Niacinamide & Vitamin C: Can You Layer Them Together? Derms Explain

Ask any derm, esthetician, or beauty editor about their daily skin care routine, and chances are they'll name-drop niacinamide (aka vitamin B3) and vitamin C pretty early on in the conversation. They are the ultimate crowd-pleasers, after all: Each ingredient has an impressive résumé of benefits with—quite literally—glowing reviews. 

The short answer? Yes! As you likely noticed above, niacinamide actually carries similar benefits to vitamin C, anyway. The two ingredients can even complement each other, which is why you may find niacinamide and stable forms of vitamin C in the same skin-brightening product (our recommendations, below). 

Here's where things get hairy: Older research has shown that mixing vitamin C—specifically the unstable ascorbic acid—with niacinamide can convert it to the compound niacin, which can cause flushing (think blotchy, inflamed skin).

However, the science may be a bit overstated: It actually takes extremely high heat for the two ingredients to convert to niacin, which is unlikely to happen in skin care formulations. That older study used nonstabilized forms of both ingredients in a high-temperature environment—one that did not represent typical skin care products in development, manufacturing, or in real-world storage and usage.

If you're at all worried, though, many experts (including board-certified internist and holistic skin care expert Zion Ko Lamm, M.D., in a TikTok video) advise to proceed with caution when layering the two ingredients, especially if your skin is already sensitive to niacinamide itself. 

Since vitamin C is notoriously unstable, you always want to apply it on clean, dry skin. Then "Let vitamin C completely dry prior to placing niacinamide," says Lamm. That way, the ascorbic acid has a chance to settle into the skin, and there's a smaller chance of combining the two actives. Board-certified dermatologist Jennifer Herrmann, M.D., seconds the advice: "It takes a bit of time for products to absorb. The skin should appear dry before applying the next product," she once told us about layering serums. 

"One of niacinamide's greatest strengths is that it can play nice with everyone. Instead of dedicating a whole product step to a niacinamide serum, consider a chemist-favorite move and leave niacinamide to your moisturizer," cosmetic chemists Victoria Fu and Gloria Lu previously shared with mbg. 

Since niacinamide pairs so well with other ingredients (unlike vitamin C), you may be better off sticking to a pure vitamin C serum, then following up with a hydrating moisturizer that contains niacinamide—you won't have to worry about the niacinamide not doing its job since it's pretty stable overall.