Industry
Beauty and skincare marketing in China
Beauty is the most crowded category on Chinese social media, and most of the rules are written down. Filing comes before claims, claims come before content, and search decides what sells.
Most brands arrive at a beauty marketing agency in China with a launch date and a deck full of campaign ideas. The launch date is usually wrong, because nobody told them a product has to clear the regulator before a single review can name it.
Beauty in China is a filing problem, a claims problem and a search problem, in that order. The content only works once the first two are settled. We have watched good launches slip a quarter because nobody read the regulation until the copy was already approved.
| Gate | Who says yes | What it blocks until it is done |
|---|---|---|
| Product filing or registration | National Medical Products Administration | Legal import, and naming the product in copy |
| Domestic responsible person | You appoint one, the regulator records it | The filing itself |
| Claim evidence | You, published on the regulator’s site | Every efficacy line in every post |
| Verified accounts and store | Xiaohongshu, Douyin, WeChat | Paid reach, the shop, creator briefs |
Every rule below comes from the regulation, the law or a platform’s own documentation, and each is cited where it appears. All sources were re-checked in September 2026. We review this page every quarter, because Chinese platform rules move faster than the regulations do.
Why beauty is won and lost on Xiaohongshu
Xiaohongshu (小红书) is where Chinese shoppers go to decide, not to be entertained.
Xiaohongshu passed 400 million monthly active users and 800 million searches a day. Source: Xiaohongshu, Video Creator Trend Observation Report, reported by Beijing Business Today (北京商报) via Sina Finance (新浪财经), May 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2026-05-27/doc-inhziqxq9291575.shtml
The audience shape is why beauty lands there rather than somewhere else.
The platform’s own advertiser brief gives a male to female split of 3 to 7, monthly search penetration of 70%, and half the user base born after 1995. Source: Xiaohongshu official brief (小红书官方通案), reported by Qian-gua Data (千瓜数据), April 2025. https://www.qian-gua.com/information/detail/3149
And they arrive with a question rather than a mood.
About 200 million users a month use Xiaohongshu to seek purchase advice, and users open the app around 16 times a day. Source: Xiaohongshu 2026 WILL conference, reported by 100EC (网经社), December 2025. https://www.100ec.cn/detail--6655530.html
That changes the arithmetic. A campaign post is worth something for about three days. A note ranking for “sensitive skin sunscreen” in Chinese keeps earning for a year, because the next shopper types the same words into the same box. So build the budget around search terms, not campaign dates. Our RedNote Agency page covers the platform in practice, and our guide to Xiaohongshu marketing for foreign brands covers the account setup underneath it.
What a beauty marketing agency in China checks before the first post
China splits cosmetics in two, and the split decides your timeline.
Cosmetics for hair dye, perming, spot removal and whitening, sun protection and hair loss prevention, plus any cosmetic claiming a new efficacy, are special cosmetics. Everything else is ordinary. Source: State Council, Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation (化妆品监督管理条例), Order 727, Article 16, in force January 2021. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2020-06/29/content_5522593.htm
Special cosmetics have to be registered with the National Medical Products Administration (国家药监局) before they can be produced or imported. Imported ordinary cosmetics only have to be filed with the same body. A whitening serum and a cleansing balm are not on the same schedule, and a brand that plans both together will miss one of them.
You also cannot do it alone from outside.
An overseas registrant or filer must appoint a legal entity inside China to handle registration and filing, help with adverse reaction monitoring and carry out product recalls. Source: Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation, Article 23, in force January 2021. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2020-06/29/content_5522593.htm
Then the claims. This is the part that catches good brands, because in China the evidence behind a claim isn’t private. You publish it.
Efficacy claims must have sufficient scientific basis, and the registrant or filer must publish a summary of the literature, research data or efficacy evaluation behind them on a website designated by the regulator, open to public scrutiny. Source: Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation, Article 22, in force January 2021. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2020-06/29/content_5522593.htm
So a claim your home market treats as marketing copy is, in China, a testing invoice and a public file. The method for that testing is its own document.
The Cosmetic Efficacy Claim Evaluation Specification (化妆品功效宣称评价规范) was issued by the National Medical Products Administration and took effect on May 1, 2021. Source: China Center for Food and Drug International Exchange (中国食品药品国际交流中心), announcement 2021 No. 50, April 2021. https://www.ccfdie.org/cn/yjxx/hzp/webinfo/2021/04/1614390286444040.htm
Advertising law then sits on top of all of it. It’s blunt.
Advertisements may not use terms such as “national level”, “highest level” or “best”. Source: Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 9, in force since September 2015. https://www.gov.cn/guoqing/2021-10/29/content_5647620.htm
Outside medical, drug and medical device advertising, no advertisement may refer to disease treatment or use medical language that could confuse the product with a drug or a device. Source: Advertising Law, Article 17. https://www.gov.cn/guoqing/2021-10/29/content_5647620.htm
Neither rule is enforced gently, and the fine is written into the law itself.
Publishing an advertisement that breaches Article 9 draws a fine of 200,000 to 1,000,000 yuan on the advertiser, and in serious cases the business licence can be revoked. Source: Advertising Law, Article 57. https://www.gov.cn/guoqing/2021-10/29/content_5647620.htm
| Do not write | Why it fails | What works instead |
|---|---|---|
| Repairs the skin barrier | Reads as a medical effect, Advertising Law 17 | Made for skin that reacts easily |
| Best sunscreen in Japan | Superlative banned outright, Advertising Law 9 | The SPF number, and where it was tested |
| Whitening, on an unfiled product | Whitening is a special cosmetic, Regulation 16 | Texture, finish and how it is used, until registration lands |
| 97% of users saw results | Cited data must be true and sourced, Advertising Law 11 | The same figure with panel size, date and testing house |
| Clinically proven, with nothing filed | The evidence summary is public, Regulation 22 | The named test, and a pointer to the published summary |
How a beauty product actually gets recommended
No brand controls the organic route to scale on Xiaohongshu (小红书). What a brand does control is whether its paid creator work is declared. Since 2023 that has not been optional.
Where goods or services are promoted through knowledge sharing, experience sharing or product reviews with a purchase link attached, the publisher must conspicuously label the content as an advertisement. Source: State Administration for Market Regulation, Internet Advertising Measures (互联网广告管理办法), Order 72, Article 9, in force May 2023. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2023/issue_10506/202306/content_6885261.html
On Xiaohongshu that declaration runs through Pugongying, the platform’s own creator marketplace. It has a price.
Pugongying charges 10% of the deal in standard mode and 20% in the premium mode that adds platform promotion. Source: Niaoge Biji (鸟哥笔记), October 2022. https://www.niaogebiji.com/article-482538-1.html
Beauty carries a paperwork rule most categories do not.
For cross-border trade on Xiaohongshu, imported cosmetics require the import cosmetics filing, and brand authorization chains are capped at three levels, or two for beauty. Source: Xiaohongshu merchant qualification requirements (小红书资质入驻要求), platform documentation, confirmed September 2026. https://picasso-static.xiaohongshu.com/test/8b3bc7324ca06fceea379177f9eed1fa/小红书资质入驻要求.pdf
Two levels, for beauty specifically. Say your product reaches China through a distributor, who sells to a trading company, who sells to the store. That’s three. The store application fails, and no amount of creator spend fixes it. Check the paperwork chain before anyone books a creator.
How many KOC posts a launch actually needs
Nobody publishes a benchmark for this. The platform doesn’t release one, and anyone quoting a single national number is guessing.
The number comes out of search coverage. Pick the Chinese phrases a buyer types before choosing. Count how many notes it takes for yours to hold the first screen on each. Multiply. That’s the seeding plan, and it’s arithmetic rather than a rule of thumb.
| Launch size | Search terms to own | Notes per term | Where the plan lands |
|---|---|---|---|
| One hero product, one city | 3 to 5 | 4 to 6 | Roughly 12 to 30 notes |
| Full range, national | 10 to 15 | 4 to 6 | Roughly 40 to 90 notes |
| Category claim, sustained | 20 or more | 6 or more | 120 and up, continuing |
Treat that as planning arithmetic, not a benchmark. The inputs are yours: your terms, how contested each one is, your budget. Two brands in the same subcategory can land three times apart and both be right.
Creator fees move the total more than volume does.
Nano KOC accounts with 1,000 to 5,000 followers run about 20 to 60 US dollars per post, while micro KOL work under 1 million followers runs about 10,000 to 35,000 US dollars per campaign. Source: Long Advisory, June 2026. https://longadvisory.eu/en/kol-vs-koc-marketing-in-china-which-delivers-better-roi/
Our Influencer Marketing service page sets out how briefs, declaration and usage rights are handled.
Douyin live commerce: when it pays and when it does not
Douyin (抖音) sells beauty at volume. It also moves the legal risk onto the person doing the talking.
A seller promoting goods through internet livestream, where this amounts to commercial advertising, takes on the duties of an advertiser. Livestream room operators and livestream marketing staff take on the duties of an advertising operator and publisher when commissioned to do so. Source: Internet Advertising Measures, Order 72, Article 19, in force May 2023. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2023/issue_10506/202306/content_6885261.html
That matters more in beauty than anywhere else, because the words that sell on camera are the words Article 17 of the Advertising Law forbids. A host who says a serum treats acne has just made your brand the advertiser behind an illegal claim.
Verification is cheap. Getting the script right is not.
Douyin enterprise verification costs 600 yuan for the first year and 120 yuan a year to renew, with review in about two working days. Source: Ocean Engine (巨量引擎), Douyin enterprise account FAQ, May 2022. https://www.oceanengine.com/faq/douyin-qyh-zmrzn.html
Live commerce pays for beauty brands with three things already in place: a store that can take the order, enough search coverage that viewers who leave can find them again, and a script a lawyer has read. Miss one and a livestream becomes an expensive way to hand traffic to a competitor.
One case does justify going to Douyin first: color cosmetics that demonstrate well on camera, at a price a viewer decides on in ninety seconds. Those sell before they ever build a search footprint. Skincare almost never behaves that way. Our Douyin platform page covers the format in more detail.
What a beauty package includes, and what it costs
Build the business case on growth, not on a boom.
Retail sales of cosmetics grew 5.1% in 2025 across units above the designated size, ahead of total retail growth of 3.7%. Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China (国家统计局), 2025 Statistical Communique, February 2026. https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202602/t20260228_1962662.html
TheRedScroll works on fixed scope and fixed price. Ad spend is billed separately with no markups. Contracts run six months minimum, because search coverage in beauty does not build in eight weeks.
A beauty scope usually draws on four services. Strategy, Campaigns and Analytics for the term research. Content Production for the notes. Influencer Marketing for declared creator work. China Market Entry while the filing and the domestic responsible person are open. Advertising comes later, once there is something worth amplifying.
Three things move a beauty budget more than the retainer does. Creator fees, which scale with the number of terms you decided to own. Efficacy testing, which is a lab invoice and a calendar rather than a marketing line. And translation of the filing dossier, which is slow, boring and always underestimated.
The full rate card sits on our pricing page, every package and per-item rate published. When we checked the market in April 2026, that was still unusual.
0 out of 37 agencies analyzed offer fixed-price packages. Source: TheRedScroll competitive analysis, April 2026.
Scope, timeline and reporting
The commercial process is short. A 30-minute discovery call, a fixed-price proposal, then live in two weeks.
Fourteen days from signed contract to first post going live. Source: TheRedScroll, September 2026. https://www.theredscroll.com/
Two weeks covers accounts, profiles and the first content. It doesn’t cover your product filing, which runs on the regulator’s clock and has to start well before any of this. Reporting is monthly, and it reports search rank by term, declared note performance and store conversion rather than impressions, because impressions in beauty tell you almost nothing.
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Frequently asked questions
Straight answers to the questions we hear most on this topic.
Yes. Imported ordinary cosmetics must be filed with the National Medical Products Administration before import. Special cosmetics such as whitening, sunscreen and anti hair loss products must be registered before they can be imported at all. You also need a legal entity inside China named as the domestic responsible person. Content naming an unfiled product is the brand's problem, not the creator's.
There is no published benchmark, so treat any single number with suspicion. The figure comes out of search. Count the Chinese phrases a buyer types before choosing, then count the notes needed for yours to hold the first screen on each. One hero product in one city usually plans in the dozens. A national range plans in the high dozens, sustained rather than in a burst.
Xiaohongshu, by a wide margin. It carries the female skew, the search behavior and the purchase-advice traffic that beauty depends on, and its notes keep earning long after a campaign ends. Douyin sells more in a single hour and forgets faster. WeChat holds the customers you already have. Start on Xiaohongshu unless you have a specific reason not to.