From incense to IPOs: How C-beauty brands are scaling with intent

China’s beauty and fragrance sector is no longer defined by single-product breakouts or short-lived viral wins. Instead, a new generation of C-beauty players is scaling through structural expansion — launching sub-brands, entering adjacent categories, and formalizing supply chains — in ways that signal a more mature, strategic phase of growth. Recent moves by Documents, Little Dream Garden, and Off & Relax illustrate how leading local brands are no longer just chasing volume. They are building ecosystems and, in the process, redefining what scale looks like in the market. Peace Incense: Turning heritage into a new growth engine When Chinese fragrance brand Documents unveiled Peace Incense, its new incense sub-brand, the ambition was immediately clear. A flamboyant yellow pop-up overlooking Shanghai’s West Bund marked the arrival of a project that had taken more than three years to develop. Anchored by a turtle emblem — a symbol of slowness and longevity — Peace Incense positions itself around “a life of peace where Eastern heritage meets serene delight.” Nearly 80% of the production process is handcrafted, from blending to maturation, following extensive research to ensure stable burn lines and smooth aromatic diffusion. The permanent range includes 11 scents, alongside seasonal limited editions. Notes span familiar profiles such as osmanthus, jasmine, and sandalwood, as well as more unexpected accords like sweet mint, jujube, and nanmu — combinations that have drawn particular attention from online consumers. Priced at RMB 100 ($14) for 30 sticks, the products are positioned as accessible and giftable, packaged in natural birch boxes with an incense holder. Customizable sets of three, six, nine, or 12 boxes are paired with symbolic blessings, reinforcing their ritual value. Why expand into incense now This launch is not a tactical extension but a strategic bet. Market data points to a rapidly expanding opportunity: amid China’s “healing economy,” interest in traditional incense has risen sharply. According to Magic Mirror, Tmall sales in the category multiplied 40 times year-on-year between April 2024 and May 2025, while Xiaohongshu searches increased by 163%. As Meng Zhaoran, founder of Documents, explains, “After opening over 40 stores across more than 20 cities in the Chinese market with Documents, we have observed that incense holds immense potential beyond perfumes.” He identifies a market gap. “Interestingly, there isn’t a single widely recognized and trusted incense brand dominating the entire market — and that’s precisely the opportunity for Peace Incense. We aim to leverage the influence and loyal customer base already built by Documents to establish Peace Incense as the most representative incense brand in China. We also hope it can represent Chinese culture and lifestyle, reaching more corners of the world.” Peace Incense plans to open 10 dedicated offline stores, launch on Tmall, and be sold through Documents boutiques. Notably, management expects the new sub-brand to outgrow Documents within three years, positioning it as a future growth engine rather than a side project. Building a contemporary olfactive identity Beyond market opportunity, Peace Incense aims to establish a distinct olfactive identity. “Although China has thousands of years of incense-burning history and culture, contemporary society’s understanding of traditional Chinese incense remains quite limited,” shares Meng. “Therefore, we decided to create scents by combining the foundational formulas of traditional Chinese incense with the logic of Western natural plant essential oils. This allows the incense to have a distinct and recognizable scent even before being lit, while still preserving the charm of traditional Chinese incense after lighting.” According to Meng, this approach is relatively rare in China’s current incense market, where traditional circles tend to adhere strictly to conventions. Peace Incense aims to leverage its innovative scent-creation philosophy to help a new generation of consumers rediscover and embrace the incense-burning lifestyle of the East. The brand platform is designed to complement Documents rather than mirror it. While Documents operates under a “Bold-Zen” ethos — outward-facing, contemporary, and experimental — Peace Incense adopts a “Charm-Zen” positioning, centered on inner grounding and daily companionship. The turtle motif links the two brands, creating continuity without aesthetic overlap. By activating existing synergies while entering a whitespace category, Documents is engineering organic growth through brand architecture rather than SKU inflation. Little Dream Garden: From body care breakout to capital markets If Peace Incense reflects expansion through brand creation, Little Dream Garden illustrates scale through consolidation and financial maturity. Founded in 2010 and initially focused on body care, the brand — known domestically as BanMuHuaTian 半亩花田 — has become China’s first local body-care player to file for a Hong Kong IPO. In the first nine months of 2025, it generated 1.9 billion RMB ($275 million) in revenue, largely from products priced around 20 RMB ($3), highlighting its mass-premium positioning. Starting with body washes and scrubs, Little Dream Garden expanded into haircare, skincare, and fragrance, building a structured product matrix that reached 509 core SKUs by September 2025. Celebrity scale meets supply-chain depth The brand’s breakout began in 2019 after signing its first celebrity ambassador and surpassing 1 billion RMB ($144 million) in sales. Since then, endorsements from high-profile figures — including actress Dilraba Dilmurat, Olympic table tennis champion Sun Yingsha, and male actor Tian Xuning — have consistently driven traffic. In January 2025, a new haircare launch fronted by Sun generated 30 million RMB ($4.3 million) in GMV within one hour. Offline expansion into retail channels such as KKV, Watsons, and major supermarkets has strengthened the brand’s reach. At the same time, Little Dream Garden invested early in proprietary rose plantations in Shandong, integrating rose hydrosol into its formulations. This terroir-based approach — long associated with brands like L’Occitane and Jurlique — remains uncommon among Chinese mass-market players. The result is a brand that balances accessibility with aspiration, underpinned by proprietary ingredients and category leadership. Off & Relax: Extending scalp science into home scent Launched in 2020 under Proya Cosmetics, Off & Relax built its reputation on holistic scalp care, developed in collaboration with Japanese scientists. In the first half of 2025, its revenue surged 102% YoY to RMB 279 million ($40.3 million), making it Proya’s fastest-growing brand. In January 2026, Off & Relax entered functional home scent, introducing four flame-free diffusers structured around the concept of “water healing — from hair to heart.” Each scent corresponds to a different emotional state — balance, depth, purity, and power — with effects on brain waves tested and documented. While Off & Relax does not produce spray perfumes, its fragrance-forward haircare has long been described by consumers as delivering “perfume-like” sensory experiences. The move into home scent extends that philosophy into living spaces, aligning with a broader wellness narrative. Rather than diversifying for its own sake, the expansion follows a coherent conceptual roadmap rooted in the brand’s water‑healing identity, positioning it at the intersection of functional beauty and emotional well‑being. Final take: Expansion as proof of market maturity Across these three cases, expansion takes different forms — sub-brand creation, IPO preparation, and category adjacency — yet follows a shared logic. Each brand deepens its foundations before branching outward, whether through complementary platforms, proprietary sourcing, or a unifying conceptual framework. This clarity of identity is becoming a decisive advantage. As younger consumers increasingly seek emotional resonance and daily companionship alongside product performance, brands with a defined long-term vision are better positioned to scale sustainably. For Western beauty players, this is less a strategy to replicate than a signal to reflect on — at a moment when the market is more crowded, and consumer expectations are evolving faster than ever. Dao Nguyen is the founder of Essenzia ByDao. Since 2013 she has been helping fragrance and beauty brands read and navigate the Chinese market to surface opportunities and potentialize their brands.

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From incense to IPOs: How C-beauty brands are scaling with intent