L'Oréal Tailors New Cosmetics for China's Beauty Market

Twenty-four-year-old Corina Su is a cosmetics maker’s dream customer. As part of her determined battle against acne, she spent $169 on a Clarisonic electric face brush made by beauty giant L’Oréal. Her morning routine includes an herbal gel cleanser, cucumber toner, and avocado eye cream, all made by the French company. Su doesn’t live in L’Oréal’s beauty-obsessed hometown of Paris. She’s an executive at an advertising firm in Shanghai. “Chinese people place a huge emphasis on beauty and skin care as they are especially afraid of aging,” she explains, using, perhaps, a broad brush.

To win customers like Su, more than 260 scientists work in L’Oréal’s research center in Shanghai, tailoring products from lipsticks to shampoos for Chinese buyers. Among their latest: a cosmetic balm for Chinese men looking to mask face blemishes and skin serums made from traditional herbal remedies such as Cordyceps, a parasitic mushroom.