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The Ordinary

Niacinamide 5% Face and Body Emulsion.

The Ordinary Niacinamide 5% Face and Body Emulsion
Serums

About this product

A 5% niacinamide emulsion designed for face and body use, formulated to support skin hydration, reduce inflammation, and address discoloration.

Best for

Oily skinSensitive skinAcne-prone skin
Serums

The Guru Index verdict

77%

Approved

✓Approved · 77%
3Reviewers
2Approved
1Mixed
0Skip

What the gurus are saying

Gurus overwhelmingly prefer this to The Ordinary's 10% niacinamide, citing the lower concentration as the sweet spot for results without irritation. The creamy, milky emulsion texture is consistently praised as more pleasant and less likely to foam or strip than the original formula. Reviewers highlight the value: 100ml for less money and a more generous per-ml cost than the 10% version. One reviewer found it underwhelming for stubborn hyperpigmentation and described it as bland, but agreed it works as a gentle moisturizer; most others see it as an excellent all-around niacinamide for sensitive, acne-prone, and combination skin types.
Synthesized from 3 expert reviews

Key actives & flags

NiacinamideVitamin EFragrance-freeAlcohol-free

Full ingredients

Aqua (Water), Ethyl Macadamiate, Niacinamide, Propanediol, Glycerin, Sphingomonas Ferment Extract, Pentylene Glycol, Ethylhexyl Olivate, Polyglyceryl-4 Oleate, Sodium Acrylates Copolymer, Isoceteth-20, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Tocopherol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin

Where to buy

Every take, in full

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Approved only Skip only Mixed only Hide sponsored
Mad About Skin
Mad About Skin
720k subs · 10k devotees
✓Approved
"This is the ordinary niacinamide 5% face and body emulsion. This is a better product. It has a nicer texture, you get more product and it costs less. So it's just a really affordable dupe for itself almost and it's got 5%. I would say to anyone that's using this, ditch it. Use this. You will get the exact same results, less side effects and irritation, and it's cheaper. I think this is a no-brainer. This is a game changer of a product that I recommend to everybody. If you're using this, swap to this. I honestly think your skin will love it. It's a great all round niacinamide treatment that you can use twice a day every day to get those benefits particularly around fading hyperpigmentation reducing inflammation."
All 5 takes from Mad About Skin
NIACINAMIDE - The Biggest Lie In Skincare (What We Now Know)
"This is great, you can use it on the face and you can use it on the body, it's really inexpensive. That 5% is perfect and it's an emulsion, so I actually think the formulation of this, the base formulation, is better than the original. If you're still using The Ordinary Niacinamide 10%, switch to this. You will get far greater results, less irritation, and it just feels nicer on the skin."
BEST AND WORST SKINCARE 2024 - Ultimate Skincare Favourites & Fails
"It doesn't foam like The Ordinary 10% does, which is really off-putting. This has a beautiful rich emulsion and just all told I think it's a great product. It comes in a really nice pump, you get 100ml so you get a lot of product. I think I paid £11 for this so it really doesn't need to break the bank. Look how beautiful that applies. This is a firm favorite for me. My skin doesn't like a lot of niacinamide so I could never go for the 10%. I think whether you use this on the body or use it on the face it's up to you, but you get a lot more product for a lot lower price point per ml than with the 10% in a better strength."
Major NIACINAMIDE BAN - The Best Niacinamide Serums Still Available
"This is the ordinary niacinamide 5% face and body emulsion. This is a better product. It has a nicer texture, you get more product and it costs less. So it's just a really affordable dupe for itself almost and it's got 5%. I would say to anyone that's using this, ditch it. Use this. You will get the exact same results, less side effects and irritation, and it's cheaper. I think this is a no-brainer. This is a game changer of a product that I recommend to everybody. If you're using this, swap to this. I honestly think your skin will love it. It's a great all round niacinamide treatment that you can use twice a day every day to get those benefits particularly around fading hyperpigmentation reducing inflammation."
Major NIACINAMIDE BAN - The Best Niacinamide Serums Still Available
"This is a better product. It has a nicer texture, you get more product and it costs less. So it's just a really affordable dupe for itself almost and it's got 5%. I would say to anyone that's using this, ditch it. Use this. You will get the exact same results, less side effects and irritation, and it's cheaper. I think this is a no-brainer. This is a game changer of a product that I recommend to everybody. This is a great all round niacinamide treatment that you can use twice a day every day to get those benefits particularly around fading hyperpigmentation reducing inflammation in the skin."
Affordable Skincare THAT ACTUALLY WORKS - Budget Skincare Awards 🏆
"If you're using The Ordinary 10% Niacinamide stop, get this instead. Any study into niacinamide shows that it works best at a 2 to 5% strength, so you don't need to go for 10%. That's too much, it's too high, which is why a lot of people get sensitivity and irritation. 5% is the sweet spot. With this though, you also get three times the amount of product, 100 ml versus 30 ml, for less, I think it's like 20% cheaper. It feels better on the skin. It's a really rich, creamy emulsion which I love, and it just disappears. Amazing formula. I wish The Ordinary had come out with this first because anyone that's tried their 10%, it foams if you use it on wet skin, which is really off-putting. It strips, it can dry it. This is amazing, fraction of the cost, more product, 5% strength. This is my go-to niacinamide when my skin wants a fix of that ingredient, and it's so, so good."
No BS Beauty
No BS Beauty
89k subs · 2k devotees
~Mixed
"It's a nice simple moisturizer probably will help brighten dark spots for some people but my hyperpigmentation especially on my face from melasma is very stubborn and this didn't even do anything other than moisturize the skin, which is nice. For what it promises to help fade the look of dark spots for more even looking skin tone, it will help a little bit as much as niacinamide as a main ingredient can help, but you're going to probably have better results with something else that's got more brightening ingredients. I didn't love it, I wasn't impressed with it. It's not a bad product but for what it promises it just doesn't quite deliver. It's bland, I guess, is the best word I can use to describe it. But if you have very sensitive skin that's reactive, that might be a good thing. For acne prone skin there's only vitamin E so no issues with that."
Sincerely Miss Ash
Sincerely Miss Ash
194k subs · 3k devotees
✓Approved
"I do like this one because it's at a 5% there's no zinc in here and it has that emulsion texture which is like a milkiness, a milky texture. It is way more hydrating on the skin, way more gentle, it doesn't pill with skincare, and it's a great way to introduce niacinamide within your face skincare products or if you want to start using it on your body. You are getting 100 mls of product, and this will last you forever if you're going to just strictly use this for your face. This is way better in my opinion because of that milky texture, it's more hydrating, more gentle, and I see myself using this a lot come the winter months because niacinamide is great for discoloration, great for acne, hydration, great if you have dry skin, great if you're oily combination. It's great for so many things, and niacinamide is another type of antioxidant and it's wonderful to have if your skin can tolerate it."
All 2 takes from Sincerely Miss Ash
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"I do like this one because it's at a 5% there's no zinc in here and it has that emulsion texture which is like a milkiness, a milky texture. It is way more hydrating on the skin, way more gentle, it doesn't pill with skincare, and it's a great way to introduce niacinamide within your face skincare products or if you want to start using it on your body. You are getting 100 mls of product, and this will last you forever if you're going to just strictly use this for your face. This is way better in my opinion because of that milky texture, it's more hydrating, more gentle, and I see myself using this a lot come the winter months because niacinamide is great for discoloration, great for acne, hydration, great if you have dry skin, great if you're oily combination. It's great for so many things, and niacinamide is another type of antioxidant and it's wonderful to have if your skin can tolerate it."
NEW! THE ORDINARY BODY CARE LINE REVIEW - DARK SPOTS, ACNE, ANTI- AGING & MORE! | SINCERELY MISS ASH
"I love that this is at a 5% concentration. I also quite enjoy that milky texture, so perfect for all skin types, and also it's fragrance-free. This is a great product to use just for added hydration, so you don't necessarily have to use this every day, you can just use this when needed. Maybe when your skin is looking a little dull or maybe you have that uneven skin tone going on, or maybe you had a blemish and now you're left with that post-acne mark, then of course this would be a great product to start incorporating to even everything out."
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