Chic Londoners Love This Ultra-Light Moisturizer—and No Lie, It Saved My Angry Winter Skin

It was a bitterly cold travel day from New York to Chicago with a slew of new skincare products tucked away into my suitcase, ripe for the testing, that created the perfect storm on my skin. My plans of cold-turkey testing this new product line (which shall go unnamed) quickly devolved into an eczema rash and a jumble of angry, pimple-like blemishes, enticed by new formulas and biting Midwest winds.

My skin remained in variations of this all-hell-broken-loose appearance until I had a sit-down with Trinny Woodall, the founder of the chic British beauty brand Trinny London, where the makeover maven took a good look at my skin. It was here that she diagnosed me with a beaten-down microbiome due to constant product-testing and prescribed me with a new skincare regimen—making me take out my phone and record her explanation of which products to use and when. This kind of behavior doesn’t usually sway me into swapping my whole routine, but for some reason, Woodall convinced me—and the results were almost instant…almost miraculous.

Three products quickly became my morning and night heroes: The Energise Me Niacinamide Moisturizer (daytime), the Bounce Back Intense Peptide Moisturizer (nighttime), and the Plump Up Peptide HA Serum (before everything). But the one that had me hooked and quickly became my dearest travel companion was the Energise Me moisturizer—a lightweight, skin-soothing lotion that calmed my rosacea-stricken skin, smoothed over my dry patches, and gave me an all-day glow that started earning me compliments, even with no makeup on.

The Hero Product

What are The Benefits of Niacinamide Cream?

Its skin-loving formula is a concoction of niacinamide (duh), succinic acid, and a compound called asiaticoside—but if you think I just spoke Latin, I have a translator for you.

"Niacinamide is an excellent ingredient for reactive skin because it helps to soothe the skin barrier and support radiance," explains board-certified dermatologist Dr. Elyse Love. "This increases skin hydration, supports barrier health, and potentially decreases redness, burning, and other signs of irritation."

Fellow board-certified dermatologist Dr. Marisa Garshick seconds this, saying that this combination of benefits is "especially important for those with eczema."

While you may think of niacinamide for acne-prone, oily skin versus dry, dermatologists know that there’s more to this ingredient than blemish-busting. “It also supports the skin barrier, reducing moisture loss and providing hydration,” Dr. Garshick adds. Its anti-inflammatory properties are not only good for eczema, but prime this ingredient as an "excellent choice for individuals with acne or rosacea-prone skin.”

Though niacinamide may be the main act, there are a few other key players that take this formula to the next level.

“Succinic acid acts as a gentle exfoliant and also offers antiinflammatory and antimicrobial benefits,” Dr. Garshick explains. “It has antioxidant properties which help to protect the skin from free radical damage.” After a winter bouncing between the cold, urban environments of New York City and Chicago (and testing every serum, moisturizer, and cleanser known to man), this sounds like a winter skin savior to me.

The third and final key ingredient is one that I had to lean on my dermatologists for to get a clearer understanding. Asiaticoside is a component in many wound-healing topicals, hence its ability to patch up my irritated spots. “Asiaticoside has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and skin soothing benefits,” Dr. Garshick continues. “It also has antioxidant benefits and may help to boost collagen production, offering great anti-aging benefits as well.”

What I Liked About Trinny London’s Niacinamide Cream

It sounds dramatic, but when I squashed all three of the products mentioned above together, I saw smoother, happier skin the very next day. These days, my skincare regime has become a ritual—I cleanse my face, press two pumps of the Plump Up serum into my skin for a dewy, deeply hydrating base, and seal everything in with the Energise Me moisturizer. I follow the same steps for the evening, just swapping the niacinamide moisturizer for the thicker Bounce Back night cream.

As I said before, I saw results from the very first use, but what were they, exactly? Well, the scaly eczema patches that stung when other products touched it were quickly smoothed, leaving a clean barrier where there once were dry, makeup-catching splotches. My redness is rosacea-triggered, so while it never fully goes away, the intensity of those red spots along my chin start to fizzle once the moisturizer sinks into my skin (which, by the way, only takes about two minutes).

Those little pesky sebum-filled spots that would sprout when my skin reacted to an unsavory product? Gone, save for a few constants around my chin that never seem to fully disappear. (I still blame my rotating collection of beauty products.)

And the best part? It absorbs so fast that I can launch straight into makeup after a quick application—a rushed city girl’s dream.

All in all, I’ve tried two moisturizers that made my mouth hang open in shock after a night of testing (this and Dr. Diamond’s Metacine Instafacial Emulsion, all $350 of it), and I now can’t imagine my skincare routine without this cutely packaged pink moisturizer. (Which, by the way, is refillable for $50.) Join me as we say in unison, “Thank you Trinny London!”

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Who's Who

• Dr. Marisa Garshick, MD, FAAD, is a board-certified dermatologist and clinical assistant professor at Cornell based in New York and New Jersey.
• Dr. Elyse Love, MD, FAAD, is a New York City-based board-certified dermatologist at GlamDerm and host of the podcast BeautyCurious
• Alyssa Brascia is an associate beauty editor at Who What Wear with nearly four years of skincare testing experience. She experiences seasonal dryness and eczema, making her the perfect test subject for this product.