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 As Blemish Concealer is a concealer, can it really be used at night? I am using Glycol 10 and would like to upgrade to Glycol 12 because I find that while Glycol 10 doesn't irritate my skin and is good at keeping pimples at bay, I want a stronger AHA product to target stubborn blackheads. Can I use Glycol 12 in the long run, not so much for lightening scars, but mostly to target blackheads and unclog oily skin? Can Glycol 12 smoothen pitted scars? Can you publish on this web site statistics supporting effectiveness of your products, like what the branded products do in their newspaper advertisements?
How
many % natural are Niks products?
Are Niks products preservative-free? Niks Vitamin C Nourishing Creme contains stearic acid, which is indicated as pore-clogging in a web site. Is that true? Does the creme aggravate acne-prone skin? I recently discovered that some of your products contain "petrolatum", "liquid paraffin" and "mineral oil". Aren't these substances that clog pores or even cause cancer? Which Niks mask is good for clearing clogged pores but is not too drying at the same time? Is Niks Ultrafine Cleansing Lotion suitable for acne-prone skin? Does Niks have any cream to treat spider veins on my nose? What is the strongest AHA product available in Niks Shop Salon? Which are the Niks maintenance products suitable for those with atopic eczema? What is the difference between the Niks Anhydrous C10 Cream and the Niks Quadri-enriched Revitalising Cream? Are they meant for long-term use?
Which
is more effective for acne scars: Niks Glycol 15
or
Is
there any Niks product that can help improve dark circle, fine
lines or I am currently using Niks Glycol 10. I recently discovered that there is a Niks Glycol 12 that is similar to Glycol 10. What is the difference between the two? How do I deal with pigmentation? As Blemish Concealer is a concealer, can it really be used at night? Blemish Concealer is both a concealer and a pimple treatment cream. It can be used primarily as a pimple treatment, or as a concealer/foundation. When used primarily as a pimple cream, it should be used day and night on the affected areas. When used primarily as a foundation/concealer, it should be used in the day only. It can also be used in the day as a foundation, and in the night as pimple treatment. For sure, Glycol 10 and Glycol 12 contain 10% and 12% glycolic acid respectively. To these two products, we have added a blend of herbal extracts known to mitigate the irritability of glycolic acid without compromising its efficacy. This is why these two products are far less irritating than other products that contain the same concentrations of glycolic acid. Like many of our cleansers, the citrus cleanser is soapless. It is not meant to lathe, but to cleanse without causing dryness. You just need to use 20 cent coin size of the cleanser, gently rub on the face and rinse gently. You should feel the skin smooth and soft without being tight. Both
Glycol 10 and 12 smoothen the skin and
improve scars and Glycol 12 is Such statistics are meaningless unless you know in sufficient detail how the "studies" producing the statistics were conducted. Recently, the British authorities, which are far more serious than Singapore in policing newspaper advertisements, banned a well-known advertisement by a top global brand because the statistics cited were not based on proper studies (see www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1107205/Banned-Estee-Lauder-ordered-pull-advert-wrinkle-cream-claims-proved-false.html). The newspapers are littered with many such similar advertisements everyday. The scientific and medical community has an agreed set of criteria as to what constitute a proper scientific/medical study. We only cite studies that meet such criteria, most of which are also published in reputable peer-reviewed journals. A set of such journal papers are available for reading at Niks Shop Salon. You have been a victim of one of those many commercially-motivated rumours circulating on the Internet and via emails. Parabens are absolutely safe when used within the approved concentrations (which, of course, we do). After receiving queries from consumers, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a detailed study in 2006 and concluded: "FDA believes that at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about the use of cosmetics containing parabens." (see www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-para.html for full FDA statement.) The European Union (EU) Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) investigated the allegation in depth in 2005 and concluded unanimously that parabens are safe within the approved concentrations (see ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/sccp_o_019.pdf for the full report.) Both the FDA and SCCP examined the several "studies" said to have proven parabens' harm and concluded that these are biased, ill-designed, inadequate or inconclusive. We are not a special fan of parabens, which are but one of a number of preservatives available for skin care products. Not all of our products contain parabens. We deploy preservatives based on considerations of chemical appropriateness, efficacy and cost-effectiveness, which point to the use of parabens in some products but not others. How many % natural are Niks products? The short answer is we don't know and don't care, because we are an honest supplier of serious skin care products not out to pull a fast one on consumers with false gimmicks. Why? First, there are no such things as "all-natural" cosmetic or skin care products. While most "natural" ingredients were first discovered and isolated from plant sources, they are no longer obtained from plants because it would be too expensive, apart from being cosmetically unappealing. Instead, versions that are molecularly identical (or almost identical) are chemically synthesised in factories. For example, allantoin, a "natural" ingredient, is no longer extracted from the root of the comfrey plant, but chemically derived from uric acid. Such synthetic allantion is "bioidentical" to that derived from plant, but is no less "chemical" than any "non-natural" ingredients. So "natural" ingredients do not mean ingredients that have never been chemically processed. At best, they mean ingredients whose molecular structures are identical (or almost identical) to some naturally occurring plants. But why are naturally occurring molecules necessarily safer or better than man-made ones? Is cocaine, a perfectly natural fruit, safe? Poison ivy is as "natural" as it can be but causes intense allergic contact dermatitis. On the other hand, man-made molecules (such as antibiotics) save millions of lives each day, not to mention giving comfort to millions who suffer from various skin conditions. The fact is there are good and bad "natural" ingredients, just as there are good and bad man-made ingredients. Whether an ingredient is good or bad for the skin depends on the interaction between its molecules and the skin, and the only way to establish this is proper laboratory testing. How the skin interacts with an ingredient is not pre-determined by whether the ingredient is naturally occurring or man-made . This is such commonsense to us that we are bewildered as to why so many consumers continue to be taken in by the ludicrous lie that "natural" or natural-sounding ingredients are necessarily superior to synthetic ones. Are Niks products preservative-free? The next time a sales person tells you that her products are preservative-free, ask her how then does she plan to keep her products free from harmful micro-organisms and oxidation? In the absence of preservatives, there are only two ways to ensure that your cream or serum does not come with microbes: either the product has a shelf life of not more than a few weeks, or it does not contain water (called anhydrous). It is basic science that cosmetic ingredients, in the presence of water, must attract micro-organisms within a few weeks, unless you add substances that inhibit such growth, ie preservatives. Some preservatives have other functions (eg anti-oxidant or fragrance), so some manufacturers conveniently call them by their other names. Some are natural ingredients (eg some clove extracts) and so not described as preservatives. Even denatured alcohol, at a sufficiently high concentration, can serve as preservative. But whether they are called preservatives or not, the fact remains that all skin care and cosmetic products are open to oxidation and microbe contamination (unless anhydrous). Some manufacturers use ingredients like tocopheryl acetate, retinyl palmitate or ascorbic acid as preservatives but misrepresent them as "anti-oxidants", even though such ingredients cannot possibly have any anti-oxidant effect at the concentrations used. Others use ingredients like phenoxyethanol as preservatives but hide them under "fragrances" as they do have a nice smell. Still others replace common preservatives with more exotic ones and go on to demand higher prices for being "preservative-free". We take a pragmatic approach and use preservatives appropriate to and cost-effective for the product at hand. All the preservatives we use are safe at the concentrations used (based on available peer-reviewed research) and we do not misrepresent them as something else or hide them under other categories. We shall take this opportunity to address those so-called "lists of pore-clogging ingredients". We never fail to be amused by such lists, which never state the concentrations beyond which those ingredients are supposed to clog pores. Even carcinogens are only carcinogenic beyond certain threshold concentrations. They also never state whether a supposedly offending ingredient will still clog pores when used alongside other ingredients, as they do in the real world. For instance, if stearic acid is supposed to clog pores, then at what concentrations? 0.01%? 0.1%? 1%? Or 100%? And what happens when stearic acid is mixed with other ingredients, as they must in order to form a product? We won't be surprised if you get a breakout after applying pure stearic acid (or any of those listed ingredients) on your face. But who would do that in real life? So it is meaningless to talk about "pore-clogging ingredients", because whether an ingredient in a product will clog pores or not depends on its concentration in that product as well as the other co-ingredients in the product. These factors, of course, vary from product to product. So there is no such thing as a pore-clogging ingredient, only a pore-clogging product. For us, all our products, including Vitamin C Nourishing Creme, are tested to be non-comedogenic. Some years ago, there was an email hoax claiming that Sodium Laureth Sulfate was carcinogenic. The hoax was quite quickly put down by the health authorities, but from time to time rumours continue to surface that the poor substance is just somehow bad for the skin. It is true that Sodium Laureth Sulfate is potentially irritating to the skin at a sufficiently high concentration. But few skin care products, if any, deploy the ingredient at those concentrations. Sodium Laureth Sulfate plays a useful role in pore-unclogging products and we use it in two of our products for acne-prone skin, in concentrations way below the irritation thresholds. The three refer to a group of similar products. Companies out to promote their own products did circulate the lie that mineral oil clogs pores or causes cancer, but no dermatologist has ever believed it. This lie was laid to rest conclusively in a comprehensive study by Dr Joseph DiNardo, which was published in the January 2005 issue of the prestigious Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Dr DiNardo found that while industrial grade mineral oil may be comedogenic, cosmetic grade mineral oil is not, and so consumers searching for effective skin care products need not look for those claiming to be “mineral oil free”. To date, no dermatologist has disagreed with Dr DiNardo's findings. The lie that mineral oil can cause cancer is even more ridiculous. If you look at the official web sites of the national consumer watchdogs of major advanced countries, you will find advisories debunking this absurd myth. The fact is that cosmetic grade mineral oil is actually one of the most cost-effective moisturizers available in the market. "Pore minimising" is cosmetic, not medical, language. Skin pores are part of human anatomy, which serve to secret oil to protect the skin and prevent aging. Their size varies with the individual, age, skin type, weather and hormonal cycle. Medically speaking, no skin care product, however expensive or branded, can measurably reduce pore size. Niks Camphor Pore Minimising Mask can improve the appearance of pore size due to its anti-septic, anti-inflammatory, soothing and regenerative effect. It purifies and "absorbs" excess oil secretion and makes the pores look smaller. Which Niks mask is good for clearing clogged pores but is not too drying at the same time? Camphor Pore Minimizing Masque, Special Clay Mask and Zinc & Sulfur Mask are three suitable Niks masks. All are not over-drying. However, you need maintenance products to sustain clearer skin. These could be Clear & Refining Toner, Anti-Blemish Serum, Ace Beta Renewing Cream, Vitamin C Serum or Acne Lotion. The short answer is quite a number of products recommended by The Skin Cancer Foundation of the United States actually contain these ingredients! The official answer is these ingredients are approved for use by both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US and the European Commission, not to mention Singapore's Health Sciences Authority. Out of curiosity, we did a quick search on the internet and found that almost all of the sites that claim that these ingredients may cause cancer are out to promote so-called "natural" or "organic" products. The basis of their foolish claim is merely that these ingredients have something to do with silicone. The internet is a wonderful medium, but is also unregulated and unverified. We urge you to ask a few questions when surfing for skin care information. Is the web site independent, or out to sell or promote something? Does the site cite any evidence published in a reputable, peer-reviewed medical journal? Is the site sponsored by some commercial entities? Has the information been checked against other independent sites (not sites that look similar or cross-linked) or written sources? Many unscrupulous companies spread lies on the Internet in order to advance their own commercial interests. Niks Aroma Acne Clear Gel soothes and calms inflammation from acne. Niks Anti-Blemish Serum combines AHA, BHA, anti-oxidants and multi-vitamins to exfoliate, lighten scars and smoothen and nourish the skin. If you wish to control inflammation and clear clogged pores at the same time, then use Aroma Acne Clear Gel in the day and Anti-Blemish Serum at night. Is Niks Ultrafine Cleansing Lotion suitable for acne-prone skin? Niks Ultrafine Cleansing Lotion is made from pure plant extracts and is generally suitable for all skin types. However, in the case of acne-prone skin that is not under treatment or control and is oily, the lotion's light milky texture may not appeal. But if the acne-prone skin is dry due to treatment, then the lotion will feel very comfortable. If the skin's acne is not under control and it feels oily most of the time, then Niks Marine Facial Cleanser or Niks Refreshing Sebum Cleanser would be a better choice. Niks Clear & Refining Toner contains low concentrations of AHA and BHA for smoothening and oil control action, while Niks Vita C Brightening Spray helps brighten the skin, fight free radicals and strengthen collagen. If you wish to have the best of both products, you can apply the former in the day and the latter at night. Niks Seawater Hydrating Mist contains marine algae with rich minerals to hydrate and refresh tired skin. It is excellent for daily use or as and when you need extra hydration, like after exercise, during air travel or outdoor activity. It is suitable for all skin types. Does Niks have any cream to treat spider veins on my nose? If the veins are very small, Vitamin K Cream twice a day and Vitamin C Nourishing Cream twice a day may improve the veins over a few months. If the veins are larger, laser procedures would probably be required. Meanwhile, if you need to cover up your veins, Niks Shop Salon stocks a wide range of camouflage cosmetics to help you achieve flawless coverage. What is the strongest AHA product available in Niks Shop Salon? Niks Glycol 12 at 12% AHA is for oily skin and Niks Glycol 15 at 15% AHA is for mature skin. Both are not suitable for sensitive skin or dry skin. Niks Shop Salon does not stock products with AHA higher than 15% as we believe that such products are best used with the advice of a physician. Which are the Niks maintenance products suitable for those with atopic eczema? Niks Skin Repair Cream is suitable for the face while Niks Anti-itch Oatmeal Moisturizing Cream is suitable for the body. Use of Niks Aroma Shower & Bath Oil for shower or bath offers particularly comforting relief. What is the difference between the Niks Anhydrous C10 Cream and the Niks Quadri-enriched Revitalising Cream? Are they meant for long-term use? The Niks Quadri-enriched Revitalising Cream is suitable for all skin types and age groups for anti-aging and firming. The Niks Anhydrous C10 Cream, which offers stable delivery of L-ascorbic acid through a waterless base, is also aimed at anti-aging and firming. L-ascorbic acid also helps in collagen building, improves uneven skin tone, increases sun protection, reduces wrinkles and helps in healing of new scars. But the C-Quench is slightly acidic and those with sensitive skin may feel slightly tingling at the beginning. Although this is harmless and their skin will get used to it when texture improves, some may prefer the Quadri-enriched. Both creams are excellent for long-term use. The longer they are used, the better the results, especially if users are also undergoing low-grade glycolic peel regularly. The mature and middle-age skin will benefit the most. An ideal routine is to use C-Quench in the day followed by Niks Gentle Sun Protect SPF 48, and the Quadri-enriched at night. Some of the Niks products that target blackheads are:
The variety of products cater to different degrees of severity. We suggest that you speak to our sales consultants at Niks Shop Salon, who will be able to help you choose products suitable for your condition.
AHA stands for
alpha-hydroxy acid and is a group of organic carboxylic acids derived
from different fruit acids, comprising glycolic acid (from fermented
milk), citric acid (from citrus fruits), malic acid (from unripened
apples), mandelic acid (from bitter almonds) and tartaric acid (from
fermented grapes). Other than concentration, the effectiveness of glycolic acid in treating scars also depends on scar type, acidity of the product, form of the glycolic acid (neutralized or not, esterified or not) and skin tolerance. We invite you to consult our sales consultants in Niks Shop Salon to select the products that suit you best.
Which is more effective for acne scars: Niks Glycol 15
or This depends on your skin texture. For thinner skin, Niks Glycol 12 is better. For oilier and thicker skin, Niks Glycol 15 is better.
Is there any Niks product that can help improve dark circle, fine lines
or Niks Anhydrous K Serum contains high concentrations of vitamin K1 and retinol in a stabilised waterless base and is best suited for dark circle, eye bags and fine lines. Niks Golden Wrinkle Drops contains retinol and ceramides with a moisturizing base and is ideal for fine lines and dehydrated lower eye bag, and can be combined with Niks Vitamin K Cream to tackle dark circle. Niks Vitamin A Eye Gel, which contains retinyl palmitate in a gel base, is suitable for normal or oily skin with fine lines, eye bag or dark eye circle. Niks Glycol 10 provides a milder form of AHA, which is excellent for smoothening and brightening the skin. It is suitable for all skin types except eczema skin. Niks Glycol 12 provides a stronger form of AHA suitable for oilier skin. It is aimed at scar and marks treatment. Which Niks products are effective for treating scars?
I am currently using Niks Glycol 12, Niks Citrus Cleansing Lotion and Niks Aroma Acne Clear Gel. I am experiencing tiny bumps over my cheeks area, which I have not experienced before. Does use of the above products cause outbreaks of tiny bumps on the face before the acne can be completely healed? Is the AHA or tretinoin forcing clogged pimples to surface first before they can be completely healed? If you had had comedomes on your checks before, the products you use will cause the comedomes to be extruded and surface slowly. This may happen for 6-8 weeks. If, in addition to what you have described, you also have signs of dryness and itchiness, then the breakout could be due to over-exfoliation. In that case, you should stop the AHA and tretinoin temporarily. After the itch has disappeared, you can resume less frequent use of the AHA and tretinoin products, eg on alternate days instead of daily. You should also use moisturizer and sunscreen to protect your skin. If the problem persists, please visit Niks Shop Salon to consult our Sales Consultants or consult your doctor.Niks Vitamin C Serum contains 8% pure L-ascorbic acid with a mixture of other Vitamin C ingredients. It also contains low concentration of BHA for the purpose of oil control. Owing to the combination of ingredients, it does not behave like ordinary BHA products and does not cause drying and flaking. It is recommended for acne-prone skin and you need not worry about the BHA in this moisture-rich serum. Some of the other Niks Vitamin C products are:
How do I deal with pigmentation? To deal with pigmentation, it is mandatory to use sunblock everyday everywhere, indoors or outdoors. Otherwise, sunlight will render whatever whitening creams you apply ineffective. The following substances (in descending potency) have proven whitening effects through inhibiting the production of melanin:
It has been established that combinations of these substances increase whitening effectiveness without increasing skin irritation. We have a wide range of such combination creams to combat pigmentation of different skin types and ages. If you are suffering from any of the following:
You should, in your choice of skin care products,
The following ingredients, though serving specific purposes on other skin types, may cause irritation in sensitive skin:
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