Not just in Europe the cosmetic market is changing rapidly. Fei Xu from Asia Cosme Labs talks about the trends in China you shouldn’t miss!
COSSMA: What are the biggest trends in cosmetics for the Chinese Market in 2025?
Fei Xu: In 2025, Chinese consumers will continue to demand highly effective beauty solutions that deliver visible results, pushing brands to innovate with cutting-edge formulations.
The derma beauty sector will remain vital, as concerns about sensitive, problematic, and post-procedure skin grow, driving demand for specific products. The limits of skinification will continue to be pushed, with consumers seeking added skincare benefits across all product categories, beyond the traditional scope of skincare.
Finally, creating enriched, engaging brand experiences will be crucial, as experience-driven shopping will play an even larger role in shaping purchasing choices.
How do they differ from the trends spotted for 2024?
In 2025, the focus on efficacy will expand as brands move beyond established active ingredients and introduce breakthrough ingredients from Korea and Japan–such as PDRN, exosomes, and NMN–that bring fresh competition to well-known actives. The derma beauty trend will broaden its reach from skincare to make-up and scalp care. As consumers with sensitive or fragile skin seek stability across product categories, they will expect derma-level benefits in their makeup and personalised formulations for diverse scalp needs, similar to skincare. Make-up is evolving to offer skincare-grade benefits, and scalp microbiome and longevity care will see advancements, while bodycare will continue aligning with skincare’s performance standards. Enhanced consumer experiences will be driven by AI-based technologies and immersive offline retail concepts, sparking curiosity and engaging multiple senses to elevate the overall experience.
What impact do these trends have on the consumers, the industry, and the market as a whole?
With Chinese consumers increasingly focused on problem-solving and efficacy, brands must deliver highly targeted, effective solutions to meet a spectrum of needs–from broad concerns to highly specific ones. This demand will drive the market toward greater segmentation, with more niche brands and specialised products emerging. Expect to see growth in areas like oily scalp treatments, personalised acne care, fragranced personal care, post-pregnancy hair loss, etc. as brands tailor offerings to address unique consumer preferences.
What trends can be relevant for markets outside of China too?
Efficacy elevating, skinification empowerment and derma beauty revolution.
What innovations can we look forward to in the future?
New ingredients and technologies on instant and continuous efficacy, penetration and skin feeling. Also, fragrance power in beauty products, as well as sustainability from ingredient, production and packaging design.
More Information
Fei Xu did present the session “Five game-changing beauty trends you can’t miss in China” at in-cosmetics Asia on Wednesday 6th November 2024. www.in-cosmetics.com/asia
Fei Xu
Market Intelligence Director – Asia Zone, Asia Cosme Lab,
www.asiacosmelab.com