Is NIVEA creme is more effective than expensive high-end face creams?

I’m a cosmetic chemist who formulates skincare products for both individuals and companies…I know how the industry works very well.

A major misconception in the skincare world is that expensive products are better than drugstore/cheap ones. This is simply not true and the reasons are:

-When buying luxury skincare, you are not only paying for the product itself (ingredients, research, manufacturing, etc) but also for all the advertising, retailing locations’ rent, packaging, etc. I see this everyday, alas.

Many high end brands use the same ingredients as drugstore brands, but then they add what are called the “marketing ingredients”. These marketing ingredients are expensive, indeed, but they are added in such low amounts that they cannot justify the price tag. As a general rule, remember that even the most expensive product doesn’t cost more than $6 to make. It’s also important to point out that marketing ingredients being in such low amount don’t make any difference in how the product performs. They only affect the price.

In this particular case, Nivea cream contains many inexpensive ingredients such as mineral oil, paraffin, waxes, water, and octyldodecanol. While it’s true these ingredients are “old school” and inexpensive, it’s also true they work very well when it comes to moisturizing the skin. There’s no point in having a long list of expensive ingredients if they’re added at 0.01%. Such minuscule amount is definitely inadequate to produce any measurable benefit.

The high amount of occlusive ingredients (Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, Wax, Lanolin, Paraffin) makes the Nivea cream a very effective moisturizer.

In fact, being occlusive, they form a hydrophobic (=that repels water) film on the skin that cannot be easily washed off. This film prevents water loss, thus increasing skin moisture.

Therefore, Nivea cream is super moisturizing!

The thing is that unless you have super dry skin, you probably don't need to apply such a rich moisturizer.

Same thing if your skin is not dry but dehydrated.

Dehydrated skin lacks water to start with. Using occlusive agents won't make a difference. The only thing you'll notice is skin feels soft on surface.

Here are a couple of tips to recognize a good quality skincare product.

First you should look for active ingredients; with this I mean ingredients that have been scientifically proven to be effective, for example retinol, hyaluronic acid, kojic acid, or vitamin C (this list is not exhaustive).

If there are no active ingredients the product could either be:

• a very poor quality one, mainly composed of water;
• a product that doesn't address any particular skin concern, and therefore is only meant to preserve a skin which is already in good condition. Nivea cream won’t make you look younger or cure your eczema, but neither expensive products will. Nivea preserves what’s already in good conditions and given the ingredients list acts as an effective moisturizer.

You should look at where the active ingredients are located in the list. Remember that the ingredients are listed in descending order. If the active ingredients are towards the end, that's not a good sign. This means they're most likely present in such a low % that you wouldn't really notice a difference if they weren't there!

The number of ingredients is also important. As a general rule, the longer the ingredient list, the lower their relative %, the lower the benefits. In this case less is more.