【Shanghai, Ch】A ‘Two-Way Street’ Between Gen Z and Top Luxury Brands

A lipstick priced at 1,200 yuan and an eyeshadow palette at 1,850 yuan were unimaginable just two or three years ago, but Louis Vuitton has now made it a reality. The “sky-high price makeup corps” is no longer led by traditional high-end cosmetic brands but is being redefined by luxury brands at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Hermès Beauty took the lead, opening up the high-priced lipstick market with metal tube lipsticks priced between 540 and 780 yuan. Celine Beauty quietly launched its makeup line in Europe, further raising the aesthetic threshold of the industry with minimalist, cool-toned packaging. Louis Vuitton’s released makeup has officially pushed lipstick prices into the 1,000–1,200 yuan range…

While the entry of these luxury brands brings more aesthetic and creative imagination to the beauty field, it has also led to a “class leap” in the overall price of makeup. The industry has officially transitioned from the “350–450 yuan high-end makeup” range to the “800–1,200 yuan top luxury makeup” range.

It’s important to note that luxury brands are traditionally cautious with pricing and rarely gamble without demand. Therefore, instead of fixating on “is it too expensive” or “will it sell,” perhaps we should think in reverse: who is the consumer group targeted by such pricing? Or rather, who has shown luxury brands the potential for consumption?

The purchasing logic of traditional luxury consumers often focuses on big-ticket items (bags, ready-to-wear, jewelry). Makeup constitutes a small portion of their consumption structure and is not a primary carrier of “status symbol.” Therefore, even if makeup prices rise, it’s unlikely to drive new growth from this group.

The real drivers of the expansion into the 800–1,200 yuan range are another group — Gen Z, who view makeup as the “entry point into the luxury brand system.” As early as 2023, the BCG×Tmall Luxury “China Luxury Consumer Insights” report gave a very clear signal: the consumption growth rate of post-00s consumers was four times the overall average, with their proportion spent on “accessible luxury” (makeup, perfume, small leather goods, accessories) far exceeding other age groups. In 2024, Deloitte’s “China Consumer Trends Report” also pointed out that among 18–25 year-olds, 41% stated they “engage in at least one self-rewarding consumption per month,” with the most concentrated purchasing price range being small items priced between 300–1,500 yuan — items often not exorbitantly priced individually but possessing strong brand symbolism and emotional value. Sky-high priced lipsticks fall precisely within this consumption range.

In fact, Gen Z’s willingness to pay for “expensive small items” is evident from another social phenomenon. Trendy toy IPs represented by Labubu have formed a trend among young people: dolls originally priced at a few hundred yuan are resold on the secondary market for thousands or even tens of thousands, yet people are still willing to queue, rush to buy, and stay up late for releases. This is a repeatedly verified fact.

Looking at sky-high priced lipsticks from this perspective reveals they share the same consumption logic as Labubu, blind boxes, niche perfumes, and small jewelry: small in size, price within an affordable range, highly recognizable, suitable for photo sharing, and providing an immediate emotional reward. When this consumption orientation is projected onto the luxury field, “small items” like perfume, lipstick, and cardholders naturally become their毫不犹豫的首选 (unhesitating first choice).

The emergence of the 1,200-yuan lipstick, on the surface, is just a sky-high priced new product from a luxury brand. But looking deeper, this move is a precise capture of the rising new consumer group and their changing preferences. The new generation of post-00s consumers pursues “personality products” that satisfy emotional, aesthetic, and symbolic expression. Closely observing the behavior of these consumers reveals they have reconstructed and established their own consumption methods — the symbolic meaning of big-ticket items is being weakened, while the emotional value of small items is continuously amplified.

They pursue a mobile lifestyle, the small daily joys that accompany them, and the small fragments that can be updated at any time. The same group of young people can rush to buy a limited-edition Labubu one day, try a new Hermès lipstick shade the next, and buy a Byredo travel perfume the day after, with no contradiction, because it’s a lifestyle map composed of small items.

While many industries are still trying to understand why young people “no longer buy big-ticket items,” young people are actually answering this question in another way — they haven’t stopped consuming; they are just participating in a lighter, more flexible manner. In an era of long-term uncertainty, young people construct identity, regulate emotions, and showcase life through small items. It is no longer strongly tied to the economic cycle but synchronizes with emotional, social, and cultural cycles. This consumption logic is not unique to China but shows clear cross-cultural consistency,足以说明 (sufficiently indicating) that this “small-item-ization” consumption structure is a common characteristic of this generation.

Among all industries, the first to react to this subtle but sustained consumption shift are luxury brands, which are extremely adept at捕捉 (capturing)细微转向 (subtle shifts) in consumption — because their survival depends on perceiving and creating desire, or可以说 (it can be said) perceiving and creating demand, and changes in demand always first emerge from consumption details. Of course, against the backdrop of global economic slowdown,持续走弱 (continuously weakening) consumer confidence, and加剧 (intensifying) geopolitical conflicts, pressured luxury brands’ increased focus on makeup at this time also carries不言而喻的 (self-evident) performance expectations. This is also why today’s luxury brands are not just selling clothes and bags but也开始贩卖 (also starting to sell) a整套 (whole set) of “aesthetic理念 (concepts)” and “lifestyle.”

Thus, looking back at this seemingly sudden “new lipstick effect,” it is actually not a狂欢 (carnival) for the beauty industry, nor a “过分大胆 (excessively bold)” offensive by luxury brands, but a “two-way street” between Gen Z and top luxury brands — young people express themselves through small items, and luxury brands respond to them through small items. Different people see different lights, but what true industry insiders see is the future imagination illuminated by “small items.”