Delivery systems compared

The problem they solve

The stratum corneum is a lipid-rich barrier that admits small, moderately lipophilic molecules and largely excludes large, hydrophilic or charged ones - the 500-dalton rule of thumb, which is not a physical law but points the right way. Many of the most interesting actives fall on the wrong side of it: NAD+ at 663 daltons, high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid at a million-plus, peptides, proteins.

A delivery system does one or more of three jobs: protect an unstable molecule from degradation before use, alter how it partitions at the barrier, or bypass the barrier physically.

Liposomes

Phospholipid bilayer vesicles, sometimes with cholesterol as a stabiliser. Hydrophilic molecules sit in the aqueous core, lipophilic ones in the bilayer. Because their lipids resemble skin's own, they interact favourably with the barrier and can act as penetration enhancers as well as carriers.

This is the system with the most direct NAD+ evidence: a 2025 study found liposomal NAD+ achieved 30% greater penetration into ex vivo human skin than unencapsulated NAD+. Vegalab uses liposomes for ceramides in the Hydrating NanoSerum, and hydrogenated phosphatidylcholine and lecithin in the Youlief Cica Retinal Ampoule are liposome-forming materials consistent with protecting retinal.

Multi-layer biopolymer encapsulation

The approach behind Vegalab's NanoVeil, and the platform underlying the crop and biosecurity products: food-grade biopolymers, explicitly non-PLGA, built in 2 to 20 programmable layers at 50 to 500 nm, designed to release in response to environmental triggers.

The distinction from liposomes matters. A multi-layer biopolymer capsule is a different architecture with different release behaviour, so evidence for liposomal delivery of a molecule supports the principle of encapsulation without transferring to this system. Any specific claim for it needs its own data - and that is the honest position for a reference page to take, including on its own company's technology.

Cyclodextrins

Ring-shaped oligosaccharides with a hydrophobic interior cavity that forms inclusion complexes with lipophilic guest molecules. They improve solubility and stability, mask odour and can moderate release. Vegalab uses cyclodextrin-encapsulated 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid in Lumina Brightening Cream. They are stabilisers more than penetration enhancers.

Physical bypass: microneedling

Worth including because it changes how the evidence reads. Microneedles create transient channels through the stratum corneum, removing the size limit altogether. The 2026 clinical study of topical NAD+ in melasma used microneedling-assisted delivery, and NMN has been delivered ex vivo using polyvinyl alcohol microneedles.

This is why Vegalab's sterile microneedling ampoules are a coherent product format rather than a marketing variant: if the barrier is the limiting factor for a large active, bypassing it is the most direct answer. It also means clinical results obtained with microneedling should not be quoted as evidence for the same product applied by hand.

What delivery systems do not do

Encapsulation does not make an ineffective active effective - it addresses delivery, not pharmacology. Nanoscale size is not a benefit in itself. And a claimed delivery system without release or penetration data for that system with that molecule is an assertion, not evidence.