NMN

NMN, nicotinamide mononucleotide, is a vitamin B3 derivative. It has been much discussed in recent years in connection with research into cellular metabolism and ageing — and that is where most of the overstatement around it in skincare comes from. That research concerns internal intake, not what the molecule does applied to skin.

So let us stay with what can be said. NMN is related to niacinamide, an ingredient with a long and well-documented history in skincare, and in cosmetics it is used as a hydrating and conditioning ingredient. What we do not claim: that it extends the life of cells, that it slows ageing, or that it replaces anything happening inside the body. Such a claim would need evidence, and we hold none.

What does make sense about it is how it behaves in a formula. It dissolves readily in water, so it belongs in the water phase — in a toner, not an oil serum. And being a small, water-friendly molecule, it sits comfortably beside other water-phase ingredients: amino acids, ferments and hydrosols that bind water.

In the No2. Bioactive Toner it therefore stands alongside plant collagen, fermented lactobacilli and botanical extracts of cornflower, mallow, edelweiss, tremella and butterfly pea. The toner is the second step of the ritual and its task is modest but decisive: to leave the skin damp, so the serum that follows has something to work with. Dry skin takes what comes next less well than damp skin does.

NMN is a good illustration of how the word longevity gets used in skincare. The research into cellular metabolism is real and interesting; translating it honestly into a sentence about what a toner does to a face is not possible. We therefore stay with the role the ingredient actually plays in the formula, and we use the word longevity about a way of caring — done for a long time, and regularly — not as a promise of a biological effect.