I’d be hard pushed to remember a time in my childhood when a pot of Nivea wasn’t present in our house. My mum used it for a variety of things (probably to stop doors squeaking or something similar) including as a face cream but it wasn’t her ‘proper’ face cream (that was Olay when it was still Oil of Ulay). It was just considered a househould neccessity and was rightly or wrongly rubbed on dry skin, sore hands, sun burn, chapped lips, the cat’s bum and dog paws too – my point is that it was just ‘there’.
I seem to remember that it was in a tin like the one below and always liked to open a new tin with the foil seal over the top.
The brand has come a long way since then, diversifying into all kindsa things, including men’s grooming products. One stroke of manly genius is a Nivea For Men shower product called Active 3 that acts as shampoo, body wash and shave lotion all-in-one. That is such a blokey thing.
This year is Nivea’s 100th birthday, so, not only is Rhianna on board as brand ambassador, but there is a very cool competition over on ASOS, launching 18th April (make a diary date because it’s going to be a really popular one), where 50 winners a week can win one of four rather beautiful black or white dresses. The tie-in is of course Nivea’s Invisible Deoderant that leaves black clothes with no white marks and white clothes with none of that horrible yellow under arm staining.
While to me, Nivea is always going to be in my head as that little navy tin full of cure-all, I’ve had to update my Nivea notions temporarily with the introduction of a limited edition collection with designs from Joseph Font (you’ll have seen Lady Gaga wearing his creations – and no, I don’t think it was the meat dress or the freak pod) launching in April. Nivea Soft is the world’s best selling Nivea product, with 13 sold in the UK every minute. The container isn’t a tin, but the peel back foil is still there (jazzed up a bit of course) and the very familiar Nivea smell still seems to be exactly the same and takes me right back home.
Happy Birthday, Nivea and thanks for helping with the cat.
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