Nivea Express Hydration Body Lotion.

When it comes to certain products I am a creature of habit and will only use the same thing. Case in point my body lotion. As a Black woman, my skin is prone to the dreaded ash (especially after a shower or any kind of water/cold has come into contact with it), meaning that when it comes to moisturiser, I can’t just pick up any old lotion off the shelf as these tend to be very thin, not hydrating at all (!!), and obviously just not meant for my skin. Because of this, I have been using Vaseline’s Intensive Care Aloe body lotion for the last god-knows how many years. It has always been incredibly reliable when it comes to keeping my skin glowy, moisturised… oh and brown. The only downside is that a 400g bottle can cost upwards of £5 and unless I’m lucky enough to snag two bottles during Superdrug’s “better than half price” sales, it’s rare that I will actually spend that much on it.

So anyway, a few weeks ago I ran out of my beloved Vaseline and Superdrug hadn’t had one of their sales. As I’m a creature of habit and only trust Vaseline to look after my skin, I thought I’d gamble with Sainsbury’s (my backup when it comes to skincare) who usually have some in stock – but unfortunately, they did not have any. I came across this Nivea body lotion as well as the Rich Nourishing moisturiser and the Rose & Argan oil moisturiser. After a super quick google, I settled on the Express Hydration (had it been winter time I probably would have picked up the Rich Nourishing one). Did I forget to mention that it was also only £3.50??!!

I have to admit that I was really sceptical at first (see the first paragraph) and didn’t really expect this lotion to do very much. You could say I threw this product in at the deep end because the first time I used it was right after a shower (again see first paragraph), but then something unexpected happened. Though it felt really thin in my hands, it absorbed really quickly into my skin. At first I didn’t think it did much, but the next morning my skin was BROWN! Usually when I moisturise after a shower, my skin goes kind of grey before I apply another layer of lotion, but not this time. This time I woke up with brown skin (huzzah!) AND skin so soft and smooth I felt like a baby all over again. Over the next few days of using the lotion, my skin maintained its powdery brown softness.

The only thing I don’t really like is the smell, but aside from that, so far so good! I’ll definitely start making the switch from Vaseline to Nivea, and next time I’ll be on the lookout for the other two moisturisers.

alice