Nivea Men Post Shave Balm

Do I even need to explain myself at this point? Unless you haven’t checked Instagram, YouTube, beauty forums, or beauty blogs in the last couple of months then surely you have heard of the  Nivea Men Post Shave Balm and its use as a makeup primer. It sounds crazy yes, but when this idea began to gain traction late last year I decided to jump on the bandwagon. I have been using this for about two months now and finally remembered to jot down my experience.

The idea is that this product contains a large amount of glycerin, the ingredient in makeup primers that makes makeup stay, hence it can act as a primer. Sounds like hopeful hogwash but a bottle of this is only around $5 at Target so I tried it.

The bottle is made of glass which instantly makes it feel…not drugstore-like. It doesn’t have a pump so you have to be careful when pouring it out as you only need a pea-sized amount and it is very thin and runny.

It does smell like aftershave and some people find that very off-putting but I pay no attention. I quite like the smell and forget about quickly, I don’t notice it after my makeup is done and neither do those around me. I’m sure of that, I asked. Just something to keep in mind if you are sensitive to smells.

Acting as a primer this is supposed to increase  the longevity of your makeup, and some people swear that this is great for controlling facial oil. I did several half and half tests (half face with this on and half without it) to see how this worked for my oily skin.

In my experience I did find that it increased the wear time of my makeup, namely blush and contour, though not dramatically. It is not as though one side of my face was completely faded and the other side looked vibrant with blush, no. It was subtle and probably something only I noticed. As for controlling my facial oil, negative.

Maybe it’s my skin type but not once in my two months of use did I notice it prolong my makeup in any way that wowed me. I keep using it because I have it so might as well plus I like the extra hydration it gives me in the morning. I won’t be re-buying.

If you’ve tried it, let me know how it worked out for you!

Bis gleich!