Nivea Firming Q10 Plus Body Lotion

Disclosure: I received this product for free from... I can't remember. I'm not on Nivea's product sample list so I suspect this is a swag bag item. I do know that this lotion has been sitting in my bathroom closet for months and that earlier in July, I decided to give it a shot. After all, it's finally bare leg season and what could be better for bare legs than a lotion that promises to hydrate skin while also firming it?

According to Nivea, this lotion "noticeably improves the feeling of skin firmness within 2 weeks" while "instantly leav(ing) your skin feeling more elastic" and "strengthen(ing) the skin through moisturization." It archives all of this thanks to its inclusion of Q10, Creatine and L-Carnitine. Those three ingredients sound fancy but as the linked-to descriptions reveal, they are no guarantee of firmer skin.

Nivea recommends that you use this product at least once a day. I didn't quite follow those instructions but I did use it multiple times a week, for almost a month now, so I do feel that I've given this lotion a fair shot to wow me.

Let's start with the good. This is a reasonable moisturizer that kept dry skin at bay and left my skin hydrated looking and feeling. But there are lots of good body moisturizers out there. What's supposed to make this one special is its power to firm.

And in that area this product felt flat (loose?). Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I noticed no difference in the firmness of my skin while using this product; parts that were wobbly before are still wobbly.

As for its "more elastic" claim, I've never felt  that my skin lacks elasticity so I can't really comment on that claim.

This product runs around $10 a bottle, making the price reasonable for what you get. It's packaged in your typical plastic pump bottle, nothing special but hey, I did say it was only $10. The scent is also your typical "lotion" smell, that soft, light scent that reminds me a bit of baby powder.

Would I buy this product: Meh, probably not. It's an okay body lotion but there are better ones out there.

Should you buy this product: If what you're really after is firm skin, don't look to this product for miracles. But it is a reasonable, and affordable, body lotion.