Clean Beauty Retail in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a dynamic city with over 7 million people. It is one of the most densely populated cities on earth! 92% of the population is Han Chinese (the dominant ethnicity of mainland China). I have lived in the wonderful city for over 4.5 years and been visiting for many more before that.

For over 10 years I worked in the beauty industry in many places around the world allowing me to get to know different cities, especially their department stores!

Now I am focused on Clean cosmetics and in Asia there is no one destination to find the best brands. It is still niche and the market is super fragmented with lots and lots and lots of retailers so it can be tough as a brand wanting to come into the market to work out which retailers to target.

This is my guide to Clean Beauty in Hong Kong. There are a few players that have been around for a while who are more established and there are some high end departments stores that are starting to see that there is more demand for wellbeing beauty but it is fragmented so this should be very helpful.

Physical retail stores

Hong Kong rent is some of the most expensive in the world so physical retail is a tough business here. Even the department stores are packed tight.

Dedicated to Clean Beauty

1) Beautysaur – this is a small concession shop in Festival walk in Causeway bay with a transactional website.

It was co-founded by Chris who is a huge clean beauty fan, he has a massive amount of passion and a lot of knowledge. He is a great Clean Beauty advocate in Hong Kong.

His product is focused on high end skincare with some makeup products.

Brands include: May Lindstrom, Ayuna Less is Beauty, Luxe Botanics, Max & Me, Honua, Ranavat Organics, Pai Skincare, Le Prunier, Siam Seas, Au Naturale, Gressa, 14e Cosmetics, Henne Organics

2) Beyorg is a high end natural beauty destination that has been around since 2006. They have 8 locations in IFC, Landmark, Pacific Place, Hysan Place, Harbour city, Festival walk and New town plaza. Beyorg also have a spa at their store in the Landmark.

Their focus is natural luxury skincare with a couple of makeup brands and supplement brand Ogaenics. Their positioning is to only carry brands that are really suited to Asian skin.

Brands include: RMS beauty, Naturaglace, Susanne Kaufmann, Amala, Love is more, Primivera, De Mamiel, mum & baby brand Alma.

3) A beauty bar has 3 locations across Hong Kong – Causeway bay, TST and Harvey Nichols landmark as well as 2 in Macau.

They are focused on beauty from a wellness perspective. They are run by a distributor called Annabelle Holdings.

Brands include: Ilia makeup, Coola, O+M, Tonic Australia, The Herb farm, Pura, Urban Apothecary, Karuna.

4) Mi Ming Mart aimed at a local client base, they have a wide selection of brands across 9 locations in Hong Kong. It is run by Erica Yuen who is a local influencer and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. They act as a distributor for some of the brands they stock.

Brands include: Synergie Skin, Aromatheraphy Associates, Bondi Wash, Briogeo, Ere Perez, Evolue, Inika, Jane Iredale, Vapour, Vanessa Megan, Snow Fox, The Herb Farm.

5) 10/10 Hope & 10/10 Space

10/10 has 5 retail locations in Hong Kong – 2 are concessions inside a large bookshop as well as a salon for treatments. They also operate Neals Yard in Hong Kong with their 2 standalone stores. T

Brands include: Neals yard, Bamford, Bondi Wash, Christophe Robin, Absolution, Grown Alchemist

6) Dr Koala has one store in Tseung Kwan O and a comprehensive e-commerce site. They carry beauty and also lifestyle products like beeswax food wraps and water bottles.

Brands include: Juice beauty, Odacite, Moo Goo, Kahina, Josh Rosebrook, Verso, Intelligent Nutrients, Jane Iredale, Tonic Australia

7) Green Beauty Koko  has a store in one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping districts Causeway Bay as well as a very well stocked online store. It was set up in the US first and then started in Hong Kong in 2014. They have an impressive line up of brands from Josh Rosebrook, Suntegrity, Mun Skin, Odacite, Tweleve beauty and very excitingly makeup brands Hynt of beauty and Sappho!

Stores with Natural Beauty Section

Lane Crawford is Hong Kong’s iconic, luxury department store – similar to a Selfridges in UK or Saks in US. They have 4 stores in Hong Kong – IFC, Canton Road, and Times square as well as a home store in Pacific Place. They have 3 stores in mainland China as well although these do not have the prestige or the appeal of the Hong Kong stores. While more focused on the mainstream beauty players, they are starting to follow the wellness, clean beauty trend and get some new brands on board.

Brands include: Edible beauty, Pai, Skin owl, Vanessa Megan. Make sure you check first which store stocks which brands before you go – IFC and Canton road should have the widest selection.

Lane Crawford is part of a group that also owns Joyce Beauty and Facess.

Joyce Beauty’s positioning is niche brands focused cutting edge, trends. They have 7 stores across Hong Kong. They don’t have their own online store. Some of the brands sell through Lane Crawford’s ecommerce.

Brands include: Rahua, Kevyn Aucoin, Allies of Skin, Eve Lom, Votary. Full list of brands and where they are sold are here.

Chains stores

Watsons – They are a pharmacy chain all over Hong Kong. Focus on Skincare and health products but introducing more brands. Tend to have a cleaner, less cluttered atmosphere vs. cosmetics discount chains. Part of Hutchinson group – superdrug in Uk. Shops all over Asia. They are suitable for lower price point skincare products that already have strong awareness in home market – they carry Antipodes.

Sephora – they have an online store shipping to Hong Kong from their hub in Singapore and they are coming back to Hong Kong with stores in August 2019.

Brands with their own stores

John masters organics very few clean beauty brands have their own stores but John masters organics have opened 4 stores in Hong Kong – IFC, Harbour city, Times square and a pop up in Sun Street in Wan Chai. They are doing lifestyle workshops – everything from meditation to flower arranging maybe something to check out.

Neals Yard have 2 stores of their own. Caudalie & Aesop have stores here.

Healthfood stores

With the increased interest in health and wellness in Hong Kong there are quite a few health stores who stock some natural beauty products.

Slowood – this is a large store recently opened up in Kennedy town. They have a variety of products from food to skincare – all imported brands.

ISGO is in Central, they have a few natural brands like Miessence, Ethique, Biossentials, They also act as a distributor in the market for Ethique, Biossentials.

Just Green – healthfood store with multiple locations in central Hong Kong. Focused at expats and wealthy locals. They sell Vanessa Megan, The Herb Farm, Eco Tan, Coola, Dessert Essence.

Also Green Common stocks some clean brands in their 10 stores all around Hong Kong.

Also the zero waste store live Zero just opened a Live Zero Beauty in March. Stocking products in bulk as well as low packaging brands like Ethique, Habitat and local brands like Coconut matter and Zero yet 100.

Online options that are Hong Kong based

Here is where it gets really messy! There seems to be a new online shop opening up every week in Hong Kong. I am going to list the ones here who have great brands that I love.

Be Blooming beauty – This online shop is run by two, young Hong Kong ladies who have a passion for clean makeup. It is one of the few stores focused on makeup. They carry Ere Perez, W3ll People, Lily Lolo. They are a small outfit and have a limited product selection but they are focusing on star products. They also do markets to get new customers.

Lady Lohas – this is also run by two young Hong Kong ladies. Their focus is skincare with some good brands. Some of the brands they carry are Khus + Khus, Ere Perez, Skin owl & H is for love.

Astrid Wyilde – a new minimalist online shop dedicated to increasing the availability of clean beauty in Hong Kong at a reasonable price, it is English only so only capturing a small segment of the market. They stock Axiology lipsticks, Henne, sundays.

Gourmet Skin bar – this e-store was opened in 2015 and has some solid clean brands like suntegrity, beauty chef & nudus lipsticks.

A few more online retailers

Cabanee – They have their own products as well as stocking some interesting international brands like Tabitha James Kraan, Josh Rosebrook.

No2 Organics – They also act as a distributor for some brands in Hong Kong.

Little things in Life, Noirstone, Beautegrity, Ambrosia

Another online market place that is worth a mention is Eartheries. You can filter by your own personal concern – everyone has different priorities – vegan, chemical free, organic, biodegradable etc. They are expanding their beauty brands and their focus currently is on Hong Kong brands rather than importing from overseas but definitely worth checking out.

The Hong Kong market is pretty competitive, Clean & Natural beauty is not very established but there are definitely increasing numbers of consumers who are interested in it. The added complication with Hong Kong is that it is a free port so it is very easy for international companies to ship directly to Hong Kong making it difficult for local retailers to compete.

Conclusion

Hong Kong, as with much of Asia is still in early days of clean beauty. As an overseas brand looking to get into the market here Hong Kong could be a good option but it would depend on your positioning, ambition and budgets. If it is something you are interested in do get in touch for an exploratory call – allie@cleanbeautyasia.com.