From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NIVEA is a large global skin- and body-care brand, owned by German company Beiersdorf. The company began in 1911 when Beiersdorf developed a water-in-oil emulsifier as a skin cream with Eucerit, the first stable emulsion of its kind. The company's owner, Oskar Troplowitz, named it NIVEA, from the Latin word nivius (meaning snow-white).

During the 1930s, Beiersdorf began producing products such as suntan lotions, shaving creams, shampoo and facial toners. The trademark "NIVEA" was expropriated in many countries following WWII. Beiersdorf completed buying back the confiscated trademark rights in 1997.

Internationalisation during the 1980s propelled the NIVEA brand to a wider global market.

For the teens and younger users of Nivea, Nivea has developed a sub-brand named "Nivea Visage Young". The range of products in this campaign include face cleansers (usually as a blue-ish gel)/scrubs/toner rich in sea minerals to help refine young skin. There is also a light-weight tinted moisturizer "Be Beautiful" to help cover some blemishes and refine your skin tone, without the feeling of wearing heavier makeup, like foundation. For those who do not prefer to wear tinted/coloured facial moisturizers, there is also a colourless facial moisturizer that is rich in sea minerals and helps control undesired oil. This moisturizer is called "Control It". Nivea Visage Young products are claimed to be "refreshing" and "refining".

• After WWI, NIVEA remodelled its cream in a blue tin with a white logo.
• During WWII, then marketing manager Elly Heuss-Knapp distanced the brand from Nazi ideology. In 1949 she became the First Lady of Germany as spouse to Theodor Heuss.
• In 1956, a customer claimed that using a NIVEA product had dissolved their hair and caused it to fall out. The claims were acquitted within weeks.

• Official site
• Nivea at Beiersdorf
• Nivea tin design