What: Chinese beauty brands are entering Western retail through Ulta, Boots and Skin Cupid and through their own overseas stores, although Proya's CEO says its brand awareness in Europe and the US is currently zero.

Why it is important: Chinese beauty brands are building global distribution at the same time as their domestic market slows. Beauty buyers will see a growing number of new, mid-priced brands competing for shelf space.

Chinese beauty brands are expanding abroad after rapid growth at home. Proya Cosmetics, the largest C-beauty brand by revenue, will sell its Advanced Firming and Original Repair skincare lines in 400 Ulta stores and on Ulta.com across the US from November, and opened a Paris research and development centre this month. Florasis opened its first overseas flagship in Tokyo's Ginza district last year, while Joocyee and Judydoll, both owned by Joy Group, opened shops in Singapore and are stocked at British retailer Skin Cupid.

C-beauty brands overtook international names in China in 2022 and accounted for 57.4% of the country's $159 billion cosmetics market last year. Amid a years-long slump in domestic consumer spending, they are following K-beauty, whose exports reached $11.4 billion in 2025. Mid-market price points could be an advantage.

Awareness remains the obstacle. Proya's CEO says its brand awareness in Europe and the US is zero, and Euromonitor data show awareness of C-beauty growing in every market except North America. Proya wants to become a top 10 global brand and is exploring acquisitions of smaller foreign brands, while Florasis shifted its expansion away from the US last year because of China-US tensions.

IADS Notes: Chinese brands' push abroad is part of a wider wave of internationalisation, in which they have moved beyond low-cost exports to flagship stores in Western cities, localising teams and supply chains while contending with regulatory and geopolitical friction (The Economist, January 2026). That expansion is increasingly selective: with domestic demand weak, Chinese retailers are testing each market with a flagship and closing weaker sites rather than rolling out rapidly (Inside Retail, October 2026). The retail channels opening to Asian beauty are largely partnership-led. Sephora is bringing a curated selection of Olive Young's K-beauty brands to its stores and online worldwide from fall 2026 (BoF, January 2026), and John Lewis is launching 20 Korean skin and haircare brands through an exclusive Skin Cupid partnership (Press Release, April 2026). M&S, meanwhile, is handing its beauty offer to Sephora across 100 UK stores from spring 2027, a sign that curated, advisor-led beauty is a traffic driver retailers prefer to partner for (Retail Week, September 2026).

Chinese beauty brands, flush with success at home, start to vie for global shelf space