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Executive summary
- Definitions
- What you need to know
- China’s women’s facial skincare market size and forecast
- Market factors
- Three key opportunities in women’s facial skincare
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Market overview
- Post-pandemic, China’s cosmetics market growth has recovered, slight growth expected in 2025
- Graph 1: total retail sales of cosmetics, 2015-25
- Graph 2: year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of cosmetics, 2015-25
- In a mature market with clear demand, affordability and premiumisation trends evolve in tandem
- Graph 3: volume sales of women’s facial skincare on Tmall, by price band, 2023-25
- Graph 4: volume sales of women’s facial skincare on Douyin, by price range, 2023-25
- Market size and forecast
- The women’s facial skincare market sees a modest recovery after reaching a nadir
- Graph 5: retail sales and growth rate for women’s facial skincare, 2020-25
- The women’s facial skincare market will maintain slow but sustainable growth
- Graph 6: best- and worst-case forecast of the retail value of the women’s facial skincare market, 2020-30
- Market factors
- 2025 sees significant trading down in facial skincare
- Graph 7: plan to trade up and down in facial skincare, 2023-25
- Domestic skincare brands win on value, international brands tied to premium brand images
- Graph 8: women’s preference for domestic facial skincare brands, 2022-25
- Graph 9: women’s perceptions of domestic and international beauty brands, 2024-25
- Driven by the pursuit of quality, the proportion of heavy users has increased
- Graph 10: skincare routine preferences, 2022 vs 2025
- Graph 11: number of facial skincare products used in the last six months, 2023-25
- Facial skincare stockpiles have been used up, usage and purchase regain their healthy glow
- Facial skincare usage rates are basically stable, with stratified demand for different products indicating a static market
- Graph 12: usage of facial skincare products, 2023-25
- Growth in China’s skincare market depends on generating marketing buzz through new ingredient stories
- Graph 13: share of representative ingredients in new facial skincare products, 2015-25*
- Graph 14: engagement with representative ingredients in facial skincare on social media, 2024-25*
- Supply side: competing on evidence yields limited returns due to cognitive cost of understanding the research
- Graph 15: factors enhancing the efficacy of skincare products, 2025
- Consumers know little of obscure skincare technologies, which they view with suspicion
- Demand side: efficacy remains the primary pursuit in skincare, while skin health and emotional skincare emerge as differentiators
- Graph 16: purchase factors for facial skincare, 2023-25
- Focus on both enhancing the skin and boosting mood: skincare leads to improved skin, resulting in increased confidence, vim and vigour
- Market share
- Tmall: premium international brands gain significant market share, indicating that there is still demand for premium skincare among consumers
- Douyin: premium domestic and international brands both make gains, indicating demand for skincare products at different price points
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The consumer
- Skincare for diverse scenarios: an emerging demand in a saturated market
- Consumers have distinct skincare needs for different scenarios, especially younger women
- Graph 17: attitude towards scenario-based skincare, 2025
- Morning and evening skincare routines differ
- Meet consumer demand with differentiated skincare solutions delivering efficiency in the morning and ritual in the evening
- The potential of other skincare occasions besides morning and evening has begun to emerge
- Innovation and future opportunities in scenario-based skincare in China
- Medium term: provide skincare solutions for outdoor sports enthusiasts in specific environments
- Long-term: products tailored to different skincare needs during menstrual cycles have a strong scenario-based emphasis and seem more caring
- Healthy skin is the ideal to strive for, but longer term, strategise on longevity
- Consumers believe that sensitive skin is unhealthy…
- Graph 18: skin sensitivity, 2023-25
- Graph 19: criteria for identifying sensitive skin, 2024
- …and healthy skin is perfect
- US consumers are also mainly focused on enhancing their appearance rather than addressing skin issues
- Graph 20: share of new facial skincare products with skin health claims, 2020-25
- Graph 21: reasons for treating skin conditions, 2024
- Brands currently define healthy skin negatively, creating a gap with consumers’ perceptions
- Consumers pursuing healthy skin focus more on signs of ageing, prefer sun protection and high-performance products
- Graph 22: skin issues of concern for those focusing on skin health, 2024
- Graph 23: facial skincare product usage by people focusing on skin health, 2024
- Examples of product innovation based on the above insights
- Consumers focused on skin health – profile and needs
- Innovation in skin health in skincare in the Chinese market and future opportunities
- Medium term: establish a link between anti-ageing and skin health in claims for high-efficacy products such as facial creams and serums
- Long term: strategise for skin longevity, utilising cutting-edge scientific research to enhance the skin while engaging in brand building related to skin health and skin longevity
- Escape the vortex of excessive competition on efficacy through emotional skincare
- Emotional issues remain high, skin affected as a result
- Graph 24: proportion of population with emotional issues, 2021-25
- Graph 25: top five impacts of emotional issues, 2025
- Female consumers hope to boost their mood through skincare
- Graph 26: proportion of consumers using skincare to boost their mood, 2024
- Mood-boosting skincare enhances the overall experience
- Focus on skin feel, temperature and scent, and align with day-night differentiation to reach target consumers with maximum efficiency
- Graph 27: features of skincare products with emotional value, 2025
- Scent and texture represent the language of mood-boosting skincare and directly embody the emotional skincare experience
- Women aged 30-39 are more enamoured with emotional skincare
- Consumers who focus on emotional skincare are more concerned with skintone issues and have a preference for products with unique textures
- Graph 28: skin issues of concern for those interested in emotional skincare, 2024
- Graph 29: facial skincare preferences for those interested in emotional skincare, 2024
- Examples of product innovation based on the above insights
- Consumers focused on emotional skincare – profile and needs
- Innovation and future opportunities in emotional skincare in China
- Medium term: start with the emotional issues that affect the skin
- Long-term: create visually appealing and fun skincare brands
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New product trends
- Facial/neck care remains a key sub-category for new launches in facial skincare
- Graph 30: new women’s facial skincare launches, by sub-category, 2021-25
- Innovation cools, with the share of new products decreasing each year
- Graph 31: new launches in women’s facial skincare, by launch type, 2021-25
- In this static market, rankings of efficacy claims remain essentially fixed, with a slight increase in repair and anti-ageing
- Examples of product innovation based on the above insights
- Essences, oils and water textures rising for nearly five years
- Graph 32: new launches in women’s facial skincare, by main formats and textures, 2021-25
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Appendix – data supplement, market size and forecast, methodology and abbreviations
- Younger consumers are more concerned about pores, acne and dark eye circles, older consumers signs of ageing and skintone
- Graph 33: skin issues, 2023-25
- Graph 34: skin issues, by age, 2025
- A damaged skin barrier and perceived sensitivity are specific skin issues and linked to inappropriate skincare practices
- Graph 35: skincare routine preferences among those with damaged skin barriers and self-assessed sensitivity, 2025
- Graph 36: number of facial skincare products used, by damaged skin barrier and self-assessed sensitivity , 2025
- Build on efficacy-forward skincare to provide diverse skincare combinations in response to diverging skincare needs
- Graph 37: [no title]
- Graph 38: [no title]
- Consumers have different skincare experiences and solutions due to variations such as seasonal changes, outdoor activities and cosmetic treatments
- Information on qualitative research respondents
- Market size and forecast
- Methodology
As the market reaches saturation, the growth of women's facial skincare will increasingly rely on insights into real consumer needs. Occasion-based skincare, defining longevity through skin health and emotional skincare will become key directions driving new growth.
Yali Jiang, Associate Director, China Insights
Market Definitions
This Report covers products in the following categories:
- Facial cleanser, facial toner/softener, facial moisturiser/emulsion/lotion, facial serum/essence/concentrate, facial spray (eg mineral water), eye cream/essence, facial oil, facial mask (including sheet mask, rinse-off and sleeping mask), suncare products (excluding colour cosmetics with suncare functions such as BB cream), deep exfoliator/scrub products and special treatment products (eg anti-acne, anti-blackhead).
The market size is based on sales through all retail channels, including direct-to-consumer, but excludes the professional sector (eg beauty salons and clinics) and consumer-to-consumer channels (eg WeChat commerce and Taobao). Lip care products and facial skincare sets are included in the market size but not covered in consumer questions. Products specifically designed for or targeted at men or babies and medicated products are excluded from the market size.
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