When I was researching for my Creme De La Mer post, I discovered there is a skin cream that is very similar to the super pricy cult favorite. While Creme De La Mer now costs $125 for a one ounce jar, Nivea Creme only costs 99 cents for a tin of it, or up to a whopping $6.99 for a 6 ounce jar!
Nivea Cremedoesn’t contain algae extract, which is what La Mer touts as its star ingredient, but tons of products contain this, so it’s not a special ingredient at all. I stay far, far away from algae extract, since it’s very pore-clogging, so I wouldn’t even use Creme De La Mer if I had the money.
Besides algae extract, the two creams have the same identical main ingredients, in the same order! Creme De La Mer has some extra antioxidants in it, but since it’s in a jar, once air hits it, they will be ineffective. Get this - even the scent of the two products is the same! They both have a floral, Grandmother-y scent - I don’t know how else to describe it.
The main ingredients of the two products are: Water, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Microcrystalline Wax, Lanolin Alcohol, and Paraffin. This is sort of hilarious, because Nivea Creme has been around since 1911, and it hasn’t changed its formula since then! Not only does Creme De La Mer rip off a company’s product, but they choose a product that has the most basic, cheap ingredients ever, and charge 100 times more for it.
My experience testing the products
I bought a tin of the Nivea Creme, and have to say that I really like it! Despite the fact that it doesn’t have antioxidants, or anything special in it, it works great on my super dry skin, and it works better than most moisturizers for me. It’s a very heavy cream, and I would only recommend it for dry skin. It also works great as an eye cream. After using it at night, I woke up looking great, and it goes fine under makeup. Even though it’s such a heavy cream, it doesn’t clog pores, so it should be okay for acne-prone skin.
I bought the tin version, but it’s not exactly sanitary, since you have to stick your hand in it over and over, so I would recommend the tube version instead. I don’t like the floral scent, but it’s not that strong.
After trying the Nivea Creme, I stopped by Neiman Marcus and swiped a glob of the Creme De La Mer to try. I rubbed it on my hand, and couldn’t believe that it really did look, feel, and smell just like the Nivea Creme! Even though it’s just a moisturizer, Creme De La Mer pretends it’s a wrinkle cream as well.
The safety of the two products
Despite the fact that I like how the Nivea Creme works, there’s sort of bad news. Nivea Creme contains Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone, which are preservatives that are known to be possibly unsafe. Creme De La Mer contains the same ingredient, but it’s labeled Kathon CG instead. I am now torn, because I like how cheap and effective the Nivea Creme is, but it’s sort of dumb to keep using it when there are plenty of products out there that don’t contain these preservatives. I will have to read up more on these ingredients, because I just learned about them this week.
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January 17th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Good job researching this! I also like Eurcerin but it’s greasy and Aveeno.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I look forward to what you have to say about the preservatives in these products…. I have a few dry, scaly spots on my face and I’m hoping this would be a good fix for them. Let me know what you find out!
January 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Argh - I posted my Nivea cream comment on the wrong post… sorry! I highly endorse it, though! Great stuff.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
You are reading my minds!I have just been testing and comparing both creams for the past few weeks! I’ve known the traditionally good Nivea for years and use it for drier parts of my face and the eye area as well.Haven’t found any better replacement cream than Nivea yet!Few weeks ago I decided to buy CDLM. I like it but have to agree with you that it’s nearly identical with Nivea and much,much more pricey…With CDLM we pay for their pricey marketing but a lot of generations know that Nivea doesn’t need any huge advertisements because Nivea sells itself!
January 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
interesting! just the other day i was reading about the CDLM and sorta wanted a jar to myself.
thanks for letting us know!
January 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am
[…] Savvy Skin tells you how you can Get a $125 Wrinkle Cream for 99 Cents. […]
January 19th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Oh my Word! I just bought this last night at Ulta and used in on those annoying dry spots on my face. I woke up to what I consider sheer miraculous! The dry spots have been healed.
I could have saved myself a lot of moolah… I can’t even count the amount of moisturizers I’ve purchased the last year or so trying to solve by dry skin problem.
January 19th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Methylchloroisothiazolinone is a common ingredient in shampoos & conditioners. I don’t know about the safety level of it or Methylisothiazolinone but I do know that both my grandmother and my aunt who live in Norway have always sworn by Nivea and have wrinkle-free, baby bottom-smooth skin. Maybe it’s the preservatives? I think there are more harmful toxins in our air that we should worry about.
January 19th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
From Wiki:
Methylisothiazolinone:
In 2004, after receiving additional studies, the European Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-Food Products Intended for Consumers concluded “The SCCNFP is of the opinion that the proposed use of Methylisothiazolinone as a preservative at a maximum concentration of 0.01% (100 ppm) in the finished cosmetic product does not pose a risk to the health of the consumer.”
Methylchloroisothiazolinone:
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), does not list methylchloroisothiazolinone as a known, probable or possible human carcinogen[3], nor have in vivo tests found evidence of carcinogenic activity. Methylchloroisothiazolinone is an allergen.
So there you go!
January 19th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
A few months ago, a plastic surgeon told me the same thing…La Mer has a great marketing machine behind it.
That said, Jeni, I do agree with you in your assessment of the ingredients. You really (REALLY) want to be careful because some of those ingredients are bad news.
Gisele
January 20th, 2008 at 12:18 am
KattG,
It was wikipedia.com that I went to to research those ingredients! haha. I think I might have read the info wrong when I read it the first time. Paula Begoun (author of “Don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me”) says those ingredients are “sensitizing” but I don’t know what that means. I just slathered my face in Nivea tonight, so I’m obviously not too afraid!
January 20th, 2008 at 9:36 am
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January 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Thanks to you I grabbed a little tin of Nivea at Longs last night to try it out. My skin was super nice and smooth when I woke up this morning! For less than $1 (my friend works at Longs so he got it cheaper) I now have a good night cream for Winter! Thanks!
January 21st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
[…] Savvy Skin tells you how you can Get a $125 Wrinkle Cream for 99 Cents. […]
January 28th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Do you have Astral over there? It is similar to Nivea and in the UK costs about the same. Main ingredients: Aqua, liquid paraffin, glycerin, paraffin, lanolin, ozokerite, petrolatum.
It really smooths out any dry patches and it doesn’t clog pores. It doesn’t have either of the preservatives you mention.
http://www.astral-cream.co.uk/
I haven’t tried Nivea on my face so can’t give a comparison, but I recommend trying it if you can find it.
I’m glad I have never bought CDLM, it is even more expensive over here.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Hi!I got the most relevant knowledge about Nivea Creme, and have to say that really liked it! Despite the fact that it doesn’t have antioxidants, or anything special in it, it works great on my super dry skin, and it works better than most moisturizers.Most creams are also used to prevent the appearance of wrinkles due to aging by removing dead skin cells in order to reveal the younger skin beneath.Thanks!
January 31st, 2008 at 2:46 am
Inspired by your post, I went and bought a jar for myself - I live in Sweden but I figured the formula would be the same. But now that I compare the ingredients, “my” Nivea creme doesn’t contain those preservatives - actually, it says “no preservatives” on the jar itself too. Would that change the effect of the cream or is it just a plus?
(My ingredients list:
Aqua, Paraffinum Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Glycerin, Lanolin Alcohol (Eucerit), Panthenol, Decyl Oleate, Octyldodecanol, Aluminium Stearates, Citric Acid, Magnesium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Parfum, Limonene, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol )
January 31st, 2008 at 3:05 am
Kay,
I have read how that Nivea Creme doesn’t contain those preservatives in some countries outside of the US. I have read most people prefer the creme that you have (to the one sold in the US) so that’s probably a good thing. But if it comes in a tin, you would think they would need preservatives to keep the product fresh, but somehow it must remain fresh, or they wouldn’t sell it!
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
I love Nivea creme. I have both the USA Nivea made in Mexico and the German nivea. The German nivea is the best in my opinion. It sinks into my skin nicely and gives me a satin look under make up. It also does not have that Methylchloroisothiazolinone stuff. It is way healthier. Luckly, we have a German shop here in AZ and they carry the 400 ml for 14 bucks. I have converted myself to only German made Nivea now.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
It “. . .is a preservative with antibacterial and antifungal effects.” What’s somewhat scary is that “in high concentrations it can cause chemical burns and it is a skin and membrane irritant.” So make sure you rinse your hair once your done.