Asian cosmetics: Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder

In early September, we spent three days in Seoul. Apart from meeting a few companies that stacked up on our screens, we spent some time trying to understand the phenomenon and lure of cosmetics. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but the price for attaining that beauty is blind. If you desire instant results, colour and make-up help you achieve it. An instant but expensive alternative approach is surgical intervention – plastic surgery. Or you can take the long road of care and nourishment, spending money over a lifetime with some perceived benefits in the future. Commonly accepted logic states that fragrances and colour are dominant in the West, while skincare is almost the de facto preference in the East. In the full report, I take a deep dive into the growing market for cosmetics in China: (VIEW LINK)