What’s trending: The most-read stories on APAC beauty market and consumer insights

Leading cosmetic chemist weighs in on key beauty trends in 2023​​

Inclusivity and conscious beauty are among the most important elements for cosmetic brands to consider when developing new products this year, says one prominent cosmetic chemist.

Director of Australia’s Institute of Personal Care Science, Belinda Carli, said we would see even more brands developing gender-neutral products as more consumers rejected the notion of being placed into a box.

“They want their individual skin or hair needs addressed regardless of how they identify,”​ said Carli.

Neo-traditions, mindfulness trends will influence future beauty collabs​

Neo-traditions and mindfulness are trends that will lead beauty brand collaborations, according to the head of an art and design agency specialising in such creative marketing projects.

While brand collaborations are definitely here to stay, we will now see brand collabs driven by neo-traditions and mindfulness.

An example of the former is Guerlain’s collaboration with Beijing-based visual artist Li Hongbo, who designed the packaging for the brand’s Orchidée Impériale Black face cream.

Skin, fragrance, luxury hair categories set to lead growth in China reopening – Estée Lauder CEO​

Estée Lauder Companies president and CEO Fabrizio Freda has pegged skin care, fragrance, and luxury hair care as key drivers of growth in China as it moves away from last year’s COVID-19 troubles.

Now that the country is reopening, the company was expecting the business to “accelerate on all fronts”​ particularly as brick-and-mortar recovers.

“Skin care will be the biggest beneficiary for the simple reason that skin care is the biggest percentage of beauty business in China… Skin care will benefit the biggest from the normalisation of consumption patterns and of the purchase patterns of the consumer,” ​said CEO Fabrizio Freda.

Teeth whitening: Accessibility, affordability, and aversion to side effects key factors in driving trend​

Teeth whitening products look set to become the focal point of oral care, a rising category in the beauty sector that is expected to see exponential growth in Asia Pacific the next few years.

According to data from Mordor Intelligence, the APAC oral care market was forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 8.05% to reach US$31.5bn by 2025.

Larger disposable incomes in developing countries, in addition to widespread media representation of teeth whitening as a feature of physical attractiveness, were named as the main drivers for this growth.

Essential The Beauty hair treatment scores big by keeping attuned to ‘modern hair trends’​

Kao-owned Essential The Beauty says it has successfully tapped into the damaged hair segment, with the firm shipping more than 400,000 units of its new treatment in its first three months of sale.

The Hair Texture Water Treatment was launched in September 2022. The product is a leave-in treatment that was developed “to address hair concerns unique to modern hair trends”, ​this includes the trend of hair dyeing, as well as hair straightening or curling treatments.

According to its own research, hair bleaching services at salons have almost doubled year-on-year.