronic acid against hydroquinone for melasma (Barbosa, 2024), or compared two forms of niacinamide with no placebo: a 10% film that sticks to the skin against a niacinamide gel, for acne (Nasr, 2018). The acne trials of niacinamide gel that a Cochrane review found used 4% or 5% (Cochrane).

Bottom line: niacinamide has fair evidence for oil, dark spots and red blotchiness at 2% to 5%. We found no trial of this serum, no trial of zinc PCA alone and no trial showing 10% does better than 5%.

Is 10% niacinamide too strong?

It is double the strength of the trials we found that tested niacinamide alone against a placebo or another treatment, and for some skin it seems to be too much. The evidence:

• Short tests found it mild. The US Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel found no unacceptable stinging from niacinamide in water at up to 10%, in one Unilever test, and no irritation up to 5% in use tests (CIR, 2005). It reviewed products with at most 3%, and its database lists no later review of niacinamide.
• In one 10% trial, itching was common. In a cream with 10% niacinamide, a vitamin C and hyaluronic acid used twice a day, 29% had mild itching for a few minutes after applying at day 14, and 13% had mild acne by day 60; all of it went away on its own (Barbosa, 2024).
• The brand changed its line. From at least October 2024 its blog called the 5% emulsion “milder, especially for those with sensitive skin” (archived blog). The May 2026 rewrite says “Our safety testing shows that 10% niacinamide is suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin”, while suggesting 1 to 2 days a week to start (The Ordinary).
• Not the niacin flush. Niacinamide is not niacin, the vitamin whose flush is well known, and a 2021 review says it does not cause that flush (Boo, 2021). Some people on Reddit still report flushing after this serum; we found no study that explains it.

If your skin is reactive, start with a 5% serum, or use this one every other day and build up.

Can you use The Ordinary Niacinamide with vitamin C?

The brand says no: use them in “separate routines”, because combining them “may decrease effectiveness”, and its page lists both direct and indirect vitamin C under “Do not use with” (The Ordinary). Paula’s Choice says the opposite and puts 2% ascorbyl glucoside, a vitamin C, in its own niacinamide booster (Paula’s Choice). What the evidence shows:

• In water, in a lab, they react. Niacinamide and ascorbic acid form a yellow complex at once in water (Guttman and Brooke, 1963), and niacinamide turns into niacin when heated, studied at about 89 °C (Finholt and Higuchi, 1962).
• On skin, we found no test of the rule. We found no clinical study showing worse results when the two are used together. In 2020, DECIEM’s chief scientific officer called the rule “a conservative approach”: the reaction can be reversed in a beaker, the officer said, but on the skin the two “could antagonize each other”, and agreed that few biological studies exist (Lab Muffin interview).

So the rule rests on caution, but following it costs nothing: niacinamide in the morning, vitamin C at night, or the other way round. Our vitamin C serum guide has the picks.

The Ordinary vs Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster

The two state the same 10%, listed 2nd on both, and the lists part ways from there:

The Ordinary and Paula’s Choice, label against label

Label fact	The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%	Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster
Stated strength	10% niacinamide, 1% zinc PCA	10% niacinamide
Ingredients	11	27
Niacinamide on the list	2nd of 11	2nd of 27
Zinc	Zinc PCA, 4th of 11	None listed
Vitamin C	None listed	Ascorbyl glucoside, 4th of 27; the brand says 2%
Ingredients the brand calls soothing	None named	Allantoin, boerhavia diffusa root, licorice extract
What the brand says about vitamin C	Keep it away from vitamin C: “separate routines”	Use them together: it contains a vitamin C
How the brand says to use it	Apply “a few drops to the face in the morning and evening”	A few drops alone, or mixed into “any non-SPF product”
Added fragrance	None listed	None listed
Where to buy	Check price at Amazon: The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (paid link, opens in a new tab)	Check price at Amazon: Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster (paid link, opens in a new tab)

A place on one list cannot be compared with a place on the other as an amount. Both lists are read from the brands’ US sites (The Ordinary, Paula’s Choice). We found no trial that compares them.

Which should you buy? On a budget, or for oily skin, The Ordinary. For dark spots or mixing into a moisturizer, Paula’s Choice, the best overall pick in our guide.

The Ordinary vs Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2%

Naturium sells the stronger version of the same idea: more niacinamide, twice the zinc PCA.

The Ordinary and Naturium, label against label

Label fact	The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%	Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2%
Stated strength	10% niacinamide, 1% zinc PCA	12% niacinamide, 2% zinc PCA
About how much zinc that is	0.2%	0.4%
Ingredients	11	16
Zinc PCA on the list	4th of 11	5th of 16
Glycerin, hyaluronic acid, dimethicone	None listed	All three listed
How the brand says to use it	Apply “a few drops to the face in the morning and evening”	Shake well; face, neck and chest, “morning and night”, then moisturizer
Added fragrance	None listed	None listed
Where to buy	Check price at Amazon: The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (paid link, opens in a new tab)	Check price at Amazon: Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2% (paid link, opens in a new tab)

Naturium states its strengths as 12% niacinamide and 2% zinc PCA (Naturium), which works out to about 0.4% zinc. We found no trial testing either strength against a lower one, and no trial of either serum.

Which should you buy? If you want the simplest, cheapest list, The Ordinary. If you want glycerin and hyaluronic acid in the same step, Naturium, our pick for oily skin. If 10% already stings, a stronger serum is unlikely to sting less.

What the label can’t tell you

• How much of the rest there is. The brand states only the 10% and the 1%. The solvents, gums and preservatives after the zinc PCA are at about 1% or less each, but not exactly how much.
• What the brand’s test found. Who ran it, on whom, against what, and whether it was 35 people or 33.
• Whether your box matches the site. The brand says the two can differ, and we found no photo of a US box’s printed list.
• How it will feel on your skin. We did not test it on skin. What people who used it say is below.

The Ordinary Niacinamide reviews on Reddit

We read all 486 archived comments in 8 Reddit threads about this serum, from 2016 to 2026, and scored the 123 commenters who said they had used it, once each. Some threads were picked for titles that praised or blamed it, so the counts show what people raise, not how often it happens. Opinions are not evidence, but they show what to expect:

• More yes than no, but plenty of no. Of 113 who gave a verdict, 63 said it worked, 10 were mixed and 40 said it did not or stopped. 24 of the yes votes named no result or only said it caused no problems. One r/SkincareAddiction user wrote “now i can go a full 8 hours without blotting!” (2017 thread); another, in r/IndianSkincareAddicts, “I used this for 2 months. Legit felt like waste of money lol” (2022 thread).
• Breakouts top the complaints. 24 commenters said it broke them out, 15 of them among the no votes. One wrote that it “broke me out bad which took over 3 months to recover from. Definitely not a purge.” (2022 thread). 2 said it purged, then cleared.
• Irritation is next. 19 described redness, burning, itching, tingling or flushing: “I’ll always have that tingly itchy sensation for the first few minutes” (2026 thread). 4 said a 2% to 5% product suited them better, and 10 coped by mixing it into moisturizer, using fewer drops or using it less often, 6 of them happily.
• The good reports. 14 said they had fewer or faster-healing pimples, 11 smaller-looking pores, 8 less oil and 8 faded marks: “It’s faded my PIE and made my pores look smaller” (2018 thread).
• Pilling and dryness. 8 mentioned pilling, one under makeup: “It pills and looks like my skin is flaking off, but it’s the serum” (2016 thread). 9 said it left skin dry or tight.
• Time to results. Reports ranged from overnight to “after like 2-3 months” (2026 thread), and 12 saw no effect at all.

How to use The Ordinary Niacinamide

1. Patch test first, as the label advises: a little on the upper forearm for a day.
2. A few drops, morning and evening, after cleansing. The brand says 2 to 3 drops cover the face and neck (The Ordinary).
3. Sensitive skin: start 1 to 2 days a week and build up, as the brand suggests.
4. Before creams and oils. It is water-based, so it goes on before heavier moisturizers; in the morning, sunscreen last. Our skincare order guide has the full routine.
5. Spread it lightly and let it dry before the next layer, to cut pilling.
6. Vitamin C in the other routine, if you follow the brand.
7. Not on broken skin or around the eyes. If it irritates, rinse it off and stop, as the label says.

Alternatives worth a look

• 

  Good Molecules 5% Niacinamide Serum with Ectoin

  For sensitive skin: half the niacinamide, 14 ingredients with ectoin. Our pick for sensitive skin.

  Check price at Amazon: Good Molecules 5% Niacinamide Serum with Ectoin (paid link, opens in a new tab)
• 

  Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster

  The same 10%, with a vitamin C and extras the brand calls soothing, and made to mix into moisturizer. See the comparison above.

  Check price at Amazon: Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster (paid link, opens in a new tab)
• 

  Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2%

  Stronger: 12% niacinamide and 2% zinc PCA, with glycerin and hyaluronic acid. See the comparison above.

  Check price at Amazon: Naturium Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2% (paid link, opens in a new tab)
• 

  Good Molecules Niacinamide Serum

  Another 10%, without zinc: 10 ingredients, with glycerin and betaine.

  Check price at Amazon: Good Molecules Niacinamide Serum (paid link, opens in a new tab)

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