Chinese cosmetics brands up the ante on K-beauty’s home turf

Beauty is set to become a new battleground between Korean and Chinese brands as Chinese cosmetics makers are stepping up their push into South Korea, seeking consumers and shelf space in a market that has become a global center of beauty trends.

Flower Knows, a Chinese color-cosmetics brand founded in 2016, opened a pop-up store Friday in Seoul’s Seongsu district, one of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, packed with boutiques, cafes and restaurants.

It is the brand’s third offline event in South Korea since entering the market a year ago.

The store sits directly across from Olive Young N Seongsu, the largest outlet run by CJ Olive Young, South Korea’s dominant beauty retailer, putting the rivalry in plain sight.

Flower Knows has sought a place in Olive Young since launching in Korea last October but has yet to win a spot. No Chinese cosmetics brand is currently carried by the chain’s roughly 1,300 stores.

CJ Olive Young said it gives priority to nurturing independent K-beauty brands when selecting labels for its stores.

That has left Chinese entrants looking for other routes into the market.

Flower Knows is sold through Musinsa Beauty, Shinsegae’s Chicor and Kakao’s gift platform. Musinsa also carries other Chinese brands, including AZTK and INTO YOU.

A Musinsa official said the platform sees a case for carrying overseas brands when there is clear demand from Korean consumers.

CHINESE BRANDS TEST K-BEAUTY’S HOME MARKET

South Korea is a demanding market for foreign cosmetics brands to crack.

Korean beauty companies have built a global following around rapid product cycles, distinctive branding and aggressive digital marketing.

Cosmetics exports reached a record $11.4 billion in 2025, making South Korea the world’s second-largest cosmetics exporter, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The US overtook China as the biggest destination for Korean beauty products.

That global reach has made success in Korea valuable beyond the domestic market itself.

Brands that catch on with Korean consumers can gain credibility in a market closely watched for new beauty products and trends.

Flower Knows has built its following around elaborate, princess-inspired packaging and highly stylized product concepts aimed at younger consumers.

The brand has also expanded overseas, including into Ulta Beauty in the US.

Its Seongsu event, which runs through Oct. 25, follows a launch pop-up in Korea last October and another at The Hyundai Seoul in June.

The aggressive expansion comes as imports of Chinese cosmetics into South Korea continue to rise.

Imports reached a record $71.8 million last year, according to Korea Customs Service data. They totaled $62.5 million in the first nine months of this year.

FROM CHINA MARKET TO CHINA CHALLENGE

For years, however, the competitive flow ran largely in the opposite direction.

China was long the biggest overseas market for Korean cosmetics, but Korean brands lost momentum there amid geopolitical tensions and intensifying competition from homegrown Chinese labels.

The fallout from Beijing’s economic retaliation after Seoul deployed the US THAAD missile-defense system in 2017 also strained Korean businesses in China.

Korean beauty companies responded by looking farther afield.

The US became their largest export market in 2025, while sales spread more broadly across Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Markets outside Korea’s five biggest cosmetics destinations accounted for 43.4% of exports last year, up from 19.5% in 2021.

That diversification helped turn K-beauty into a broader global consumer category.

Now Chinese brands are trying to establish themselves on the same market’s home ground.