Chemist tests $380 Crème de la Mer and $7 Nivea to see which is better — and got shocking results

It’s the crème de la copycat.

In the age of anti-aging, mostly everyone wants moist, supple skin — but at what cost?

While eccentric extremists are spending upwards of $2 million to maintain a “baby face” youthfulness, Gen Zs and Gen Alphas in their early twenties and younger are blowing their tooth fairy money on rejuvenators and collagen boosters amid the controversial #SephoraKids trend.

But for fully grown folks on a budget — for whom spending their hard-earned money on high-quality products is key — a skincare savant put designer moisturizer Crème de la Mer, which can cost as much as $2,675 for a 16-ounce jar, up against a $7 tub of Nivea Soft.

And the results sent jaws dropping.

“To the lab!” exclaimed cosmetic chemist Carley Musleh, from London, in her explosively viral experiment.

The sassy scientist, who cooked up over 4 million TikTok views on her crème comparison clip, stitched her footage alongside a video shared by Irish podcaster Annie Mac, 45. In the on-air personality’s post, she claimed that Nivea’s cost-effective, super-hydrating offering was nothing more than Crème de La Mer’s lotion packaged in different wrapping.

“It is gorgeous,” raved Mac of Nivea Soft’s qualities. “It‘s funny how [packaging] and marketing can kind of change your mind about something.”

“This is the sh- -t,” she lauded.

And Musleh’s head-to-head evaluation of two lubricants basically backed Mac’s appraisal.

“I weighed both the creams and applied them to the squares,” said the chemist in the clip. The blonde tested the rubs in tiny boxes she drew on her own arm.

After 45 minutes, she had an answer as to which balm was actually the bomb.

“In the hydration test, Crème de La Mer had an increase of 23%,” revealed Musleh, “whereas Nivea Soft had a 95% increase.”

She noted, however, that Nivea’s high moisture reading could be due to its high water content — “Aqua” is listed as the cosmetic’s top ingredient.

And although the less expensive item reigned as the moisturizing champion, the researcher determined that each salve boasted a nearly identical percentage of transepidermal water loss, or TEWL. It’s a measurement that represents the amount of water that escapes from the outermost layer of the skin.

Musleh explained that a higher amount of TEWL in a product begets a higher risk for dry and damaged derma.

Before concluding her investigation, Musleh placed both brands under the microscope to find that Crème de la Mer is comprised of a “tight matrix” and “closely pack globules,” she said can be an “indication of good stability.” Nivea Soft was quite the opposite.

The two applications do, however, consist of extremely similar ingredients.

But Crème de la Mer’s use of algae extract — which is said to be anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and brightening — slightly sets it apart.

And that’s all skinflint skincare lovers needed to know.

“I’m buying Nivea Soft,” vowed a budget-conscious beauty buff.

“Nivea is outstanding!! That’s all I have ever used and I’m 50. Forget the serums and fancy stuff,” cheered a separate fan of the drugstore goody.

“La Mer is not [worth] the hype!,” another alleged.

“I am 63 and all I ever used is Nivea,” bragged a boomer. “My skin is excellent.”