However, there are a couple of things to be considered when dealing with such a market: legal impediments, exotic business practices, unusual consumption habits and logistic tricks. Cosmetic products consumption varies from one region and another, with some unique local characteristics. Studies have shown that consumption is higher in the south than in the north, much higher on the east coast than in the western regions, and higher in cities than in the countryside.

China’s large market of hair care products is generally recognised to be approaching saturation, as many consumers have developed the purchase pattern of switching between several known brands, making it difficult for new brands to enter the market. While the market of skin care products is actually more receptive towards new brands, confronting domestic brands with foreign ones. According to surveys conducted by International Market Insight (IMI), “well known brand“, “right price” and “product feature” are the major considerations of consumers when buying skin care products. Skin care products cover products with special functions such as whitening, freckle removing, anti-wrinkle and moisturising.

The make-up market is expected to further increase thanks to the growing number of female workers in the business and other service sectors. Meanwhile, the moderate perfume market is rather small in scale and slowly growing because only a very limited number of mainland consumers use perfume, with most of them being light users.
Statistics about China’s beauty market.

According to the country’s first annual report on the beauty sector, recently released by four young Chinese economists He Fan, Ba Shusong, Zhong Wei and Zhao Xiao: Within 21 years, from 1983 to 2004, the sales volume of China’s beauty businesses has increased 260 times. With a 15 per cent annual growth, the beauty sector is turning into another huge money-maker after the boom in the real estate, auto, electronics and tourism sectors.

China is currently home to 1.54 million beauty parlors and nearly 3,800 cosmetic companies, and almost 8 million people are actually working in beauty-related businesses, plus another 4 million whose jobs are connected to the sector (2005 est.) A survey of five major cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan, shows that the most popular beauty items include SPAs, stone massages, Yoga, foot massages and nail treatments.

As another example, Issey Miyake and Narcisso Rodriguez (Shiseido) ancillary lines have been touching on treatment skincare. A US research company senior analyst Maria Badescu told me than they are seeing the designer element across all three categories and we have seen the increases in designer fragrances, so they are watching this in skincare.

Maria describes the trend for designer’s skincare as still in its infancy. However, whether the designer name will have credibility to deliver on its promises like a doctor brand is not expected to hinder the brand. The is a question of credibility. With the likes of Chanel, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent well established across the beauty categories, Maria points out, having a designer footing does not disclaim such a brand. The challenge, however, will be selling skincare based on the mystic of the brand.

The mass market is making a lot of effectiveness claims so you really have to distinguish yourself from everyone else with a point of difference and something special to buy into and we do think that designers have that footing that they can build on.

Despite the abundance of activity in fragrance, the designer brand can capitalize on its name for new growth—albeit smaller growth—in the skincare area. We see that the longevity of having a good makeup and skincare brand can really shore up a brand and give it a full-pronged approach. With consumers looking for differentiation, the designer brand brings an element of exclusivity and its cachet of quality to the segment.

Furthermore, younger consumers are using more makeup and skincare products than in the past, with 80% claiming to use skincare before the age of 18 years. In the US, selective skincare represented $2.2bn in sales in 2006 compared to the $1.9bn for fragrances. Skincare is actually the category that is used more by women than any other beauty category. The global appeal of skincare cannot be ignored. The bottom line is that innovation is going to drive any category. And the arrival of designer names in the arena might at least broaden the scope of skincare.

Sophistication and spirituality

According to the stylist we meet, the natural beauty trend is the biggest. This will be reworked to have a more sophisticated edge. Spirituality and emphasis on inner beauty will become increasingly important as products cater to body rhythms and energy cycles, in ergonomic or eco-friendly designs. To the other extreme, the surgically inspired trend will become more laboratory-like and translate to new applications such as treatments in syringe-shaped packaging; colors and textures will be more advanced, lastly, we will see a return to a Retro 1940s look. But colors will be more audacious, and textures more brilliant.

From tweed to gouache

A french trend forecasting agency proposes 4 dominating themes in beauty. In a nod to the 1960s, the Playtime theme predicts a very graphic approach to cosmetics with bright colors, new shapes, and fashion merging evermore in makeup giving rise to jacquard and tweed patterns. From the realm of science fiction, Mutations probes into the stranger side of nature. It involves a play on contrasts, colors that change, and unconventional textures from sticky glosses to jelly-like elixirs. Natural beauty, under the Origins theme, goes ultra-modern: Colors become earthy, and textures take on a gouache or pasty aspect. Finally, the Epure theme suggest harmony and softness inspired by the Japanese art of living, with pure white products, porcelain-like sunscreens and snow-like powders.

Osmosis of the interior and the exteriorBeauty is so vast that it is turning to the more fundamental aspects—staying vital, staying healthy. Nutrition, wellbeing, emotions, and new parts of the body—like the skeleton or nervous system—will be key elements addressed in beauty. Skincare and makeup products that restructure and sculpt the body will translate to a new beauty ritual where the user is the artist. Surgically inspired beauty will become more refined, and more laboratory-like in its applications. Neutral shades (plasters, marble, metals, minerals, burnt blacks) with nuanced or light- effects will figure largely in the palettes.

Mineral makeup is made from naturally occurring minerals like iron oxides, mica powder and titanium dioxide. This means that the ingredients you are slathering on your face on a daily basis come straight from the earth, not from some chemist’s lab. Even better than liquid foundation that is usually sticky and messy, mineral eco-friendly makeup comes in an easy-to-apply powder which covers blemishes and other pesky skin problems flawlessly while still allowing it breathe. Using powder also means there are no nasty oils in your makeup, which is good news for people with extra sensitive skin. Mineral makeup is also less likely to clog your pores and a lot of mineral makeup includes built-in protection against the sun’s UVA/UVB rays, so your face will look stunning and you’ll be protected from the damaging affects of the sun. And forget worrying about your makeup running (powder can stay in place even on the most humid of summer days and is practically water and sweat proof!). Think about it: now you won’t have to layer on sunscreen, foundation and powder. You’ll save yourself time in front of the mirror in the morning and even some cash!

So, what’s wrong with all the other man-made stuff? Research has shown that the Food and Drug Administration in the United States allows ingredients in makeup that are highly chemically processed and man-made (including dyes that make your eyeshadow all those pretty shades!), some of which have been shown to cause a bunch of skin problems and even cancer in rare cases! When you get the man made stuff, you never know what you’re really putting on your face (and when you’ve only got one, it deserves lots of care). Most people who have switched to mineral makeup say they like it better than the conventional stuff they used to buy. For exemple, a majority of persons who have used an eco-friendly brand of lip or eye makeup prefer it over a conventional brand they have used in the past.

For over 25 years, L’Occitane has been using authentic and natural products, and rigorously selects ingredients with the greatest respect for Man, animals and the environment. All of the cosmetic products are formulated with the most natural ingredients available: pure essential oils and (preferably organic) vegetal extracts used as active ingredients. The selection of natural and traceable ingredients is the very core of the company’s product development.

An overwhelming majority of eco-friendly lip and eye makeup users feel that these eco-friendly brand are of higher quality than conventional ones. L’Occitane and Dr. Hauschka lip makeup users say that these brand perform and look better than a conventional brand.

You already have environmental pollutants seeping into your skin each day. Why enable more by using cosmetics and beauty products contaiing harsh chemicals, many of which you can’t even pronounce, much less spell ? Lucky for you, new brands of eco-friendly cosmetics and green beauty products are now available everywhere. These certifiably organic products not only shun ingredients like petrochemicals, synthetic preservaties, mineral oils, pesticide residues and genetically modified additives, but even support local communities where they are produced.

Natural skin care and organic skin care is good for us, the environment and for generations to come.