Chinese Makeup

All About Chinese Makeup and Douyin Makeup

Chinese makeup has gained significant traction worldwide in recent years, thanks to the influence of viral internet beauty trends and the vibrant online beauty community. Chinese makeup styles are a unique combination of various Western and Eastern beauty influences. They include Korean aesthetics such as aegyo sal and gradient lip makeup. However, Chinese makeup looks differ from Korean style as they favor bolder and more glamorous eye makeup, like Western-style eye makeup. As such, there are countless Chinese beauty items available that can help you achieve chic Chinese makeup looks ranging from luxurious everyday style to dramatic full-on glam.

What is Douyin Makeup?

Chinese makeup styles have grown popular in recent years through the power of social media. Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and Xiaohongshu (often described as China’s Instagram) have millions of app users across the country. From these Chinese platforms, communities of beauty influencers, makeup enthusiasts and social media creators have emerged and helped fuel popular beauty trends, makeup styles and more that circulate among young and digitally-savvy netizens in China and beyond. Users around the world have caught on to Chinese aesthetics and Chinese makeup brands, spreading Chinese makeup looks further on global social media platforms.

To many people, Chinese makeup has become synonymous with "Douyin makeup," which refers to the glamorous and experimental makeup trends propagated by Douyin and Xiaohongshu influencers. Simply searching #douyinmakeup on any platform such as Instagram or Pinterest will lead you to vast amounts of content from beauty lovers all around the world who love Chinese makeup!

How to Create the Chinese Makeup Look

To achieve the Douyin makeup look, go for a matte base, contour and blush that enhance your natural facial features, and then add dramatic, alluring eye makeup and a pouty lip.

On base makeup, aim for a smooth and soft finish to accentuate the bold and glittery eye makeup that comes into play later. Go for a blurred matte finish by applying matte liquid foundation and powder. Choose a pressed powder that reduces any reflective glow by absorbing excess sebum on face. If you need extra coverage to conceal blemishes and other skin concerns, use a high-coverage or color-correcting concealer such as FOCALLURE’s Color Correcting Concealer Palette and Judydoll’s Traceless Cloud-Touch Concealer.

The next step is to sculpt and enhance your natural features. Define the nose and make your nose bridge more prominent by applying contour along the sides of the nose down from the brows. Achieve a slim heart-shaped face by shading along the jawline. Use highlighter on the tip of the nose for a button nose effect.

For flushed and rosy cheeks, use extra pink blush and apply liberally on the apples of the cheeks, across the nose bridge and tip, and on the chin. Extending blush application up to the eyes is another blush trend popular amongst Chinese beauty enthusiasts.

Dramatic eyes are key characteristics of Chinese Douyin makeup, as seen on many ethereal eye makeup videos on Douyin or Xiaohongshu. Use makeup techniques to make the eyes appear bigger and more doll-like.

If you have mono-eyelids, use double eyelid tape to achieve double eyelids that enlarge the appearance of the eyes. Circle lenses are also a popular way of enhancing the eyes. The circle lenses add diameter to the iris and give the illusion of large doe eyes for an innocent doll-like appearance. Experiment with various types of circle lenses, ranging from dark brown to vivid blue colors, to find the type of dramatic eyes that suit you. Apply clustered false eyelashes (also known as manga or manhua lashes as this beauty trend mimic comic book characters) on curled top and bottom lashes, and then finish with a coat of mascara. Lash clusters allow for a customizable fit, meaning you can place the individual faux lashes according to your desired shape and volume.

For the makeup itself, start by drawing a winged eyeliner with a long and sharp point towards the outer corner of the eye for an eye-catching "siren eye look." Another essential part of the eye makeup style is "aegyo sal," a Korean term that refers to the baby fat under the lower lash line. Chinese makeup adopted the popular Korean makeup technique of contouring and highlighting the aegyo sal to make the eyes look bigger and brighter. Create the characteristically bold eye shape of Chinese Douyin makeup by combining these two techniques.

Once you’ve got the base eye makeup down, it’s time to amp things up by adding sparkles. Apply glittery and shimmery eye makeup, and don’t hold back! In addition to sparkly eye shadow, use glitter liquid eyeliner and apply unique designs on the lids for unconventional twists. For more drama, apply shimmer highlights along the tip of the nose and across the cheekbones.

Finish your Chinese Douyin makeup look with a vibrant gradient lip. Both matte and glossy lip looks are popular, so pick your desired finish! Apply a bit of lip stain or lip tint over the entire lip area and blend out. Slowly build up the layers starting from the center of the lips to make your lips pop. Use tiny drops of concealer on the edges of the lips and blend out to perfect the pouty lip shape. Visit The YesStylist blog for more inspiration and tips on the Principles of Douyin Makeup.

Where to Buy Chinese Makeup Brands

With the popularity of Douyin makeup styles, Chinese makeup brands have also been going global in recent years, drawing attention for their elaborate designs and pigmented makeup products. Browse through YesStyle’s vast selection of Chinese makeup from Flower Knows, Judydoll and more to shop items for your beauty looks.

In line with the maximalist style of Chinese makeup, Flower Knows offers products with ornate fairytale-inspired packaging. Their bestselling items include a multitude of eye shadow palettes containing vivid shades in matte and shimmery textures. The eye palettes are perfect for achieving Chinese makeup aesthetics.

Judydoll is another C-Beauty brand that gets much love from customers around the world for its broad range of base, eye and lip makeup. Judydoll’s Slim Liquid Eyeliner is great for drawing a winged liner look. Add volume to lashes with the brand’s 3D Curling Eye Iron Mascara featuring a metallic wand and fiber-rich formula for creating everything from natural to dramatic eye makeup. Other popular Chinese makeup brands include ZEESEA, COLOR KEY, CATKIN and Florasis, which all offer products designed with unique and intricate packaging.