Review: NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum

3-4 years ago, Deciem, the cosmetic group that owns the brand NIOD, announced the launch of their mineral sunscreens, the Survival range. It includes 4 products: 3 sunscreens with SPF ranging from 10 to 30, and a curious product named Survival 0, which doesn’t contain any sun filters.

If I wasn’t particularly interested in the sunscreens (I prefer a SPF50, and frankly, I have plenty to do with my favorite Asian and European sunscreens), I was very intrigued by the filter-free protective serum on the other hand!

Just the name alone, Survival 0… Both confusing and appealing!

Of course, I know that this kind of marketing strategy is very specific to the brand NIOD! Why do simple when you can do complicated, that’s the brand’s motto 😉

But despite the obscure names and explanations on the brand’s website, almost every product I tried from them has convinced me. This NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum is no exception to the rule!

Let me tell you more about it and also my experience using it, and the results I got from it!

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NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum, product presentation:

The NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum is a protective product that does not use sun filters, but rather antioxidant ingredients, for an alternative anti-aging prevention.

Please note that antioxidant ingredients are definitely not sunscreens and therefore do not protect against UV rays! However, they do help the skin to prevent the appearance of accelerated skin ageing that sun exposure can cause.

Do I really need to give you another recap on antioxidants and why they’re always in my routine? 😉

OK then, very briefly, antioxidant ingredients help the skin to prevent the signs of aging.

So these are ingredients you can introduce in your routine very early, from your 20s, and that you can continue to use all your life, because your skin can always benefit from them 🙂

A few examples of antioxidant ingredients: vitamin C, of course, which is one of the most well known and most effective, but also vitamin E, green tea, polyphenols, resveratrol, ferulic acid… there are tons more!

And if you really want to protect your skin, it’s best to combine them with a daily sun protection aka a sunscreen. Antioxidant ingredients are great to enhance the protective effect of sun filters. It’s definitely a winning combination for the skin! 🙂

Another important thing to know about antioxidants is that you can totally combine them in your routine! With antioxidants, more is more, and you can’t really overdo it.

In fact, by combining several antioxidants in your routine, you even multiply the chances of having a more effective anti-free radicals shield! So it’s definitely worthwhile to introduce a serum that contains several of them into your routine.

And they packed the NIOD Survival 0 serum formula with different antioxidant ingredients!

Such as:
– purified lutein: this antioxidant derived from the marigold flower helps to counteract the harmful effects of blue light and increase skin elasticity,
– Superoxide Dismutase (derived from yeast): a powerful antioxidant that is also very soothing,
– Dimethylmethoxy Chromanol: according to the brand, this antioxidant ingredient is more effective than resveratrol and ferulic acid and has exceptional protective properties against free radicals,
– a fractionated form of melanin, specifically designed to absorb visible light that can ultimately cause skin damage,
– pycnogenol, derived from maritime pine, a very powerful and well-known antioxidant,
– a complex of antioxidant and soothing/anti-redness tomato carotenoids, that gives the formula a brown-orange color (it doesn’t tint my skin),
– a complex of prebiotic ingredients of gluco-oligosaccharides and amino acids for a healthy microbiome,
– various types of anti-oxidant algae,
– knotgrass, a plant that helps to combat the visible side effects of infrared light while helping to prevent and reduce the appearance of visible light damage.

But also moisturizing and nourishing ingredients like glycerin, Sodium PCA and squalane oil!

In short, a very complete and interesting formula for all skin types and one that I love to use in the morning in addition to my vitamin C serum (right now I’m using the Paula’s Choice’s C15 one a lot 😉 ).

NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum, my experience:

As I said above, I almost always have an antioxidant serum in my skincare routine, and this has been the case for several years.

These types of serums do not give the most visible results, since it is more about anti-ageing prevention, which is based on maintaining the skin’s good condition.

But this Survival 0 serum also has a very effective soothing effect that I wasn’t really expecting, and that was a delightful surprise!

It’s true that when you look at the formula, it makes sense! Many of the ingredients have a double soothing and antioxidant effect, including the complex of prebiotic ingredients of gluco-oligosaccharides and amino acids that my skin seems to love!

We are at the end of August and here in Dubai; it means that my skin has been under the aggression of the heat and air conditioning for almost 4 months non-stop. This means that my skin is very dehydrated and rather sensitized too.

And since I’ve been using this serum (it’s been about 6 weeks), I feel it makes my skin super happy! Its texture is comforting without being greasy at all, and I also love its slightly spicy/aromatic scent, which is very warming and relaxing to use!

The brand recommends using it at night, but you can also use it in the morning, no worries. That’s what I do. I use it in the morning, usually after a moisturizing serum and before my daily moisturizer.

I really enjoy using it, and my skin seems to love it!

And for a NIOD product, the price is very decent ($25 to $30), which is always a plus. If we add to that the practical packaging with a pump, I’d say Survival 0 is flawless! 😉

In conclusion:

I know NIOD is intimidating at first, with their complicated names and complex product descriptions. But in my experience, it’s definitely worth looking into because many of their products are fantastic!

And this Survival 0 antioxidant serum is no exception, with its always interesting preventive antioxidant effect and its very nice soothing properties!

It also has a sensorial aspect that makes it a very pleasant product to use!

In short, I’m glad I tried it again after a first inconclusive experience that I can’t really explain (I guess my skin needs were different a few years ago, or maybe the brand has reformulated it since then? IDK) The current version of this Survival 0 serum certainly works great for me 😉

The NIOD Survival 0 antioxidant serum retails between $25 to $30 depending on the retailers, for 30ml.