Testing Oio Lab’s INTERCELLULAR and the Long Game of Skin Longevity
*INTERCELLULAR
*INTERCELLULAR
Oio Lab is a brand I’ve followed closely since the early days of Future of Skincare, when I first spoke about it over two years ago. There’s something about Joanna Ryglewicz’s philosophy that’s always resonated with me: her quiet rigor, her deep belief in clean science, her obsession with efficacy without excess, and the fact that she formulates everything herself, literally in-house. It’s an enviable level of control and care.
Every new launch from Oio Lab feels intentional. Joanna doesn’t release a product to fill a shelf or respond to a fleeting trend. Each formula adds a new brick to a larger architecture, a new layer of intelligence, a new reason to rethink what we know. So when she called me at the beginning of the year to share her next release, I listened. Closely.
What she described was a breakthrough serum focused not just on visible glow or hydration, but on cellular energy, epigenetic repair, and long-term skin resilience. This was not a quick-fix formula. It was a skin longevity treatment, anchored in a unique botanical NAD+ booster called RejuveNAD™, designed to work with the body’s own cellular repair cycles.
She sent me two unmarked black glass bottles straight from the lab, no branding, no copy. “Try it,” she said. “Tell me what you feel. Let’s build from there.”
We’re entering a new chapter in beauty, one that’s less about reversing time and more about working with it. The rise of longevity skincare isn’t just scientific; it’s deeply cultural.
Where once anti-aging focused on erasing, today’s longevity movement is about preserving integrity: of the skin, of the body, of identity. It's about optimizing the function of skin cells, not masking their decline. And it mirrors a broader lifestyle shift: toward biohacking, daily supplementation, sleep optimization, stress modulation, and nervous system care. In this context, skincare becomes part of a holistic longevity protocol. Not a fix. A foundation.
This is what makes Oio Lab’s INTERCELLULAR so of-the-moment. It’s not trying to make you look 25. It’s giving your skin the cellular tools to feel resilient at any age. That’s not just innovation, it’s intention. And it’s reshaping what we consider beautiful.
Day One: Hydration That Felt Electrical
I remember exactly when I started testing the serum: the Monday after a weekend in Milan. I was tired, travel fatigue, late nights, airplane skin. That morning, I applied the first few drops. What I felt wasn’t dramatic. It was… immediate.
The texture is soft, milky, and unexpectedly dense for a serum. It doesn’t sit on the surface, it melts, drinks, disappears. But what surprised me most was the intensity of hydration. Not surface hydration, not dewiness, but the kind that feels like it’s pushing into the deeper layers, refilling the structure.
Week One: Subtle, Cellular, Undeniable
I followed Joanna’s recommended protocol: morning and evening, after cleansing, under a lightweight moisturizer. No other actives, no exfoliants. I wanted to isolate it.
What happened over the next few days wasn’t dramatic, but it was cumulative. My skin started looking less… tired. Less slack at the jaw. Less sunken under the eyes. My features, the parts that usually betray how hard I work, began to bounce back faster.
There was more light in my face, too. Not the kind that highlighters fake, but that true inner reflectivity that comes from skin being well-fed, well-slept, well-supported. I hadn’t changed my sleep. But something was shifting.
The Science That Works Quietly
At the heart of INTERCELLULAR is RejuveNAD™, a sunflower sprout extract that naturally boosts NAD+ production by stimulating NAMPT, the enzyme that declines with age and leads to skin fatigue, DNA damage, and “zombie cells” (senescent cells that clog cellular function). NAD+ is crucial to mitochondrial energy, epigenetic repair, and collagen production, but it's notoriously hard to stabilize and deliver through skincare.
What Joanna Ryglewicz and her lab team have done is sidestep the problem by supporting the skin’s own production of NAD+. It’s a subtle but powerful shift: instead of feeding the skin, you’re reminding it how to function better.
Clinical studies on RejuveNAD™ showed a visible rejuvenation equivalent to 8 years younger skin, thanks to its ability to address five of the nine recognized “hallmarks of aging” at the cellular level. That’s not just marketing. That’s regenerative skincare, at the source.
Month One: Resilience as a Texture
By the end of March, a full month into testing, I started noticing deeper shifts. The texture of my skin, already good, felt denser, like it was holding itself up better. There was a newfound firmness around the cheekbones. A slightly more defined jawline. But nothing sudden. This wasn’t contouring or plumping. It was like the skin had simply remembered how to be itself.
The micro-dosed benefits of INTERCELLULAR accumulate. Each use is like a small nudge toward balance. Over time, you see a face that looks more sculpted, less fatigued, more vital. You don’t notice it in the moment. But when you compare photos, or catch yourself in a different light, you see the shift.
What Makes This Serum Different
It doesn’t replace, it activates. INTERCELLULAR isn’t about adding something to your skin. It’s about reminding your skin how to function at its best.
The texture is unusually intuitive. Milky, spreadable, fast-absorbing, it layers effortlessly and supports both minimalist and maximalist routines.
It’s skin longevity, not skin perfection. This isn’t about glass skin. It’s about functional, energized skin that looks alive and well-rested over time.
I’ve now entered my second month of testing, and I can confidently say: this serum doesn’t just work, it works with you. It aligns with the rhythm of your skin, the rhythm of your life. It’s skincare as strategy, not as spectacle. The kind of formula you don’t shout about after one week, but quietly realize, months later, you never want to be without.
And perhaps most beautifully, it doesn’t overwrite your face. It respects it. Rebuilds it. And teaches it, gently, how to glow again.
HOW TO USE INTERCELLULAR
AM & PM, daily
Apply 3–5 drops to clean, dry skin after cleansing and before moisturizer.
Gently press into the face and neck. Follow with your preferred moisturizer or face oil.
Key tips
Best used consistently, morning and night, for cumulative effects.
Plays well with actives—can be layered with vitamin C or retinol, but allow a few minutes between steps.
Avoid overloading the skin: this formula is dense in actives and designed to support, not compete.
Can be used around the eyes if tolerated—formulated for sensitivity.
To understand how INTERCELLULAR really came to life, read my full interview with Joanna Ryglewicz: Inside Cellular Beauty: Joanna Ryglewicz on Smart Aging, Skin Energy, and the Future of Formulation
