Sunday, March 17, 2013

Nivea's Hydra IQ - guilty for breakouts?

A while ago I bought the new Nivea "Aqua Effect" (with Hydra IQ) moisturizing face cream, because I always liked the Nivea products and because I saw the commercial and thought that would be an interesting concept, "moisturizing the skin from within", as they say... So I picked this one:


(Sorry for the blurry pic, my camera just won't cooperate at times)

It is quite a thick product, consistency-wise, but once you put it on the skin it's lighter than the classic Nivea creme, and it absorbs quite well into the skin. I also like the smell too. I must say that my skin is combination, with a high tendency for breakouts, so I am usually very cautious when buying face creams, but as I have always been using the Nivea Soft without any problem, and because I noticed that the more hydrated my skin is, the less likely it is to breakout, I thought this Aqua Effect would be worth a try.
Buuuuut! After 3 days I realised it was definitely a mistake because my face broke out badly ... at first I didnt know for sure wether the new moisturizer was the problem, so I stopped using it and went back to my La Roche Posay Effaclar, to get rid of the pimples. Then I tried it again, after a few days, to see if it really was the cause of my breakout. And it was :( I broke out again. So, I downgraded is to the "hand cream" status :)
So far so good, I thought "oh well, maybe this cream was too fatty and too rich for my oily face..."
But since a few weeks ago I noticed that I was kind of breakin out on my back too, which never ever happened to me, and it was beyond annoying, I had no idea what to do for that one. And then it "hit me" LOL. The shower cream that I have been using was also Nivea, with Hydra IQ! These ones!


As you can see, I was not happy with just one, I had to have 2 of them! Because I really enjoy them, the smell is great and they are really quite moisturising. I love using them as bath foam.
But heck, they were the cause of my back breakout :( I stopped using them and in 3 days there were no more spots on my back! Whew! I am kind of boomed tho, 'cause I really liked these :(
Back to my Dove soap bars for face and body, they clear acne like nobody's business, even if they are not meant for that ...I think precisely because they are not meant for that! lol I love these new ones, cause they are pink and they smell soooo nice!!



(again, sorry for the pic quality in this post but as there was no detail needed I didn't bother to try and fix the camera, that usually is a very annoying and frustrating process...) 

As for face (and whole body) moisturizer, nothing beats this one, I think it even comes close to the effects of face serums, for me at least, as weird as it may sound, considering its low price:



I did a bit of research on the "Hydra IQ" topic to see what the heck it means, and I found this:

**** Glyceryl glucoside: = glucose + glycerin. This is an aquaporin stimulator, which basically helps to maintain hydration. A recent patent expressed the capabilities of these compounds. Aquaporins are little proteins located on a cell membrane, and they police the flow of water in & out of the cell. Aquaporin stimulators basically prod & tweak the aquaporins to let it more water. In this techology it is targeted to the aquaporins of keratinocytes, which make up a very large portion of our epidermis.
Aquaporin stimulators like glyceryl glucoside are simple sugars. Glyceryl glucoside and other monosaccharides like it have a binding affinity for water (they are hydrophilic.) In nature, it has been found that some organisms produce these types of monosaccharides to survive in extreme dry environments. This is because these monosaccharides attract water, and when produced they help keep the water inside/with the organism.
{What happens otherwise, i.e. without the aquaporin stimulators, is osmosis--which is the process of two solutions of different concentrations (like, a dry environment and a hydrated organism) by natural process, equalizing via exchange (like, the hydrated organism becomes less hydrated, and the dry environment becomes more humid from the water molecules that were osmotically transferred from the organism to the air.)}
By facilitating the aquaporins, the stimulators also help to maintain osmotic adjustment--- here, skin's hydration level vs the air/atmosphere around it. They keep the skin cell membranes receptive to water molecules, i.e. hydration!

I am surmising based on the properties of aquaporins and aquaporin stimulators, that this is the Hydra IQ technology.

Source(s):

wikipedia.org, college chemistry, http://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/formulating/category/skincare/33602299.html?page=3

Yeah I put it in smaller font on purpose cuz you don't really need to read it! I read the first 3 rows and it was way too much chemistry for my brain configuration! Ugh! I don't know what to say, too much chemical stuff never sounds good to me. 
So, that was my experience with the dear new Hydra IQ. But you don't have to take my word for granted because as I said, my skin is prone to breakouts. (even if... only the skin on my face! What about my back??) Just be careful, if you have any problems with your skin too.  
Thanks for reading!
oxoxox
Roxana 

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