618 2026: China Beauty Market Results, Top Brands and Livestreamers
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618 2026 is over. The results are in, and for the first time in the festival’s history, China’s beauty market posted negative growth. Total beauty GMV across all platforms hit 561 billion RMB, down 2.43% year-on-year. That number matters. 618 has always been a growth story. Not this year.
What happened? A mix of shorter promo windows, consumer fatigue with endless discounts, and brands deliberately protecting their margins. The era of grow at any cost in China beauty is ending. What replaces it is more interesting.
618 2026 in Numbers: What the Data Shows
The split between skincare and color cosmetics tells two different stories. Skincare held up better. Color cosmetics and fragrance took the harder hit.
| Category | GMV (RMB) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty Skincare | 425 billion | -1.62% |
| Color Cosmetics + Fragrance | 136 billion | -4.90% |
| Total Beauty | 561 billion | -2.43% |
Platform share is also shifting. Tmall still leads, but Douyin keeps eating into its dominance. Any brand ignoring Douyin in 2026 is making a serious mistake.
| Platform | Market Share |
|---|---|
| Tmall / Taobao | 44.8% |
| Douyin | 31.9% |
| JD.com | 10.7% |
| Kuaishou | 7.3% |
| Pinduoduo | 5.3% |
The top 10 beauty brands on Tmall for 618 2026:
| Rank | Brand |
|---|---|
| 1 | Skinceuticals (修丽可) |
| 2 | Estee Lauder (雅诗兰黛) |
| 3 | Proya (珀莱雅) |
| 4 | Lancome (兰蔻) |
| 5 | SK-II |
| 6 | L’Oreal Paris |
| 7 | La Mer (海蓝之谜) |
| 8 | Clarins (娇韵诗) |
| 9 | Helena Rubinstein (赫莲娜) |
| 10 | Cle de Peau (肌肤之钥) |
618 2026: China beauty market results
International Brands Are Back on Top
For two or three years, domestic brands were the story. Proya, Winona, Florasis took slots from international giants on Tmall and won the PR battle too. Chinese consumers were proud to buy Chinese skincare.
618 2026 changed the picture. International brands now hold 15 of the top 20 Tmall beauty slots. Skinceuticals jumped from rank 6 to rank 1. Estee Lauder returned to the top 3. Only Proya, at rank 3, kept the domestic flag flying at the top.
Why the reversal? Three reasons. First, international brands invested heavily in China-specific formulations and localized education content on Xiaohongshu. Second, they stopped competing on price and returned to efficacy claims backed by clinical data. Third, Chinese consumers who tried domestic alternatives are returning to international names for specific concerns such as anti-aging, pigmentation, and medical-grade actives.
This is not a permanent reversal. Domestic brands like Maogeping (+46.44%), Fan Beauty Diary (+78.77%), and Lin Qingxuan (+285.18%) posted exceptional growth. The market is splitting. Premium international at the top, fast-growth domestic in the middle. The squeezed zone is mid-range foreign brands with no clear positioning.
The Top 3 Beauty Livestreamers of 618 2026
Livestreaming remains the engine of beauty sales in China. Here are the three streamers who dominated this 618 on Douyin.
1. 广东夫妇 (Guangdong Couple): Number one for six consecutive years. They focused on prestige beauty and ran 7 concentrated broadcast sessions during the festival. Consistency and category focus built trust. They are the benchmark for beauty livestreaming at scale.
2. 贾乃亮 (Jia Nailiang): The celebrity-turned-streamer story of 618. His luxury beauty carnival format delivered +284% GMV growth year-on-year in a single session. Cumulative GMV from May 24 to June 6 exceeded 1 billion RMB, up 335.5% YoY. That is not a trend, that is a structural shift in how male celebrities sell beauty to female audiences.
3. 与辉同行 (Dong Yuhui’s channel): Dong Yuhui built his audience on literature and culture. His channel now mixes high-end skincare with domestic value brands. The combination works because his audience trusts his judgment, not his discounts. For Douyin advertising, this channel shows that niche trust beats broad reach.
On Douyin, the top brands by GMV: Estee Lauder (735 million RMB), Helena Rubinstein (703 million RMB), La Mer (581 million RMB). All three are premium international brands. Douyin is no longer just a channel for affordable products.
Li Jiaqi Still Rules Taobao Live
On Taobao Live, Li Jiaqi remains the undisputed number one. His first-hour pre-sale posted double-digit growth. More interesting: 60% of the brands in his beauty top 10 were domestic Chinese brands. Proya held two slots in that list.
Li Jiaqi’s curation is a signal. When he gives slots to domestic brands, those brands get legitimacy with mass-market shoppers. When he returns to international names, it validates a premium repositioning. Watch his brand mix as a leading indicator of where the market is going.
Sources
- CBNData: 2026年618美妆行业消费数据报告
- Sina Finance: 618战报，美妆总GMV 5610亿，同比下滑2.43%
- The Paper (澎湃新闻): 618直播带货，贾乃亮单场GMV增284%
- Xinhua: 2026年618年中大促美妆品类销售分析
