Beauty giant L’Oréal has become the first cosmetics company to reconstruct Chinese skin in order to allow R&D teams to create more region-specific products such as anti-aging serums, whitening creams, and pollution-fighting cleansers in the lucrative Chinese market, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

The penny-size reconstructed skin cells contain living cells from donors and are a way for the company to better understand Chinese skin, which is said to react differently to Caucasian skin in terms of aging and its reaction to the sun’s rays.

Sanford Browne, Vice President for research and innovation at L’Oréal China Co, said, “The Chinese consumer is the most demanding in the world in almost all our product categories.”

Browne went on to highlight that Chinese consumers want products that are specifically targeted to them, stating some buyers have told the company that, “I’m willing to pay for it, but I have to see a real benefit, and it has to be designed for me.”

Created in a Shanghai-lab, the skin reconstructions will help L’Oréal create customized make-up for consumers, as well as skincare, and is thought to be a way for the company to hold on to its position as the top-selling beauty company within China.

Alain Oberhuber, an analyst in Zurich for MainFirst Bank AG, told Bloomberg, “In the past, companies would think the Chinese will buy European brands either way, but they’ve increasingly gone for local competitors.
“L’Oréal has recognized that trend and moved to adapt to the different genes to capture the huge potential of the Chinese market.”