PRODUCT REVIEW: NIOD FRACTIONATED EYE CONTOUR CONCENTRATE (FECC) - BEST ANTI-AGING EYE CREAM, BEST ANTI-WRINKLE EYE CREAM
NIOD | FRACTIONATED EYE CONTOUR CONCENTRATE (FECC)
This review was originally part of my blog article titled, Brands I Love: Niod High-Science Skincare - Best Hyaluronic Acid Serum, Best Peptide Serum. You can catch the full piece here.
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Deciem’s deep-science brand NIOD has been a longtime favorite. In fact, it’s perhaps the most scientific skincare brand I’ve come across — with product names and descriptions seemingly written by the scientists and chemists behind the brand’s formulations.
There’s always been something exceptionally intriguing about NIOD — the nerdier sister brand of the more popular The Ordinary. First and foremost, it’s a smart, hard science brand — not for the casual skincare user. The products are more scientific, more potent and more costly than the democratically priced, simple, one-note products offered by The Ordinary.
NIOD requires somewhat of a commitment to learning what ingredients work for your skin; it’s definitely not for beginners or anyone uninterested in much beyond the basics of cleansing and moisturizing.
I have always strongly aligned with the brand’s overall formulation philosophy. A brand's formulation philosophy matters to the end result, whether the product is genuinely good for your skin — and not just marketing fluff. And while most skincare brands offer some well-made products, which of their products are actually doing right by your skin comes down to who exactly is formulating the company’s skin care — and whether the formulator (often a chemist or someone who works closely with a chemist) follows a solid formulation philosophy. Does the chemist follow strict guidelines about ingredient no-no’s like denatured alcohol, parabens and fragrant plant (essential) oils that can compromise skin health and can actually be pro-aging?
NIOD seems exceptional to me, or as Deciem would describe it, abnormal!
So, what exactly is NIOD? The brand name is an acronym that stands for Non Invasive Options in Dermal-Science. This is how they describe themselves:
“Ahead is not further than behind.
True learning is a form of love — it is humble. It respects that to look forward, it must look backward. The few observers of NIOD’s childhood know that NIOD isn’t a brand. It is a force and it has a soul. While NIOD’s genetics are committed to science, its soul is ultimately rooted in learning. Perhaps the only flaw of modern science is that it grows proud and loses respect for our deserving past — but learning stays humble and looks back.
NIOD’s journey will offer respect to our past with a series of formulations informally called yešti. NIOD’s caretakers live with exhausting standards in science. The journey of NIOD’s yešti formulations is not one of a lower standard — it is instead one that allows our collective past an overdue chance to speak.”— http://niod.com
I love the spirit and intent behind the NIOD brand! Let’s take a look at some of my favorite NIOD products…
NIOD | Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate
I tend to be rather lazy when it comes to eye creams. Before your mouth hits the floor, know that it doesn’t mean that I neglect my delicate eye area. Far from it! Both morning and evening, I very often simply use my face cream in my eye area, after applying the same Vitamin C or peptide serum that I use on the rest of my face.
Seriously, if you’re using a well-formulated, gentle moisturizer, it will work perfectly well around your eyes, too. Face creams that I consider the most gentle and safest for my eye area include the Paula’s Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer and First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Cream — one of the best face creams for sensitive skin.
In the winter, a facial oil that’s devoid of fragrant plant oils is wonderful for maintain optimum moisture and hydration levels in the thin skin around the eyes.
And, of course, a daily sunscreen is even more essential for your eye area than anywhere else on your face. A personal fave is the Supergoop! Bright-Eyed 100% Mineral Eye Cream SPF 40. Get yours for $36.00 here. (You’ll thank me in 10 years.)
All this to say, what’s most important is that you take really good care of your eye area. If that’s a combination of a well-formulated, nourishing eye cream paired with a sunscreen that doesn’t bleed into your eyes, great!
NIOD’s Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate is a really well-formulated eye treatment — one of the best eye creams I’ve come across. It’s actually not a cream at all; rather, it’s a silky soothing peptide-enriched serum — and the perfect blend of texture and technology.
According to Deciem, FECC is formulated with, “28 complex approaches to fight visible aging of the eye contour. This abstract highlights the most novel of these approaches.”
There are six ingredient complexes in FECC that combine multiple forms of Hyaluronic Acid and peptides to hydrate skin, and firm and smooth the look of fine lines in the eye area.
Among these anti-aging technologies is what NIOD refers to as a firbroblast drone. That sounds like something Captain Kirk would employ to search for a lost crew member on the planet below.
It’s described by the brand’s chemists as follows: “Perhaps a most advanced skin technology available, this suspension contains extraordinary capsules that secure a pro-HA peptide within a polymer core that is surrounded by a Heptapeptide to specifically bind to targets before release, exponentiating delivery and effectiveness to an accuracy level previously impossible. No technology today delivers the visible filling activity of this truly complex system to support Hyaluronic Acid.”
I feel like I always learn something when I’m on the NIOD site. This time, it’s the word exponentiating. Was the NIOD chemist high? Is that even a word?! I’m not sure it is. No matter, though, what I am sure of is the fact that FECC is an extra-ordinary anti-aging eye treatment.
Unique to the NIOD Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate, the formula also targets visible aging and loss of elasticity in both the upper and lower eyelids, something I’ve rarely seen claimed for an eye product. Notably, the brand lists an active bio-complex that combines marigold extract and yeast ferment that “has shown up to a 94% positive response in reducing both the look of dark circles and feelings of sensitivity.”
I’m not convinced that anything can treat dark circles effectively. It’s best to prevent them in the first place by drinking lots of water, getting proper sleep and using sunscreen in the immediate eye area — all of which are leading contributors to the appearance of dark circles in the under-eye area.
In addition to the formula’s numerous peptides, there are multiple antioxidants in FECC including Ascorbic Acid, Birch Bark Extract, Superoxide Dismutase and Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside — the most powerful antioxidant component of green tea.
And about the intriguing texture of NIOD’s Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate? It’s so silky smooth that it’s oddly pleasurable to apply around the eyes. As crazy as it sounds, it feels like a watery oil — which is an impossibility, I know. Is it possible that NIOD achieved some feat of alchemy to perfectly blend oil and water? Nah, I suspect it’s the high level of Glycerin and Propanediol at ingredients number two and four, respectively.
But it feels so good! This FECC stuff is quite the age-fighting powerhouse for the eye area.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the NIOD Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate for $68 here.
SUPERGOOP! BRIGHT-EYED 100% MINERAL EYE CREAM SPF 40 – ONE OF THE BEST SUNCSREENS FOR THE EYE AREA
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MY FAVORITE HUMECTANT SERUMS FROM PAULA'S CHOICE, THE INKEY LIST, GHOST DEMOCRACY AND MORE
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The Ingredient List of the NIOD Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex:
h, Glycerin 
sii|h 0 0, Hyaluronic Acid sii|h, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Sodium Butyroyl Hyaluronate h, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer sii|aox|h, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate h, Disodium Acetyl Glucosamine Phosphate h, Tetradecyl Aminobutyroylvalylaminobutyric Urea Trifluoroacetate cci, Pseudoalteromonas Exopolysaccharides h, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum h|vc, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract aox|h, Ceratonia Siliqua Gum emo|vc, Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3 cci, Plantago Lanceolata Leaf Extract so|aox|amic, Salvia Sclarea Extract so, Arginine sii, Aspartic Acid sii, Glycine sii, Alanine sii, Serine sii, Valine sii, Isoleucine sii, Proline sii, Threonine sii, Histidine sii|h, Phenylalanine sii, Pca sii|h, Sodium Pca sii|h 0 0, Betaine h, Sodium Lactate buff|h, Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside aox|so, Gallyl Glucoside aox|so, Algae Extract emo|h, Sodium Salicylate pres, Lecithin emo|emu, Polyglucuronic Acid h, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate chel, Sclerotium Gum vc, Pullulan, Cetyl Hydroxyethylcellulose vc, Propanediol solv|h, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Dimethyl Isosorbide solv|vc, Citric Acid buff, Magnesium Chloride vc, Silica vc, Polysorbate 20 emu|surf 0 0, Ethoxydiglycol solv|h|perf 0 0, Propyl Gallate aox|perf, Dehydroacetic Acid pres, Benzyl Alcohol pres|perf|solv|vc, Potassium Sorbate pres, Sodium Benzoate pres, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, 1,2-Hexanediol solv, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Phenoxyethanol presThe Ingredient List of the NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum 2:1:
so, Isoceteth-20 emu|surf, Phenoxyethanol pres, Chlorphenesin pres|amic, Aqua (Water) solv, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Tripeptide-29 cci, Tripeptide-1 cci, Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3 cci, Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2 cci, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-2 cci, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer sii|aox|h, Glycogen h, Propanediol solv|h, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Dextran vc, Dimethyl Isosorbide solv|vc, Ethoxydiglycol solv|h|perf 0 0, Isoceteth-20 emu|surf, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate amic|pres, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Phenoxyethanol pres, Chlorphenesin pres|amic
The Ingredient List of the NIOD Fractionated Eye Contour Concentrate:
cci|sb|aacne|h, Propanediol solv|h, Sodium Hyaluronate (Hyaluronic Acid) sii|h 0 0, Tilia Cordata (Linden) Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis (White Tea) Leaf Extract aox|so, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Flower Extract, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Phytic Acid chel, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Phenoxyethanol pres, Ethylhexylglycerin presThe Ingredient List of the NIOD Superoxide Dismutase Saccharide MIST:
aox, Malachite Extract aox, Pseudoalteromonas Exopolysaccharides h, Mirabilis Jalapa Extract, Polypodium Vulgare Rhizome Extract aox|h, Cetraria Islandica Thallus Extract h, Sphagnum Magellanicum Extract, Arginine sii, Propanediol solv|h, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Butylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 1, Sodium Salicylate pres, Gellan Gum vc, Sodium Chloride vc, Ppg-26-Buteth-26, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil emu|surf, Citric Acid buff, Tromethamine buff, Phenoxyethanol pres, Chlorphenesin pres|amicThe Ingredient List of the NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Lipid 1%:
sii|emo 0 1, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride emo, Aqua (Water) solv, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate h, Glycolipids, Sucrose Laurate emo|emu|surf, Propanediol solv|h, Copper Tripeptide-1 (Palmitoyl) cci|so|aox, Hydroxymethoxyphenyl Propylmethylmethoxybenzofuran, Vetiveria Zizanoides Root Extract perf, Aphanizomenon Flos-Aquae Extract h, Sucrose Stearate emo|emu|surf 0 0, Potassium Sorbate pres, Sodium Benzoate pres, Phenoxyethanol pres
