How ice-and-snow is rewriting skincare credibility

On a winter afternoon in Harbin, tourists queue not only for ice slides and snow sculptures but to test face creams in -20°C air. In Changbai Mountain, beauty brands debut skincare lines against a backdrop of wind, snow glare, and high-altitude dryness. As China’s ice-and-snow economy scales from a regional winter pastime into a national consumption engine, frozen landscapes are becoming an unlikely but powerful frontier for beauty marketing. Once seasonal and symbolic, the industry has evolved into a lifestyle signal tied to sport, wellness, and outdoor leisure. It expanded from about $38 billion (270 billion RMB) in 2015 to $136 billion (136 billion RMB) in 2024 and is projected to reach nearly $140 billion (140 billion RMB) in 2025. For beauty brands navigating an increasingly skeptical, efficacy-driven market, extreme cold offers something rare: a visible, intuitive way to prove performance. This is why Harbin and Changbai Mountain have emerged as beauty’s new experiential stages. From pop-ups and livestream studios to ice sculpture art and sub-zero product testing, brands are turning winter’s harshness into their most persuasive proof point. From winter spectacle to climate strategy “Alpine activations are not just short-term traffic drivers,” says Juliette Duveau, co-founder of the marketing agency The Chinese Pulse. “They’re rooted in a deeper lifestyle shift. Chinese consumers are placing greater emphasis on sport, leisure, and wellness, and that naturally reshapes skincare and beauty routines.” Duveau frames the rise of ice-and-snow beauty as part of a broader move toward “climate beauty,” where consumers increasingly expect different products for different seasons rather than relying on a single routine year-round. “In northern China, extreme cold isn’t a travel moment — it’s a lived reality,” she says. “That creates long-term demand for barrier repair, hydration, and protection. For brands, this is about long-term trust, not short-term social traffic.” That logic explains why domestic brands have leaned into Harbin and Changbai Mountain not as exotic backdrops but as functional laboratories. Sensitive-skin specialist Winona selected Harbin as the launch site for its second-generation Special Care Moisturizing Cream, staging pop-ups across major city landmarks and bus stops while running real-time livestreams in outdoor conditions. Harbin’s winter — dry, windy, and persistently below freezing — mirrors the exact skin challenges the product targets. Mass brands have taken a similar approach. Vaseline created a limited-time “snow park” to demonstrate occlusive performance in extreme cold, while Olay’s winter pop-up in Jilin presented cold weather as both a physical and emotional stressor, positioning skincare as a form of winter repair rather than a seasonal indulgence. When cold becomes a credibility filter For many brands, the appeal of ice-and-snow marketing lies in its brutality. Extreme cold compresses skincare claims into a single question: do they still work? “The key distinction is whether the activation translates into behavioral change, not just attention,” says Adam Knight, co-founder of Yaso, a full-stack ecommerce partner for brands expanding in China. “In China especially, trust is cumulative and evidence-based. If a cold-weather hero product keeps selling months after the campaign ends, that’s when you know the message landed.” Knight argues that alpine activations are most effective when they reinforce an existing functional positioning rather than attempting to create one from scratch. “Otherwise, it risks becoming just another seasonal content spike,” he says. That emphasis on behavior over buzz echoes a broader shift in the market. “The real metrics for trust are far more telling,” says Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China-focused consultancy Chozan. “Did the consumer repurchase after the trip? Are they searching for your brand name, not just ‘winter moisturizer’? And what does the user-generated content actually say?” In Dudarenok’s view, depth matters more than scale. “A selfie with an ice sculpture is traffic. A detailed Xiaohongshu review explaining how a product repaired someone’s skin in Harbin — that’s trust.” Which categories truly benefit from the cold Not every category belongs in the snow — forcing the narrative can backfire. Duveau identifies functional skincare as the strongest fit: barrier-repair creams, soothing and moisturizing formulas, essential oils, and body care products that directly address cold-induced dryness and sensitivity. Sunscreens, often overlooked in winter, also gain credibility when framed around UV reflection from snow and skin nourishment. Base makeup has also found a foothold, with winter conditions — rapid temperature shifts, wind exposure, and dehydration — creating a natural test for long-wear and comfort claims. Color brand Marie Dalgar chose Changbai Mountain as the launch site for its Guoran base makeup line, embedding the debut within its long-running “Natural Theater” project. Rather than a conventional product release, the brand used the snowy landscape as narrative proof of durability, linking product performance to its broader philosophy of resilience. Emerging brand Timage followed a similar path, debuting its moisturizing peptide base makeup series in Changbai Mountain, directly tying hydration performance to sub-zero stress. Where brands risk overextension is in categories with no clear functional logic. Decorative color cosmetics and fragrance, Knight cautions, often feel gimmicky in ice-and-snow settings, especially in a market already wary of exaggerated claims. Domestic proof, global integration Ice-and-snow marketing also exposes a strategic divide between domestic and international brands. Global players often lean into Alpine heritage, using long associations with cold climates to reinforce authority. Lancôme, for example, has repeatedly used ice and snow as both a performance metaphor and a cultural canvas, blending its rose iconography and Arc de Triomphe motifs with local winter symbolism through large-scale ice installations. CeraVe is one of the few international beauty brands to partner directly with Harbin Ice and Snow World during the 2025–2026 season. Its ice-brick installation translated “skin barrier” science into physical form, turning ice itself into an educational medium. “The differentiation is no longer the stage,” Dudarenok says. “It’s the substance of the story you tell on it.” Domestic brands, meanwhile, tend to win by operating like locals, grounding campaigns in daily winter life, pragmatic skin pain points, and regional memory rather than imported alpine mythology. From winter marketing to performance-led beauty Ultimately, ice-and-snow marketing is less about winter and more about where China’s beauty market is heading. For decades, credibility came from celebrity endorsements and hero ingredients. Today, Chinese consumers increasingly behave like efficacy detectives, demanding proof that products perform under stress. “This mirrors what we’ve seen in sportswear,” Knight says. “Terrain and climate became credibility engines. Beauty is now borrowing that same logic — durability, protection, resilience.” Duveau expects this shift to push brands toward deeper R&D commitments, from formulations optimized for extreme moisture loss to packaging designed to withstand freezing temperatures without cracking. Usage scenarios, such as post-ski repair routines, may become as central as hero ingredients. As more brands enter China’s frozen frontiers, ice-and-snow marketing will inevitably lose its novelty. What won’t disappear is the question it forces brands to answer. In a market where trust melts slowly and skepticism runs cold, winter is no longer just a backdrop. It’s a proving ground.

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How ice-and-snow is rewriting skincare credibility