The color cosmetics category in China is moving at a rapid pace. Many new local brands are launching on the market and the competition is heating up. For international companies, courting Chinese consumers means having a deep understanding of local mindsets, tastes and skin tones.
BEAUTYSTREAMS’ special “China Color Cosmetics Trends Report” presents marketing storytelling, makeup looks and packaging adapted to the Chinese market. The following are some highlights from that report.
Upcoming Color Trends: Chromatic Nature
Color trends draw on the lush beauty of nature’s own hues. This latest evolution sees a spectrum inspired by surreal winter landscapes, as textures and effects twist shades with touches of fantasy that will resonate with Chinese consumers.
Color directions include Silent Sky, a color group inspired by painterly landscapes which uses layering for subtle effects.
A simple, straightforward approach prevails within the cool, inviting brown palette of Winter Woods.
Murky Lake is a celebration of greens with delicate pearlescent effects and warm undertones.
Glow Orange is a vivid palette;a sumptuous and warm counterbalance to the overall coolness of the other palettes.
Storytelling Territories: Neo-Minimalism & Creative Digitalism
Taking into consideration the consumer mindset shifts, BEAUTYSTREAMS curated two stories for the Chinese market: Minify and Kooks. Seemingly contradictory, they will resonate with the diversity of the Chinese consumer taste spectrum.
The Minify story elevates the ”urge to purge.” Not to be misunderstood as minimalism, this is simplification at its purest, truest and most characterful. By only selectively holding onto objects that evoke a precious memory or bring happiness, layers of excess are removed to allow true personality to shine through.
The Kooks story invites us to experience the reality of the future where sci-fi becomes sci-real with limitless capabilities. The future is now, coming through in a transient, mid-place space where boundaries between what’s real and not are blurred.
Makeup Look Directions: Streamlined & Surreal
Developing the stories further, our Studio team in Paris and Sydney created original directions for makeup, hair and nail looks. Curated specifically for Chinese consumer skin tones and regional tastes, Minify looks see astute downsizers creating a refined style with a pared-back product list. By streamlining, they focus on the essential, proving that downsizing doesn’t mean empty, dull or minimal, but rather honest and transparent. This results in powerful, striking looks, that revel in personality.
In the Kooks story, makeup looks are treated like superheroes. We present an imaginary superhero character whose power is to exert control over optical effects and illusions, creating a surreal version of reality. This is captured in Kook’s makeup, hair and nail looks.
Packaging Trends: Sustainable Simplicity & Holistic Futurism
Packaging trend directions for the Minify story reflects consumers’ growing desire to edit down their environment and possessions to their most functional, stylish essentials. The idea is that the objects they do keep are useful, sustainable and convey a personality, as well as a point of view. When it comes to packaging design, Minify promotes natural materials, spare decoration, and flat, neutral colors. Indeed, some of the packaging materials are compostable, so they can become part of the earth again when discarded, rather than needing to be recycled. Minify illustrates that sustainable simplicity can tell a compelling design story.
The Kooks story explores a liminal world in which digital fantasy and reality converge. This universe appeals to the young Kooks consumer who is accustomed to a world in which such boundaries are increasingly obscured. The concept’s hyper-real, pearl surfaces could only have been created in the digital space, while its shapes take the form of avatars, which change and morph in response to the user’s well-being. Surfaces have a calming, futuristic quality, ideal for a virtual world conceived with well-being in mind.
This article is an excerpt from our China Color Cosmetics Trend Report. The report presents key consumer mindset shifts in China now and in the upcoming years. Marketing storytelling concepts are explored and developed into original looks for makeup, hair, and nails, based on Chinese tastes and skin tones. In addition, packaging trend directions are also featured.
The report includes:
• China Consumer Mindset Shifts
• Upcoming Color Directions
• Storytelling Theme: Minify
• Colors & Concepts
• Original Looks: Make-up, Hair, Nail Directions
• Packaging Trend Directions
• Storytelling Theme: Kooks
• Colors & Concepts
• Original Looks: Makeup, Hair, Nail Directions
• Packaging Trend Directions
For more information on this report: contact@beautystreams.com; www.beautystreams.com.
