Unilever U.S. recently issued news saying that it will recall dry shampoos produced before October 2021 due to the possible presence of benzene in the products, involving brands such as Dove, Nexxus, SuaveTIGI (Rockaholic and Bed Head), and TRESemmé. Benzene is classified as a human carcinogen and exposure to benzene can occur by inhalation, orally, and through the skin and may lead to cancer, including leukemia and bone marrow blood cancers, as well as potentially life-threatening blood disorders. According to Unilever's internal investigation, the problem with the recalled products originated from the propellant, and Unilever has now worked with its propellant supplier to resolve the problem. However, it also said that according to an independent health hazard assessment, the daily exposure levels of benzene in the recalled products are not expected to cause adverse health effects. Unilever U.S. has chosen to recall these products out of an abundance of caution. To date, it has not received any reports of adverse events related to this recall. The recalled products were distributed nationwide in the U.S. and Canada, and Unilever has now notified retailers to remove the recalled products from their shelves. Consumers who have purchased the products will receive a refund or reimbursement. This is not the first time Unilever has recalled products due to the presence of benzene. In March, it issued an emergency recall of two antiperspirant products because of "slightly elevated" levels of benzene in some samples, according to an internal investigation that showed the benzene came from the bottle's push spray. Other top brands have also recalled products containing benzene. Johnson & Johnson voluntarily recalled 5 sunscreen products in July 2021, involving sunscreen sprays and lotions of Neutrogena and Aveeno. It said an internal test found small amounts of benzene, a potential carcinogen, in some of the spray products and advised consumers to stop using or discard them. In addition, P&G had voluntarily recalled some dry conditioner and shampoo sprays sold in the U.S. and Canada under the Pantene and Herbal Essences brands last December, according to Reuters. While it did not disclose the number of products recalled but said the recalled products accounted for less than 1 percent of its overall hair care products. According to the information, in the process of cosmetic preparation or raw material production, trace amounts of benzene are inevitably introduced for technical reasons, and it is necessary to evaluate the safety of benzene in cosmetics to ensure that under normal, reasonable, and predictable conditions there is no risk to human health. Currently, China has issued cosmetic class specifications Inventory of Existing Cosmetic Ingredients in China 2021 and Safety and Technical Standards for Cosmetics 2015, etc., has made hundreds of benzene substances banned, restricted norms, such as banned benzo[а]pyrene and restricted resorcinol, etc. In order to strengthen the management of safety risk substances in cosmetics, on March 10, 2022, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control issued a notice seeking comments on the limit values of benzene in cosmetics. According to the results of the relevant risk assessment, the proposed limit value of benzene in cosmetics is 2mg/kg.

Despite still facing pressures such as weak market feedback and inflation, Johnson & Johnson is still maintaining confidence in future performance growth. On the evening of October 18, Johnson & Johnson announced its third-quarter financial report for 2022. For the first three quarters, it reported total revenue of $71.237 billion, up 3.3% year-over-year, and net income reached $14.421 billion, down 10.7% year-over-year. Johnson & Johnson achieved revenue of $23.791 billion in the third quarter, a growth of 1.9% year-over-year, and net income lifted $4.458 billion, which went up 21.6% year-over-year. In terms of specific segments, the Consumer Health Department reported third-quarter sales of $3.795 billion, which declined 0.4% year-over-year. Its main contributions came from over-the-counter upper respiratory and analgesic products, and skin health/beauty and women's health products outside the U.S. The only two business segments that reported positive growth in the third quarter. Among them, Skin Health/Beauty sales were $1,126 million, with price increases and strong market demand for Neutrogena and Aveeno helping the segment maintain a modest positive growth rate of 0.1%. The segment recorded $3.264 billion in the first three quarters, which fell 5.6% year-over-year. Oral care business sales revenue was $375 million, down 5.8% year-over-year, with weak performance in most regions, including China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The Baby care segment achieved sales of $375 million, driven by price increase and the Aveeno brand, but still declined 4.3% year-over-year, and sales in the first three quarters were $1.105 billion, which decreased 5.4% year-over-year. Women's health business sales dropped 3% to $225 million, with a strong performance in India. Wound care business sales declined 3.9% to $176 million. Although Johnson & Johnson continues to face pressures from weak market feedback and inflation, it remains confident about future growth and that the Consumer Health Department will continue to use strategic price increases to offset inflationary pressures in an effort to stay afloat in the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment. It is worth noting that the spin-off of Johnson & Johnson's business is still in progress. Last month, it officially announced the name of its new consumer health company in preparation - "Kenvue" - and unveiled a new corporate identity. Kenvue's future as an independent publicly traded company will focus on consumer products and personal health care businesses, with iconic brands such as Aveeno, Band-Aid, Listerine, Neutrogena, Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson Baby, and Dr.Ci: Labo will operate under the company.

Brazilian beauty giant Natura & Co recently said that the group is considering an IPO or a split of its skincare brand Aesop. The announcement said that over the past few months, the IPO is still seen as an alternative way to fund Aesop's accelerated growth and that Natura & Co (Natura) management has taken steps in this regard. The strategy could also provide greater autonomy and attribution of responsibility to the Aesop brand and business units. At the same time, Natura's Board of Directors has now approved a study aimed at evaluating whether it could be an alternative to the above-mentioned approach to help unlock more corporate value for both Aesop and Natura. Natura will compare the impact of a public offering and a split on the two corporates, and the Board will make a final decision only after the comparative study is completed. However, the document also emphasizes that Aesop's current CEO Michael O'Keeffe will continue to lead the brand regardless of which move is ultimately taken. Just last month, Brazilian beauty giant Natura said its board of directors had no plans to split its skincare brand Aesop or sell The Body Shop, denying rumors of a restructuring of its global business. Currently, Natura's major brands include Avon, The Body Shop Aesop, etc. In the first half of this year, it saw a decline in both revenue and net profit, with net profit falling a serious 1869.5% to a loss of 1.939 billion yuan, while net income dropped 10.6% year-on-year to 23.342 billion yuan. Aesop was the only brand that grew among Natura's four business segments, with a net income of 1.703 billion yuan in the first half of the year, achieving a 7.7% year-on-year increase. As of the first half of this year, Aesop has opened 275 stores in Madrid, Cambridge, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other regions. It is worth noting that in March 2021, Aesop's parent company Natura Group released its annual report, in which it first disclosed that Aesop would open a store in Shanghai, a decision that has since been publicly reaffirmed by the group's chairman. And just this year, Aesop's first brick-and-mortar store in China was set up in Shanghai. Previously, because Aesop does not do animal testing, it has not been able to officially enter the mainland market offline and can only be sold in cross-border e-commerce channels. Last March. National Medical Products Administration mentioned in the policy interpretation of Provisions for Management of New Cosmetic Ingredient Registration and Notification Dossiers that "to fully consider and adopt the importing enterprises proposed by some countries and regions have implemented the ban on cosmetics animal testing market, can not submit animal testing information, conditional acceptance of animal alternative methods of toxicological testing information." This creates the conditions for Aesop to enter the Chinese market, which is mainly permanently opposed to animal testing.

Recently, a variety of players entering the perfume market has gradually manifested, such as the world's richest man Musk, Chinese star Qi Wei, and China's leading artist management company Yuehua Entertainment, as well as beauty giant L'Oreal have invested or entered the perfume brand. Musk sells perfume, and sales broke $1.98 million in one day Musk, the richest man in the world, has started selling perfume. Yes, it is the CEO of Tesla, Musk who is busy building rockets. Recently, Musk released a perfume called "Burnt Hair" on Twitter. According to Chaileedo, the perfume is priced at $100 and has already sold more than 20,000 bottles. It seems not surprising either from Musk's style of action or the booming perfume market. It is known that Musk had released a concept picture with the word "BURNT HAIR" in September to warm up for the release of this perfume, and on October 9, he released the product picture, again teasing that "(perfume) is coming". CHAILEEDO found that the perfume is on the official website of Musk's Boring Company, and occupies the position of the front page. From this series of actions, it seems that this time Musk’s gloves are coming off again. According to Musk’s Twitter, the perfume was launched less than 6 hours after the sales breakthrough of 10,000 bottles, and in less than 28 hours, the perfume sold 20,000 bottles. The estimated revenue of $2 million. The top tweet of Musk's official launch of the perfume has reached 94,000 likes and retweets have broken through 9,000. Musk's Twitter account has 100 million followers and the sales of the perfume are a testament to his high popularity. In addition, he tweeted that the perfume can be paid for with the virtual currency Dogecoins. However, it should be noted that the perfume is available for pre-order and will be officially shipped in the first quarter of 2023. So there are also voices worrying about whether it will be a "false alarm". Celebrities pile in, and perfume continues to lead the way The perfume market never lacks spoilers, and celebrity perfumes are an important type of perfume category. The unique personality and aesthetics of the celebrity combined with the perfume will often have a wonderful commercial effect, and consumers are also willing to pay for their own admired celebrity perfume. The European and American perfume market is mature and has a strong commercial atmosphere, which provides a natural environment for celebrities to launch their personal perfumes. Such as the famous pop singer Ariana Grande, and Hollywood superstar Jennifer Lopez, etc. Who have all created their own perfume brand. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese entertainment industry has also begun to enter the perfume market. In 2020, Chinese actress, Qi Wei's main brand SEVENCHIC was officially established, and the product positioning of the public beauty. It has involved a number of product lines such as fragrance pens, fragrance candles, hand care, body washing & care, beauty tools, etc. According to the new power brand activity data from TikTok China e-commerce in December 2021, SEVENCHIC’s GMV rose by more than 200% in the activity period, compared to the daily sales period. Just in February this year, China's leading artist management company Yuehua Entertainment invested in Qi Wei's fragrance brand SEVENCHIC, which is managed by Qi Wei. In addition, the rise of the "olfactory economy" and the optimistic trend of the global perfume market are also important reasons for celebrities to invest in the perfume market. According to Euromonitor data, the global perfume market will grow at a compound rate of about 7% in the next 5 years, and will reach 432.1 billion yuan ($59.81 billion) in 2025, with huge potential for the global perfume industry in the coming years. According to the third quarter earnings report just released by LVMH, its perfume and cosmetics segment's performance went up 12% in the first three quarters of 2022, from 4.668 billion euros to 5.577 billion euros ($5.49 billion). The European and American markets have been a significant part of the global perfume market. According to Shelley E. Kohan, a contributor to the U.S. business magazine Forbes, globalization has led to a gradual expansion of the fragrance market, and North America and Europe have been the strong markets for the fragrance industry. Based on beauty giant Coty's fourth-quarter earnings report for the fiscal year 2022, its premium fragrances continued to grow strongly in North America and Europe, up about 20% compared to last year. A rapid growth period for the Chinese local fragrance market On the contrary, some data predict that China is expected to become the second-largest fragrance market in the world by 2030. With this opportunity, international giants have introduced perfume brands to China, such as L'Oreal and Estee Lauder. Noteworthy, China's local perfume and fragrance brands have also emerged, and since 2020, Chinese fragrance brands such as YFF-COSMETICS, PlusTwo, RECLASSIFIED, Scentooze, To Summer, Scent Library, DOCUMENTS, and FRAMULA have received financing. Among them, RECLASSIFIED completed 3 rounds of financing in 2021 alone, and Scentooze also completed 3 rounds of financing in 2 years. Chinese fragrance brands are entering an explosive period of financing. Specifically, the Chinese high-end perfume fragrance brand DOCUMENTS has announced the completion of tens of millions of RMB A+ round of financing, which was jointly led by Cathay Capital's Consumer Co-Creation Fund and L'Oreal China's first investment company - Shanghai Meicifang Investment Co. (hereinafter referred to as "Meicifang"). The Chinese high-end perfume brand DOCUMENTS was born in 2021 with its original style "CHANKU", dedicated to the development of raw materials produced in China or from China, and the creation of fragrances through solid craftsmanship, with unforgettable fragrances for the young people of China and who loves history and culture worldwide. Another perfume brand, To Summer, a niche original fragrance brand focusing on oriental botanicals, was founded in 2018, and its star product, Osmanthus, set a record for being snapped up in 3 seconds on the shelves. In March 2019, it quickly completed its Series A funding round, with investors including IDG Capital and Zhen Fund. For a long time, To Summer achieved annual sales of over 100 million yuan and a 60% repurchase rate only through the private DTC model + offline stores. According to GrowthBox, To Summer's annual sales in 2021 were about 143 million yuan ($19.81 million). Since 2022, it has accelerated its offline planning and has opened 5 independent stores offline by now. With such a booming Chinese perfume market, in the future, there will be more new brands born and more players flocking to the perfume market.

Considering the whole Indian market, there are few Chinese cosmetics brands. Why do Chinese cosmetics companies appear “calm” in the face of the huge potential Indian market? Recently, Sanjiv Mehta, CEO of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), an Indian company of Unilever, said that HUL currently accounts for about 10.7% of the sales of Unilever Group and will surpass the United States as the largest market of Unilever. In terms of sales volume, India is already Unilever's largest market. Population advantages reflect development potential According to the Euromonitor international research report, the Indian beauty and personal care market is the eighth largest market in the world, with a total value of 15 billion dollars, and it is growing at a rate of about 10% every year. According to the report of Kesai Consulting, the growth drivers of the Indian beauty market include favorable population structure and increase in disposable income, increase of salaried female labor force, increase of Internet penetration, increase of male beauty, undeveloped rural market, growing bride beauty segment, and rise of strong inclusiveness and beauty care. Among them, the large population base and the growth of disposable income can best reflect the market potential. According to a report released by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) in 2018, India has the largest youth population in the world with nearly 600 million people under the age of 25. Moreover, The per capita income (PCI) has jumped over 500 times, increasing to Rs 1,28,829($1565.27) in 2020-21. More and more women are also joining the workforce. According to the Economic Survey 2019-2020 released by the Government of India in 2020, the proportion of female employees in the salaried employee/fixed wage category increased from 13% to 21% between 2012 and 2018. This is driving the growth of the high-end cosmetics and fragrance industry in India, with the aforementioned industry forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.4% in revenue between 2020-2023, according to Statista. The rapid development of e-commerce As a result of the epidemic, the digitization of Indian society has increased rapidly, and the population has embraced online shopping, online education, online healthcare, and other Internet services, and e-commerce has grown exponentially. According to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India's total e-commerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19% from 2017 to 2026. HUL's sales reflect this as well. According to Unilever's 2021 financial results, HUL reaches over 700,000 retailers through digital channels, direct to consumers. For example, Lakmé, the most followed Indian beauty brand on Instagram, is achieving approximately 30% of its sales through digital channels in 2021. Notably, Chinese Internet giants took notice of the Indian market as early as 2014. Chinese investors active in the Indian market in recent years include companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi, according to the Indian media outlet Business Standard. To date, Tencent has invested more than 14 billion yuan ($1.944 billion) in Indian startups. According to data disclosed by Flipkart in July 2021, Tencent acquired a stake in Flipkart worth about 1.9 billion yuan ($263 million), valuing the company at nearly 270 billion yuan ($37.503 billion) at that time. International brands prepare for the Indian market early The huge potential of the Indian beauty market has attracted many international brands and retailers, HUL is one of the largest and highest market capitalization FMCG companies in India, dominating the generic categories of hair care, bath, and oral care. Nine out of every 10 households have used Unilever products. Other international luxury brands and retailers entering the Indian market include L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, and Sephora. L'Oreal entered India in 1994. In India's hair dyeing and men's cleaning and care categories, its market share was 28% and 30% respectively, ranking first. Although India's business accounts for only 2% of L'Oreal's global business, India is the fastest growing market. Lipstick is the most commonly used cosmetics for Indian women. In March 2020, Smashbox under Estee Lauder developed Gula Bae lipstick specifically for the personality and lifestyle of Indian women and appointed Sobhita Dhulipala, one of the most popular actresses in Netflix India, as the brand ambassador. Estee Lauder is partnering with celebrities as part of a strategic investment in the brand to increase brand awareness and deepen consumer perceptions of the brand. Estée Lauder has 586 stores in India, including 151 stand-alone stores and a partnership with the Indian department store chain Shoppers Stop. In 2014, Sephora entered the Indian market to gradually expand its presence in the high-end beauty market. Sephora aims to have 50 stores in India by 2022, with further expansion to 75 in the future. Rarely seen Chinese cosmetic companies in the Indian market Compared to the Chinese Internet industry and their international counterparts, Chinese cosmetics companies do not seem to be paying much attention to the Indian market. Considering the whole Indian market, there are few Chinese cosmetics brands. Why do Chinese cosmetics companies appear “calm” in the face of the huge potential Indian market? Sita, vice president of HEBE BEAUTY, the parent company of Y.O.U, told CHAILEEDO that for various reasons, Indian consumers do not have a good feeling about Chinese brands, which is a difficult point for Chinese brands to enter India. This point is agreed upon by an insider in the Indian beauty market. In his opinion, "Indian national self-esteem is very strong, there is a strong sense of protection for local brands, only the international big brands early prepared, spend a lot of time and capital, can stand firm in India, relatively speaking, Indians pro-European and American brands, for Chinese cosmetics brand recognition, is not high." But this does not mean that Chinese cosmetics are not suitable for Indian consumers. Sharon Kwek, consulting director of Mintel's South Asia beauty and personal care division, believes that Chinese cosmetics are a better choice for Indian consumers, considering the price. In recent years, the Chinese beauty and cosmetics industry has been upgrading, "They are good at taking inspiration from the big international brands and popular products and adapting them to produce their products at a third or fifth of the price of the big brands. This is exactly what Indian consumers want."

In the second quarter, Sasa International's mainland China revenue was HK$59 million ($7.516 million), down 9.8% year-on-year, while same-store sales fell 11%, mainly due to the outbreak of the epidemic and weak consumption. However, Sasa International also said that the mainland China market remains an important market for it. On October 17, Sasa International Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as Sa Sa International) released its sales figures for the second quarter of the current fiscal year from July 1 to September 30, 2022. In the second quarter, Sasa International achieved a turnover of HK$750 million(about $95.54 million), a slight decrease of 1.1% year-on-year.

Beauty retailer Sephora has launched a brand new website in the UK after acquiring Feelunique. Sephora recently announced the details of its plan to return to the UK market. Feelunique. Com was changed to Sephora. co.uk on October 17. The partners of Feelunique include more than 800 global brands, ranging from first-line brands to general items, including Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Tom Ford, Charlotte Tilbury, Dermalologica, and GHD. Among the customers of Feelunique, the younger generation under 35 accounts for 65%. Its business covers 120 countries/regions around the world and has specialized websites in the United States, China, France, Germany, and Norway, with millions of customers worldwide. Feelunique has said in an interview with WWD that within two years of entering the Chinese market, the market has soared from 2% to 10% of total revenue, making it their second largest market. In addition to consolidating its position in key markets in Europe, Feelunique will focus on Asia, exploring the potential of markets such as China. The deal was first revealed in the media in July 2021, and on September 28 of the same year, the entire share capital of Feelunique was acquired by Sephora for £132 million (approximately $117.1 million). After a £5 million ($5.645 million) loss in fiscal 2020 (ending March 31, 2020), Feelunique has been looking for a potential buyer since the beginning of 2021. For the fiscal year 2021, which ended March 29, compared with the previous year, Feelunique's profit improved significantly to £2.5 million ($2.822 million), turning a loss into a profit. Total sales of £103.5 million ($116.8 million) jumped 26%. Online sales rose 695% and active customers increased by 42% to 1.3 million due to a surge in consumers turning to online shopping as a result of the epidemic. Industry insiders noted that Sephora's move is aimed at entering the U.K. market through Feelunique, which currently has no stores or official website in the U.K. So far, it has not set up stores in the UK, mainly because the region has been monopolized by Boots. Feelunique is known for its unparalleled customer experience, deep e-commerce expertise, and knowledge of the UK consumer. Once in a public interview, Sephora President and CEO Martin Brok said. In addition, Sephora offline stores will be opened in London, UK in March 2023, and the location of the stores has not been disclosed. Sephora entered the UK for the first time in 2000 and opened nine stores, including Kent's first store. However, due to fierce competition from Boots and other retailers, these stores were closed in 2005.

Recently, another Hollywood star created her own brand and entered the beauty industry. Internationally, dozens of stars marched into the beauty industry such as Chinese star Zhang Ting, Fan Bingbing, Liu Jialing and international stars Rihanna, Scarlett Johansson and so on. But the successful brand is very few. Theoretically, stars with their own traffic to carry out beauty business should have their followers to buy. But the recent performance of the star-created beauty brand, there is no good results. So, is it a good time for celebrities to create their own beauty brands? Hollywood actor created beauty brand triggers controversial "I've received a lot of skincare products from brand names, but to be honest, none of them have surprised me as much as the results Le Domaine has brought." said Hollywood actor Brad Pitt in a recent interview with a magazine. The 58-year-old Pitt has appeared in several films such as "Kalifornia", "Mr Smith & Mrs Smith" and "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". He has achieved remarkable results in his career as an actor, and now he has another identity - the founder of the skincare brand Le Domaine. For European and American celebrities, who have always enjoyed developing side projects, entering the cosmetics industry by creating their own brands is nothing new. In the past, including well-known singer Rihanna, actress Scarlett Johansson and Millie Bobby Brown, who became famous with "Stranger Things", have created their own beauty brands. With their own popularity, the brands bring their own starlight from birth. The beauty brands gain no less commercial income to the stars personally than their main business. It also feed the stars' personal business value giving them a constant source of income. Although it is common for celebrities to create their own brands. In the case of Le Domaine, founded by Brad Pitt, it seems to be more of a special case in the industry. The reason why Le Domaine caused so much controversy upon its launch is closely related to the market pricing of the product. According to Le Domaine's official website, the brand's skincare products are currently priced from 70 euros($68.1) to 350 euros($340.6), with a 50ml bottle of moisturizer priced at 275 euros and a bottle of facial essence priced at 350 euros($340.6). It is understood that the price of Chanel Anti-Pollution Cleansing Cream-To-Foam and Man Moisture Cream with the same effect is $66.7 and $120.1 respectively. It is obvious that Le Domaine's pricing is much higher than similar skincare products in the market. The higher pricing than similar products in the market makes Le Domaine's first impression on users not so good. Even though it comes with a celebrity gene, Le Domaine's fate may not be as smooth as the founder Pitt's star path. Chinese celebrities have a low survival rate for their own brands While European and American celebrities are entering the beauty industry one after another, Chinese celebrities have actually stepped into this blue ocean early on. In 2013, the skincare brand TST, founded by Zhang Ting and her husband, was launched. Before Zhang Ting and his wife's accident, by virtue of their extensive network resources in the entertainment industry and inviting a number of entertainment stars to endorse the brand, TST quickly opened up awareness in the wechat business and grew at a snowball-like pace. However, in 2021, after multiple forensics by the relevant authorities TST's sales model was deemed a pyramid scheme. In April this year, TST's operating entity was confiscated $2,677,978 in illegal income and fined $236 thousand. It is understood that up to now TST has not stopped operating and TST-related products can still be searched on major e-commerce platforms. But sales are much lower than similar competing products. This shows that after the pyramid scheme incident, Zhang Ting and its TST brand are also experiencing a huge public trust crisis, and the former micro-business empire is already in the process of collapse. For other celebrities who have gone into creating their own beauty brands, the road to the brand's fortunes has been a bumpy one. In 2014, well-known actress Liu Jialing applied for registration of the trademark "Carling" in the mainland and promoted her own skincare brand Carling series, with the main sales channel coming from micro-businesses. As with most celebrity brands, the market pricing of "Jia Ling" mask is slightly higher than other popular brands, with a total of 6 products with different efficacy launched at the beginning of the mask market, of which a box of 6 pieces of mask market retail price of 198 yuan, which was a high-priced mask at the time. However, contrary to the bottom line pricing, "Jia Ling" mask sales after the launch was not as satisfactory, the company's first three months net loss reached 2.33 million yuan, and in the same year was acquired by the Hong Kong-listed Digital Kingdom at a price of 250 million yuan. From the product launch to the acquisition, the "Jia Ling" brand took only 4 months. In addition to Zhang Ting and Liu Jialing, nearly 10 Chinese celebrities, including Fan Bingbing, Zhang Xinyu, Lin Zhiying and Yi Nengjing, have launched personal cosmetic brands in the past. To this day, there are only a handful of brands that still sell naturally and have relatively wide recognition and influence. Take Fan Beauty Secret, founded by Fan Bingbing, for example, although the brand is still standing strong with sales of hundreds of millions. However, the actual brand has been listed from March 2018, and over the past four years, not only has the brand positioning undergone adjustments, but the operating rights of the brand have also undergone several twists and turns. At the same time, due to the impact of the tax storm Fan Bingbing comeback is not expected, the brand also faces many restrictions and challenges. Beauty brands created by stars is not perfect In the past, a brand which gained 1 billion may need to spend 10 years or more, but now these brand can achieve in 3-5 years. If you add the celebrity halo, the time can be even shorter. According to a Forbes report, Fenty Beauty, founded by Rihanna, generated $558 million in sales in its first year. Looking at that number alone, the celebrity effect seems to be equated with the brand effect. However, it is important to realize that the success of Fenty Beauty is not only based on Rihanna's personal influence, but also on her behind-the-scenes promoter, Kendo, a beauty incubator owned by LVMH. As a luxury giant in the industry, LVMH injected more than $10 million in capital for Fenty Beauty's product development in the early stages. While Kendo also provided Rihanna with support for the entire industry chain, including marketing, supply and retail channels, penetrating into all aspects to help the brand gain greater commercial value. Unlike the celebrity beauty myth created by Fenty Beauty with the help of celebrity effect and brand incubator, some Chinese celebrity brands tend to rely too much on the former and lack professional incubator to empower the whole industry chain. On the other hand, in the matter of branding, the halo of stars is not everything. Support of head enterprises is not a million dollar deal, such as the failure of L'Oreal and Beckham's co-created brand HOUSE 99. In fact, compared to some popular brands with rich experience and good reputation, most beauty brands that rely on the personal effects of celebrities are one-shot deals that have not established a clear brand culture. They have not yet built up a reputation among the user base, and are rushed to market with various "congenital deficiencies" factors. With the increasing number of product categories on the market and the competition between old and new brands, consumers are demanding higher quality cosmetics, which is why most celebrity-created brands tend to leave the market soon after a spectacular debut. In other words, it is not enough to rely on the celebrity effect alone. A brand that continues to sell well is often built on excellent quality control and strong consumer recognition.

Givaudan recently announced a partnership with Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) to launch the fragrance industry's first artificial intelligence (AI)-driven perfume co-creation service in China on its official website. It is reported that as early as 2021, Givaudan and Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) started cooperation to establish T-Lab Innovation Lab, combining its creative perfume solutions and production capacity with T-Lab Innovation Lab's consumer behavior data capabilities. It aims to focus on helping brands to develop new products from an ingredients company. The AI-driven perfume co-creation service "Creatogether" utilizes the newly updated TLAB 2.0. It applied data from TMIC's olfactory culture map and Givaudan's AI-driven perfume assistant Carto. Tian Qi, head of TMIC's Innovation Center, said, "Our common goal is to bring agile solutions to the market by connecting consumer insights with industry knowledge and expertise, so as to provide users with instant, accurate and personalized fragrance products." The launch of the co-creation model allows brands to be deeply involved in the fragrance creation process, said Givaudan, which offers human-computer fragrance co-creation in just five steps through "Creatogether": creative ideation phase including in-depth research and analysis, olfactive visual exploration, digital fragrance co-creation with AI instant sampling technology, commercialized fragrance submission and finally, new product validation, launch strategy and marketing plan. Notably, this is not the first time that Givaudan has partnered with Tmall. 2021 saw the announcement of a new partnership with Alibaba's e-commerce platform Tmall to collaborate on the T-Lab Resource Innovation Lab. The T-Lab Resource Innovation Lab will leverage Givaudan's leading fragrance creative solutions and production capabilities in China, powered by Tmall's consumer behavior data and partner ecosystem, to focus on helping brands develop new products from the ingredients company. It reduces end-to-end product development time to four weeks. Yu Su, Director of Brand Marketing at T-Lab, said, "This partnership perfectly illustrates the ability for us to help brands succeed in the Chinese market by identifying new channels, and strategies, and we believe that our own data will complement the existing capabilities of industry leaders such as these, who will continue to shape the landscape of the Chinese fragrance market."

Recently, the global leader in value-added ingredients IFF announced the opening of its new innovation center in Singapore, which is also the largest IFF innovation center in the Asian region. According to public information, the center occupies nearly 11,000 square meters and brings together the relevant technologies, capabilities and expertise of IFF's four business units (Nourish, Health & Biosciences, Scent and Pharma Solution), making it the first innovation center to complete the integration of IFF's global creative, research and application network. The launch of the Innovation Center follows the opening of IFF's Singapore compounding facility and marks a new step forward in IFF's nearly $30 million investment in Singapore, where IFF is working to accelerate innovation, broaden its co-creation capabilities, and drive speed to market while enhancing services to customers across Asia. “By 2030, Asia is projected to account for 60 percent of global economic growth,” said Frank Clyburn, chief executive officer of IFF. “For IFF, Asia has demonstrated consistent growth, and we see tremendous opportunity in the future.” Located in Singapore's leading biomedical research center, the center features more than a dozen creation, design and analysis labs, a collaborative studio, and a cooking and demonstration kitchen. The center also houses IFF's Global Fabric Care Powder and Personal Laundry Innovation Center, the world's largest fragrance evaluation facility and the first IFF site to support all fragrance product categories. Ramon Brentan, IFF Singapore Innovation Center site leader, and vice president, Greater Asia regional general manager, Scent, IFF, said the center serves as a true innovation driver, further cementing IFF's position as a strategic partner for Asian customers. IFF is present in 14 countries across Greater Asia and has operated in Singapore since 1969. The Singapore Innovation Center is part of IFF’s network of more than 50 research, creative and design centers, which help bring differentiated and integrated solutions to customers around the world. Besides, international flavor and fragrance giant Firmenich also announced last week the completion of its new campus in Geneva. The investment is the most significant ever made by Firmenich in a single site, and the campus incorporates a number of leading-edge technologies that seek to break through the limitations of scientific research while fostering innovation.

Blue-Touch plans to launch no less than thirty new products in the next three years. Recently, Fujian Blue-Touch Holdings Group Co., Ltd filed a prospectus with the SEC to be listed on NASDAQ. According to the prospectus, Blue Touch is an enterprise focusing on the research, development, production, sales and service of infant care products. The products include household cleaning products such as clothes softener, washing powder, multifunctional cleaner, disinfectant, etc., as well as baby skin care products and bath products such as camellia oil moisturizing cream, camellia oil emulsion, camellia oil two in one shampoo and shower gel. As of December 2021, the total revenue of Blue-Touch is 6.66 million US dollars, with a year-on-year growth of 114.91%. The net income was 775,522 US dollars, up 1468.74% year on year. Before 2020, all revenues of Blue Touch will come from the sales of household cleaning products. In 2020, Blue Touch purchased a patent for camellia oil extraction and processing technology, and launched a series of camellia oil baby skin care products and toiletries based on the patent. As of December 31, 2021, its income from baby skin care products and toiletries accounted for 49.47% of the total income, while the proportion in 2020 was only 30.68%. Blue-Touch relies primarily on third-party manufacturers to produce its products and on offline distributors to sell its products in China. Currently, it has 17 partner offline distributors covering various provinces including Fujian, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hunan and Zhejiang. In addition, Blue-Touch also has a brand flagship store on the Tmall platform, which sells seven products including detergents, wet wipes and shower gels. The prospectus mentions that Blue-Touch plans to increase its brand awareness and corporate profitability in the short term (or within the next three years) by launching no less than thirty new products and expanding its offline distribution network. In the medium term (within three to five years), Blue-Touch plans to establish an online sales network. In the long term (more than five years) to expand its existing sales channels by establishing brand stores, franchises, etc., and to build its own sales channels. In terms of research and development, Blue-Touch has been making improvements to existing product formulations, developing new camellia oil products, and innovating products based on other camellia tree parts such as camellia leaf and flower. Its internal innovation development team consists of five members and its R&D expenses in 2021 are 1,666,700 yuan ($231,505,000), or 4.42% of operating expenses. If the IPO is successful, Blue-Touch said 20 percent of the net proceeds raised will be used for product innovation and development, 40 percent for business expansion and acquisition or investment in companies in the maternal and newborn skin care industry, and 40 percent for working capital, operating expenses and other general corporate purposes.

Recently, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, the personal makeup brand of Jeffree Star, one of the world's most influential beauty bloggers, announced its presence on the JD platform. Previously, the brand was already present in Tmall through overseas channels. Jeffree Star is "obsessed" with the Chinese market In Cosmetify's "Richest Beauty Bloggers 2020" list, Jeffree Star is already ranked 8th in the world (combined Instagram and Youtube) with a single tweet earning £40,566. In this year's "Richest Beauty Bloggers" list, Star ranked fifth (for Youtube) with a single video earning £11,400. Jeffree Star has more than 14 million followers on Instagram and is the fifth richest beauty blogger on this year's list, earning £11,400 per video (for Youtube). In 2011, Star founded the eponymous makeup brand Jeffree Star Cosmetics, with a product line covering lipsticks, lip glazes, concealers and more. Over the years, Jeffree Star Cosmetics brand has created a series of star products including ANDROGYNY eyeshadow palette, BLOOD SUGAR eyeshadow palette, VELOURLIQUID LIPSTICK, which often dominate the major makeup list of popular products. Jeffree Star seems to have a fondness for the Chinese market. In February this year, after an eight-month hiatus, his first review video chose the Chinese beauty brand Florasis. The review video was once the fourth on the global trend list, and the video generated global buzz on Youtube, once making the Flower West brand famous in overseas markets. In his 25-minute review video, the "global super star", who has 16 million subscribers on Youtube, shows the makeup-wearing process of many popular items such as Florasis' highlighter, loose powder and BLOOMING ROUGE LOVE LOCK LIPSTICK. He says that Florasis is "the most beautiful makeup in the world." Since this year, Jeffree Star has opened official personal and brand accounts on Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other social media in China. As of press time, his personal Xiaohongshu account has 16,000 followers and the brand's official Weibo account has less than 10,000 followers. In online channel, one of Chinese leading e-commerce platforms Tmall, the overseas flagship store of his brand has four products with a unit price between 170-450 yuan(about $23.6-$62.5), none of which have sold more than 100. Judging from the current market performance, Jeffree Star, which entered China with a low profile, did not take over its traffic in overseas markets. International beauty fails in China There are still many cases of cosmetic brands like Jeffree Star that have been well-received in their home countries or other countries but have failed to make it in China. In the first half of the year alone, no fewer than 10 brands have shut down their Chinese operations and pulled out from the market, even those beauty brands created by influencers that are owned by major international brands. Recently, Estee Lauder Group's online brand GLAMGLOW was rumored to have pulled out from China. Before that, Too Faced, an online makeup brand also owned by Estee Lauder Group, announced the closure of its Tmall overseas flagship store in June this year. Another Estee Lauder brand, Darphin, has been in China for four years, but its development prospects are still unclear. In 2018, Darphin entered Tmall. In June of the same year, its first offline store in China was located in Hangzhou Wulin Intime Department. Despite the online and offline linkage, Darphin's sales performance is still less than ideal. French cosmetics giant L'Oréal Group is no exception. After L'Oréal's brand Roger&Gallet also exited the Chinese market. The brand's Tmall flagship store closed on June 30, 2020. A significant portion of Korean cosmetics is also gradually exiting the Chinese market. In February, HERA announced that it had closed all offline counters in China and that Chinese consumers could only purchase products through the brand's official Tmall flagship store. Brands that created by influencers acquired by major international brands have failed to take over the Chinese market, while those self-made brands are also having a hard time selling in China. For example, a significant number of these brands that have sales of hundreds of millions of dollars abroad have not made much of a splash in China. Kim Kardashian's self-made beauty brand has been open for 3 years in Tmall with only 54,000 followers. Even the Drunken Elephant, which is supported by the Shiseido Group, has only 330 million followers in its Tmall overseas flagship store. The highest total sales of the product have only 20,000 followers. With dismal sales, many brands created by influencers in the Chinese market are looking for a way to break through. Why can't they continue their success? Chinese consumers may have been more interested in international brands five years ago. But in the last two years, the emergence of cost-effective Chinese cosmetics products has made consumers more willing to buy Chinese cosmetics products. According to CHAILEEDO's third-quarter consumer trends report, consumers are more willing to buy products that suit their needs and pay more attention to the products themselves when shopping. According to the research, 37.04% of consumers said they only buy what suits them and don't care much about brand and price, while only 21.96% of consumers believe that they prefer to buy big brands with quality assurance. In addition, many brands that created by influencers were born in Europe and the United States. There are differences in consumer value choices between the local Chinese and other countries' cultures. Many international brands are poor in localization. So it is difficult to capitalize on the user's knowledge and awareness. The competition from the local market's native brands, such as the rise of the C-beauty trend and the superior quality of new Chinese local consumer brands has also hindered the development of European and American brands that created by influencers in China. As Chinese consumers become more and more mature, they no longer sought after big foreign brands without thinking. After experiencing the high moment of entering the Chinese market, it is more important for brands to review their brand development positioning and care about the real needs of Chinese consumers so that they can develop in the Chinese market for a long time.