NIOD Skincare

Where I got it: I got this on the Deciem website during the Black Friday sale. This bundle is valued at USD$131.00 and was on sale for USD$50.00. It was an amazing deal of up to 62% off! I ordered this on 27/11 and it arrived on 1/12. Despite all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, they managed to get me package from Australia to New Zealand within 5 days! I am quite impressed. I have tried one NIOD product before but it was the Photography Fluid which is more of a makeup product than skincare.

What I got: The Black Friday sale bundle included a 90ml tube of the Sanskrit Saponins cleanser, 50ml bottle of Myrrh Clay masque, and a 90ml tube of Mastic Must masque. NIOD stands for Non-Invasive Options in Dermal science. NIOD is the next-generation beauty brand to improve not just the health but also the integrity of your skin. The products are based on scientifically proven results and use the latest of skin technologies to fulfil all the needs of your skin, leaving it looking fresh and radiant throughout the day.

How I find it:

Sanskrit Saponins (USD$34.0 for 90ml). SS is a viscous and intense cleaning balm for the face formulated with highly concentrated, very-unrefined Ayurvedic plant surfactants unsupported by any modern cleaning technology. SS contains no purified or synthetic surfactants, sulphates, oils, esters or micellar technologies. It is a pH-balanced suspension of the amino acid, Lysine, in saponins from the Ayurvedic plants shikakai and sapindus mukorossi.
SS is a cleaning balm that concentrates Ayurvedic saponins. They’re unrefined and messy. They borrow their colour and smell from a place far away from today’s madding crowd of refinement. But their near-perfect equilibrium between deep cleaning and respecting skin integrity is evidence that — somehow, somewhere — they connected to humankind. With continued use, SS visibly targets all forms of build-up, blemishes, congestion and impurities. It is suitable for all skin types. After the first use, SS leaves the skin looking nearly pore-free and its surface exceptionally cleaned — as if it’s radiating from within.

Notes:

1. While SS is pH-balanced, plant saponins (and plants in general) can mildly irritate the eyes. While this sensitivity can be avoided by keeping your eyes closed during cleaning, if you develop any mild sensitivity around the eyes, it will disappear within a few minutes.

2. Within the first few minutes after using SS, you may feel that your skin feels mildly dry. This temporary feeling is a direct result of SS having removed skin oils gently to encourage recycling of these oils. This feeling is very short-lived and, within a few minutes, you’ll notice your skin returns to normal.

3. For committed users of SS, the product can be applied for a deeper cleaning treatment as follows: Remove any makeup. Clean the skin with water and dry with a towel. Wet the palms of your hand. Massage a generous amount of SS into your palms until a mild lather forms like a paste. Apply to dry skin, avoiding the eye areas entirely. Leave on for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with your eyes closed. Dry with a towel.

This is a very interesting cleanser. The metal tube has a plastic lid that you use to invert and pierce the metal seal. The cleanser looks quite unusual – it has a slimey outlook with some bubbles in it. It is not as viscous as I expect it to be but once it is mixed in with water and rubbed between my palms, the cleanser becomes slightly paste-like. I need at least the amount shown above for my entire face if not a little bit more to ensure a nice paste-like texture. It smells nutty and plant-like, almost edible. It is weirdly pleasant and unlike anything else I’ve ever tried. Cleanses effectively but does not leave my skin too dry or leave any sticky residue on the skin.

Mastic Must (USD$52.00 for 90ml). MM is a transparent masque for efficient, yet innocuous, cleaning and visible refinement of pores and impurities, resulting in immediate and maintainable visible reduction in both the number and the size of pores. (Note: It is not possible to modify the genetically-determined number or size of pores as apparent in optimal skin condition. However, pores do become more apparent in number and size with ageing and environmental exposure. MM works to restore the appearance of pores to an ideal state, within individual genetic limits.)

In line with yešti’s commitment to traditional approaches to science, MM uses a highly-densified sap from Greek mastic trees. It is a dense gum that binds to congestion like gum would but it doesn’t bind to oil or water just like gum wouldn’t. It purifies and shrinks the look of pores without drying. The sap is a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It’s definitely Greek in every way but borrowed by Middle Eastern medicine and called Arabic Gum which should not be confused with the very common substance known as Gum Arabic. The sap in MM is sustainably sourced and is purified in a very precise bio-technology lab with extremely high purity.

Apply a generous amount of this translucent masque to clean face in the AM. Leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water. Do not use a cleaner after rinsing. This formulation uses highly-concentrated mastic gum to bind to impurities, resulting in a sticky feel during the treatment period. (Note: After rinsing thoroughly, an unessential but beneficial step is to use a blow-dryer on a tolerable heat setting for about 15 seconds to dry the face. This step would enhance the visible results of MM immediately.)

I did not know what to expect for this mask, but it comes out of the tube like an almost fluffy, waxy, creamy texture that smells medicinal (natural). The mask goes onto the skin cloudy and once it is spread out it is clear. The mask doesn’t dry out hard or tight on the skin, but slightly tacking and rubbery. It rinses out easily without feeling slimey or thick. It does recommend to use a hair dryer to blow dry the skin with medium heat for about 15 seconds. I tried it a few times with and without the blow drying but honestly I can’t see or feel anything different. My skin feels firmer and pores looks smaller (cleaner) after the mask is removed. I did notice that when I put a serum or moisturiser on, my skin seems to have more friction.

Myrrh Clay (USD$45.00 for 50ml). Myrrh Clay is a treatment masque that visibly firms the skin, borrowing from a triangle of Ayurvedic, Unani and traditional Chinese studies of medicine. Myrrh Clay offers an instant and visible tightening of the skin immediately and without forming a noticeable film on the surface of the skin as is common with modern skin firming formulations.

Myrrh and its very fragrant resin, derived from tree sap, are recognised in Ayurvedic, Unani and traditional Chinese studies of medicine for their high content of terpenoids and sesquiterpenes. While traditional topical uses of myrrh were for wound healing, as an antioxidant and for age prevention, the main benefit of topically-applied myrrh is visible and immediate firmness to the skin. Myrrh Clay combines a highly-purified myrrh with isolated polyphenols from strawberry leaves (Ayurveda) and concentrated Wu Zhu Yu (from traditional Chinese medicine), all supporting a visible firming effect in a nutrient base of humic-rich peat and Indian Multani Mitti clay.

This clay mask comes in a jar which is a little bit annoying because I don’t really like digging my fingers in to pick up mask products. I ended up using a spatula to pick up the product, put it on the back of my hand and use a mask brush to apply it all over my face. This mask has a dark chocolate brown colour with a glossy finish. The majority or the ingredient for this mask is peat – which gives it its dark brown colour. The mask washes off easily and leaves my skin feeling clean and decongested.

Overall: In a nutshell these NIOD products are pretty awesome. First of all, they are effective. Secondly I love their packaging. Unfortunately, in my opinion they don smell so good. However I don’t really mind as long as they are effective and does what it claims to do. They are not exactly cheap, and it’s not the type of product you should skimp on using just a tiny little bit each time. I would recommend using a generous amount of the masques to really see results each time. My favourite would have to be the Sanskrit Saponin cleanser.

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