Nivea () is a German
personal care brand, that specializes in skin- and body-care. It is owned by the
Hamburg based company
Beiersdorf Global AG. The company was founded on March 28, 1882, by pharmacist
Paul Carl Beiersdorf. In 1900, the new owner
Oscar Troplowitz developed a water-in-oil
emulsion as a skin cream with
Eucerit, the first stable emulsion of its kind. This was the basis for
Eucerin and later, Nivea.
Nivea comes from the
Latin word
niveus/nivea/niveum, meaning 'snow-white'.