Can you use niacinamide with retinol?

Yes, you can use niacinamide with retinol. Niacinamide is described as very well tolerated on skin [2], and the two are often formulated or recommended together. The Ordinary suggests pairing a retinoid with niacinamide [1]. Apply retinol at night on clean skin, then moisturizer. Niacinamide can go in that moisturizer or in a morning serum.

What each one is

Retinol is a retinoid. Its common early reaction includes itching, burning, redness and peeling, usually within the first few weeks [7]. Retinol is considerably less irritating than tretinoin [7].

Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3. A 2024 review reports that clinical tests found no stinging at up to 10% and no irritation at up to 5% [2]. The same review links niacinamide to more ceramide production in skin [2]. Ceramides are part of the skin’s outer barrier [2].

What studies found when they were combined

• Retinol and niacinamide in one product. In a 10-week study, 25 people used a night product with 0.5% retinol and 4.4% niacinamide, plus other ingredients [3]. Mild flaking and redness appeared early in the study [3]. By week 10, participants reported no stinging, itching, dryness or tingling [3].
• A niacinamide moisturizer with tretinoin. In a split-face study, people applied one moisturizer to each side of the face twice daily for 10 weeks [4]. One contained niacinamide, panthenol and vitamin E, and the other did not [4]. Tretinoin 0.025% started 2 weeks in [4]. The authors concluded that the barrier-focused moisturizer made the early weeks of tretinoin easier [4].
• A niacinamide regimen with a gentler retinoid. In an 8-week study of 196 women, a regimen with niacinamide, peptides and a retinyl ester was better tolerated than tretinoin 0.02% by every measure [5]. It compared two regimens, so it does not isolate niacinamide [5].

None of these tested plain retinol with a separate niacinamide serum. They do show the two ingredients in the same routine without a reported conflict.

How to layer them

If both are serums, The Ordinary suggests water-based formulas before anhydrous ones [1]. For example, it puts a water-based serum before a retinol in squalane [1]. It says there is no set wait time, just let each product absorb [1].

Corneo’s retinol schedule

Niacinamide does not change the retinol schedule. Corneo paces retinol the same way with or without it.

This is Corneo’s pacing, not a prescription.

On stinging or peeling, Corneo offers to step retinol back down a level. The AAD says to stop a product that stings, burns or tingles [8]. It also advises starting one product at a time [8], so if both are new, add one first.

If you use a prescription retinoid such as tretinoin: Follow your prescriber’s instructions. Corneo schedules the rest.

What Corneo does

Corneo checks niacinamide and retinol as a pair, and its rules do not keep them apart. A niacinamide serum can take the morning step, and retinol is paced from 2 nights a week. Anything else on your shelf that conflicts with retinol is held back with the reason. Check this pair or audit your whole shelf.

FAQ

Should niacinamide go before or after retinol?

At night, the simplest order is retinol on clean skin, then moisturizer [6]. A niacinamide moisturizer fits that step. For two serums, The Ordinary suggests water-based before anhydrous [1].

Does niacinamide make retinol less effective?

The sources here report no such conflict. The Ordinary recommends the two as a pairing [1], and studies have combined niacinamide with retinoids [3][5].

Is it the same with adapalene?

Similar. See adapalene with niacinamide.