CHICMAX Bets on Nan Beauty

On August 15, CHICMAX officially unveiled its latest strategic venture: Nan Beauty, a professional makeup artist brand co-created with celebrity artist Chun Nan, set to launch next month. The brand marks CHICMAX’s first move into the artist-led cosmetics space—a once-niche, now fiercely competitive category.

The debut collection focuses on base makeup with five SKUs. All are scheduled to go live on Douyin on September 9, with Chun Nan himself hosting a livestream to drive launch momentum.

From naming conventions to launch strategy, it’s clear Nan Beauty is positioning itself as beginner-friendly pro beauty. The absence of tools, the product names like “Beginner Foundation,” and Chun Nan’s mantra—“Professional is my job, you just be beautiful”—all suggest a brand targeting consumers who want polished results with minimal effort.

Nan Beauty also benefits from a formidable team. Gu Mai, former GM of Tmall Beauty and a seasoned operator in FMCG and beauty retail, joined as a partner this May. Backed by CHICMAX’s proven expertise on content-driven platforms like Douyin—evident in the success of its KANS’s cosmetics line—the new brand enters with strong operational firepower.

What’s less certain is whether Nan Beauty can justify its mid-to-premium pricing tier. Slotted between the affordable KANS Beauty and luxury-positioned Maogeping, the brand enters a competitive price zone dominated by both domestic disruptors and global players.

But Nan Beauty is more than just a new label. It is a strategic pillar in CHICMAX’s broader multi-brand, multi-category play, and a key engine in its long-term ambitions: ¥10 billion in revenue by 2025, and ¥30 billion by 2030.

Despite its potential, the brand faces real headwinds. First, timing. Nan Beauty arrives as the boom in C-Beauty homegrown cosmetics cools, and a once-opportune window narrows. The current battlefield favors brands with strong differentiation, deep roots, or massive followings.

Here, Nan Beauty’s key brand asset—Chun Nan—has room to grow. Compared with Tang Yi of TIMAGE (1.67M Xiaohongshu followers) or legacy icon Mao Geping (1.02M Weibo followers), Chun Nan lags at 380K. His pivot to mass-market engagement also came later than his peers.

For an artist-led brand, where the founder’s voice and presence are central to the brand narrative, this is a non-trivial gap. In an already crowded space, Nan Beauty doesn’t just have to stand out—it has to outperform.

There’s only one way forward: let the products speak. Each launch must deliver in value, innovation, and experience. Only once pricing and reviews emerge after the September 9 debut will we know if Nan Beauty can secure its place.

Meanwhile, back at CHICMAX headquarters, the brand’s momentum has stirred headlines. On August 21, it briefly surpassed Proya in market capitalization, becoming the second most valuable domestic beauty group, trailing only Giant Biogene.

But despite its impressive 2024 performance—doubling sales and tripling profit—CHICMAX’s growth has slowed significantly in the first half of 2025. Some analysts question whether its ¥10B target is still realistic.

In that context, Nan Beauty is not just another launch. It could very well determine the company’s next phase.