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Will beauty be next industry where China competes with Korea?
A woman applies lipstick at a cosmetics shop at a shopping mall in Beijing in this February 2024 photo. AFP-Yonhap
By Lee Yeon-woo
China’s cosmetics brands, stepping out of K-beauty’s shadow, set sights on global markets
HONG KONG — Like many of her peers, Xie Roumei, a 28-year-old accountant from China’s Fujian province, started using Korean cosmetics in high school — a preference she carried into her 20s.
Most of the eye makeup and beauty products she uses are still Korean, Xie said. Such loyalty has helped turn the country’s cosmetics industry into a global powerhouse, with exports rivaling those of semiconductors and cars.
Fueled by the global appeal of K-pop, K-dramas and the “glass skin” ideal, the industry has logged record growth in recent years, making Korea the world’s second-largest cosmetics exporter behind France.
But it may still be too early to pop the champagne. Recent data and analysis suggest that China is quietly expanding its own footprint in global markets, supported by strong domestic demand in the sector and a more aggressive push overseas.
According to customs data, China’s cosmetics exports totaled $3.99 billion in the first 11 months of 2025, an 8.7 percent increase from a year earlier.
That still trailed Korea, whose exports reached a record $10.3 billion over the same period, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to official data. But the gap has narrowed. China’s cosmetics imports fell 3.4 percent to $11.63 billion, a sign that domestic brands are capturing more market share on their home turf.
“Chinese beauty brands may arguably already exceed K-beauty in absolute value and consumer reach,” said Chloe Zhu, a consultant at Euromonitor International. “The scale of local demand provides a structural advantage that few other markets can match.”
While market watchers expect another record year for Korea’s cosmetics industry, whose exports are projected to reach more than 200 countries, Chinese growth is accelerating. Between 2020 and 2024, Korean beauty, makeup and skin care exports rose about 6 percent annually, well below China’s 18 percent annual increase, according to the International Trade Centre.
“Korean cosmetics are still very popular in China, but the texture and color payoff feel quite similar,” Xie said. “I don’t think there’s a huge difference anymore.”
Customers shop at a duty free shopping mall in Sanya, Hainan province, in southern China, in November 2025. Xinhua-Yonhap
From patriotic buying to global push
The rise of Chinese cosmetics can be traced to the phenomenon of “guochao,” a wave of patriotic consumption that emerged in the late 2010s when consumers gravitated toward products rooted in domestic heritage and aesthetics.
By 2024, local beauty companies accounted for 55.7 percent of domestic market share, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency — a shift that came at the expense of foreign brands.
Korea was hit particularly hard. Following the 2016 deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, an unofficial ban on Korean cultural exports and consumer products forced a partial retreat from the Chinese market.
Once the largest destination for Korean cosmetics exports, China’s share plunged from 69 percent to 23 percent between 2022 and 2025, according to Euromonitor data.
Yet as domestic consumption slows and competition intensifies at home, China’s cosmetics industry is now entering a second phase: rapid expansion overseas.
In March last year, Ushopal Group completed its acquisition of Payot, a French skin care brand with more than a century of history and a presence in more than 70 markets.
Mao Geping, a high-end cosmetics brand known for incorporating traditional Chinese aesthetics, also announced plans to expand internationally through department store counters and online channels.
In October, Flower Knows — a Chinese beauty brand known for its princess-style packaging — opened its first pop-up store in Seoul and launched an official online mall, marking a notable step into the Korean market.
Growing consumer trust is allowing Chinese brands to move into premium segments, challenging the perception that they compete only on price, analysts said. The strategy mirrors a familiar Chinese playbook: Companies keep prices competitive while rapidly narrowing gaps in product quality and functionality — an approach that has helped firms gain ground in many of the world’s most competitive export sectors.
“Only a handful of brands can realistically compete with the speed and scale at which local Chinese brands are investing and responding to the market today,” a China-based official at a leading Korean cosmetics company said on condition of anonymity.
Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, third from right, talks with officials from a Korean cosmetics company in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 6, 2025. Courtesy of theMinistry of Trade, Industry and Resources
Partial rivalry?
Despite the rise of Chinese brands, the two countries are not quite competing head to head. Skin care continues to dominate Korea’s exports, while Chinese firms have found early success in color cosmetics — a category that typically demands less brand loyalty and appeals to trend-driven consumers.
“I could try new styles at relatively low prices by buying Chinese products like eyeshadow and false eyelashes through platforms such as Temu and AliExpress,” said Hong Ju-mi, a theatrical makeup artist based in Seoul.
But she said she remains hesitant to try new skin care products from overseas, as she is uncertain about their long-term effects.
That story is a familiar one to Chinese brands like Perfect Diary and Florasis. These firms have gained market share but continue to struggle to attract comparable traffic in the more expensive skin care and premium categories, said Catherine Lim, a senior equity analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence who specializes in China’s retail and e-commerce sectors.
Breaking into these segments, she added, would require sustained consumer trust — a point echoed by Vincentia Vania Natasha, who works in overseas sales and marketing at a Korean beauty company.
“Today, Korean and Chinese cosmetics are in a very similar price range, so price is no longer the key differentiator,” she said. “What truly sets Korean skin care apart is its long-term presence in the global market over 15 years of accumulated trust.”
Korean brands also possess other distinct advantages, with industry insiders citing strong brand identity, cultural appeal and global distribution networks.
Korean companies have already achieved significant success in affluent Western markets and, in recent years, have diversified exports to establish stronger footholds in the Middle East and South America.
The global popularity of Korean cultural exports has created a halo effect for the industry, reinforced by a growing influx of international visitors seeking aesthetic and skin care treatments. Analysts said this could bolster long-term export demand by strengthening brand recognition abroad.
Improved bilateral relations could also boost the prospects of a Korean comeback in the Chinese market. First lady Kim Hea Kyung attended a beauty event in Shanghai on Jan. 7, promoting Korean cosmetics on the sidelines of President Lee Jae Myung’s trip to the country.
First lady Kim Hea Kyung, left, applies Korean cosmetic products to Chinese singer Cao Lu, a former K-pop idol, at a K-beauty promotion event in Shanghai, Jan. 7. Joint Press Corps
Turning culture into commerce?
As Korean brands lean on reputation and global trust, Chinese firms have adopted bold marketing strategies and eye-catching packaging. Platforms like Douyin and TikTok serve the industry by amplifying dramatic, doll-like makeup looks grounded in distinctly Chinese aesthetics for global audiences.
That success is most evident in Southeast Asia, where youthful demographics and rising disposable income are fueling demand for affordable beauty products.
Across six regional markets — Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines — Chinese brands recorded compound annual growth rates of 115 percent in mass-market skin care and 111 percent in facial care between 2019 and 2024, according to Euromonitor data.
Laura Pageault, a graduate student in France, first discovered Chinese cosmetics during a recent trip to Southeast Asia. What began with a single product has since evolved into an entire skin care routine — from moisturizer and retinol serum to makeup remover and clay masks — exclusively using Chinese brands.
“I’m still observing their effectiveness over the longer term, but so far I’ve been quite satisfied with the products,” she said.
To truly compete on the global stage, however, Chinese brands must identify a “cultural carrier” that boosts global brand recognition, comparable to the likes of K-pop, said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
He pointed to China’s micro dramas — which run for just a few minutes per episode, with fast-paced storylines and frequent plot twists — as one possible avenue. The industry reached an audience of 662 million in China in 2024, rivaling film and television, and the short series have gained traction internationally.
“If actresses in popular dramas wear Chinese makeup, it could benefit those Chinese brands commercially,” he said.
Ji Siqi from the South China Morning Post contributed to this article.