From Labubu to lip gloss: Inside China’s beauty charm boom

When a Labubu plush starts dangling from a Hermès Birkin, it stops being a toy and becomes a signal. Over the past year, handbags — long treated as finished luxury statements — have turned into evolving canvases. From leather tassels and cherries to cartoon monsters, the charm economy has exploded, pulling luxury houses into a new race to accessorize the accessory. What began as playful personalization has now hardened into commercial logic. And beauty, increasingly portable and performative, is moving fast to claim its place on bags. The timing is not accidental. According to data from User Says Research Center, the “beauty charm” segment has seen rapid growth over the past year, with online buzz surpassing 218,000 mentions, up 41.8% year-on-year. The surge underscores how charm-style designs have moved beyond optional add-ons to become a defining part of product competitiveness. Luxury’s charm obsession is not just about decoration. It reflects a shift in how consumers, especially Gen Z, assign value. The bag is no longer static; it is curated daily, updated with mood, outfit, and utility. Fashion houses from Chanel to Dior have leaned into charms as high-margin, high-visibility add-ons. Beauty brands, spotting an opening, have gone one step further: they are turning everyday grooming into something both wearable and visible. From charm-maxxing to beauty-on-display China’s embrace of charms mirrors global “charm-maxxing” culture, popularized on TikTok through the Jane Birkin–ification of bags. But the local twist is function. Chinese consumers, accustomed to fragmented urban routines, are less interested in trinkets that merely look cute. They want objects that work. That is where beauty charms enter. Perfume, lip gloss, sunscreen, and hand cream — products that require frequent reapplication — have become ideal candidates for display. Instead of disappearing into a pouch, they now clip onto bags, belts, or keys, transforming from private utilities into public style statements. This shift aligns with two overlapping consumer demands. First, speed: commuting touch-ups, outdoor sun reapplication, and on-the-go fragrance expose the inconvenience of traditional bottle formats. Second, emotional value: beauty products are increasingly treated as tools of self-expression. Making them visible amplifies that role. Perfume steps out of the bag China’s niche fragrance sector has been especially quick to respond. Brands such as Documents have reimagined perfume as a wearable object. It pairs a 5ml extrait with handwoven rope, wood beads, and metal clasps inspired by traditional Chinese knotting. The fragrance is lightweight; the symbolism is deliberate, turning scent into a visible carrier of aesthetic and emotional meaning rather than a purely functional product. Globally, the idea of wearable scent has also gained traction. Chanel’s perfume pendants and Victoria Beckham Beauty’s chain-attached fragrance accessories signal how scent is stepping out of invisibility and into styling — aligning fragrance with fashion rather than positioning it as a private ritual. Lip gloss as fashion hardware Lip makeup may be the most natural category for charms, given its reapplication frequency. Dior’s Addict Jelly Lip Gloss incorporates a metal logo pendant that elevates a familiar luxury staple into a bag ornament, delivering status signaling without excessive branding. Digitally native brands have been especially quick to adopt the format. Glossier’s Balm Dotcom keychain editions transform a cult lip-care product into an everyday accessory, extending its cultural relevance without altering the formula. Kaja, incubated by Sephora, packages jelly-textured lip products as playful charms designed for collecting and sharing. Mass and masstige brands are following closely. MCoBeauty’s candy-like keyring glosses show how charm logic is filtering into accessible price tiers. Across markets, the message is consistent: remove friction from use, amplify visibility, and turn routine beauty into a styling gesture. Sunscreen, hand cream join the loop If lip and fragrance charms speak to expression, sunscreen and hand cream charms underline utility. In China, Carslan has introduced sunscreen formats designed to be clipped onto bags, encouraging frequent reapplication in outdoor and commuting scenarios. The hanging design reinforces the category’s core promise — protection that is always within reach — while aligning with consumers’ growing preference for lightweight, non-burdensome carry. Globally, similar logic is playing out as sun care brands seek to normalize visible, on-the-go protection, reframing sunscreen from a beach-only product into a daily companion. From function to experience The rise of beauty charms points to a broader structural shift. Competition is no longer defined purely by performance claims. It is about experience design — how seamlessly a product integrates into daily life. Hanging beauty products externalize consumption, turning routine touch-ups into moments of self-expression and social signaling. For brands, the payoff is clear. Charms create differentiation in saturated categories, encourage repeat interaction, and live permanently in the consumer’s visual field. They are also inherently social-first, designed to be photographed, styled, and shared. What comes next is likely deeper personalization: modular charms, interchangeable chains, culturally coded motifs, and limited collaborations.

Accessorizing the accessory: Inside China’s beauty charm boom

Upgrade to Pro

Sectors

Insights

Company

Accessorizing the accessory: Inside China’s beauty charm boom