Various media outlets have recently coined Russian beauty the trend of the year, some even referring to it as the new K-beauty. Meanwhile in the country itself, business is on the rise.
According to a report from Reed Exhibitions Russia, the average annual spend for female consumers on cosmetics was $192, while its perfumery and cosmetics market accounts for roughly $11 billion in annual turnover. Makeup and skincare alone make up 29% of that market, followed by haircare and oral hygiene products. The overall cosmetics market revenue reached $2.93 billion in 2020.
From its complex history to its often overlooked diverse aesthetic ideals, the Russian market is more than just a hype machine. BeautyMatter spoke to Maria Karr, PR/communications executive and founder of e-commerce platform Rumore Beauty, and Anna Dycheva-Smirnova, CEO of Reed Exhibitions UK, Russia Middle East, and Turkey, to paint a comprehensive picture of its past, present, and future.
Industry Beginnings
Cosmetics and politics have crossed paths at certain junctures throughout history: from the Red Moscow fragrance, launched in honor of the Revolution’s 10th anniversary, to lipstick being symbolic of capitalist decadence in the Cold War era. But while other countries such as Korea or France flooded foreign markets decades ago, Russia’s beauty exports have been minimal. Certain sections of the country remained infiltrated for a long time due to logistical difficulties, and socioeconomic and political restrictions meant there was no space for private businesses to develop, with a selected few government-owned brands occupying the beauty space instead. “Those were not the beauty products that people would be excited about or indulge in. They were very basic things, it was about the functionality. In Russian culture, the concept of vanity and pampering yourself was so foreign back then,” Karr comments.
Imported beauty products, with the premium price bump to match, remained highly covetable, but it wasn’t until the ’90s that indie beauty businesses began to be established locally. “The Russian industry the way we know it today, literally started about 15 or so years ago. It's been a very long process in the making,” Karr comments. “The modernity of that is a blessing. It's a challenge because it's new, but then it's a good thing because the brands are already starting on the right foot, thinking of clean formulas, sustainability, being kind for the skin and the planet.”
The rise of local brands has leveled the playing field with their international counterparts. “For the new generation, prestige cosmetics and international brands continue to be very popular, but they treat local brands equally,” Dycheva-Smirnova says, adding that “the only way politics has influence over cosmetics at the moment is if, for example, the government introduces some additional tariffs on imports.”
Entering the Russian Beauty Market
On the subject of tariffs, numerical fluctuations undoubtedly present a challenge for foreign companies. Choosing the right distributor, and retail price, is a crucial component for business stability. “International brands need to see that the recommended retail price is not radically different from retail price in online platforms. Russian consumers notice it quite well and that can negatively affect the local sales,” Dycheva-Smirnova explains. Another pitfall can be the local inflation and, therefore, international price fluctuation every 3-6 months.
Russia’s population of 146,033,616 people, spread over 16,376,870 square kilometers, makes for a lot of shipping territories, some of which aren’t the easiest to infiltrate. “When we're talking about deliveries, payments, and postal service, sometimes the easiest way to get to the consumer, if you’re an international brand, is still to use physical retail. You have to have a three-year plan entering the local market. If a brand chooses the wrong distribution partner, that can kill the local presence of the brand for quite some time,” Dycheva-Smirnova warns, adding that the exclusivity aspect of distribution deals, especially as they relate to geography, can be a crucial growth (or lack of growth) point.
When it comes to consumer mindsets, those in Russia are very ingredient savvy, placing a high emphasis on value. “In the past 25 years, the Russian consumer has matured a lot and has become quite critical and, in a sense, cynical. It's not that easy to sell to the local customer, the concept of the product should be well thought through,” adds Dycheva-Smirnova. In some cases, influencers are providing a more effective reach than traditional marketing platforms. “Some of my brand partners told me that for them to get the word out about their products, they actually don't go to press as much. They see much more overturn from working with influencers,” Karr adds.
While in-store shopping was a preferable retail channel for those in rural areas, the pandemic has jump-started the country’s digital transition. As of 2019, 87% were purchasing online, but the pandemic has undoubtedly driven these numbers vastly upwards. “In Russia, more so than anywhere else, the circumstances forced people to trust the online shopping experience a bit more. Online marketplaces are growing tremendously. So many stores that were traditionally only brick and mortar transitioned into the hybrid model, ” Karr comments. International e-commerce platforms such as Sephora and Cult Beauty are popular sources for international brands. Korean skincare brands, which, similar to Russian beauty brands, also emphasize efficiency over extravagant aesthetics, and face gadgets such as Foreo are other popular purchases.
Homegrown Talent
“If we look at all the indie brands that appeared in the last three years, we can distinguish them into different groups: local celebrity brands, influencer brands, and ex employees of big beauty companies launching their own ideas, mostly concentrated around personalization and an ecological agenda,” Dycheva-Smirnova explains. DTC and e-commerce has presented a huge opportunity for local brands to flourish, such as Smorodnia (which translates to blackcurrant in English), which produces multiuse eye patches made out of hemp.
A champion of Russian beauty brands in the US is Rumore Beauty. Karr founded Rumore (the name referring to “more Russian beauty”) in 2021 after noticing the lack of brands from her home country in the US market. “I thought, these brands are so interesting, the packaging and formulas were just so good. People need to know about this,” she enthuses. The company currently stocks six brands, which are all either female founded or female led: G.LOVE, Innature, mi&ko, True Alchemy, Laboratorium, and Botavikos, the headquarter locations of which range from the more well-known cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg to Penza.
Botanically derived formulas also prove popular with mi&ko’s being 100% natural (incorporating locally sourced artisanal water), and Innature’s 99% natural. 1 in 4 Russian consumers prefer natural cosmetics products, even if they come at a higher price point. While many might assume the skincare is crafted to combat the intense winter climate, other areas of the country such as Sochi have much milder climates, making for a versatility in formulation approach. Being immersed in nature extends beyond the bathroom cabinet, with dachas—summer homes with a large garden—presenting a traditional way of not just escaping the city, but also growing one’s own fruit and vegetable supply for the coming year. “Even now, with the modern lifestyle changing and many people turning to restaurants and fast food options for convenience, at the core of it, people still go and connect with those natural elements,” Karr comments.
An affinity for natural remedies, including banya steam baths and homemade concoctions, are predominant themes throughout the history of Russian beauty, and continue to exist in even the newest batch of skincare companies. “The brands emerging in the market have a nature thread as part of their DNA. It’s going back to the roots of nature while advancing the products with modern technology. It’s the best of both worlds,” Karr comments, citing the bestselling Botavikos Anti-Stress Serum which combines sea buckthorn oil, a popular multiuse herb in Russia, with niacinamide as one example. Dycheva-Smirnova also notes that brands will incorporate local thermal waters, such as those from Baikal or Socha, into their products.
Nonetheless, a majority of these brands can’t have a siloed existence. “When we're talking about manufacturing, we need to understand that 80% of the ingredients come from abroad. You can't create a 100% local brand in the way the world exists currently. You can't exist in isolation,” Dycheva-Smirnova remarks. However, localization of manufacturing is currently underway, with potential for future growth. “Wella and Londa opened a localized plant to produce their hair dyes in September, that boundary-lessness where manufacturing is localized and at the same time, Russians brands are opening up to the world and vice versa, is very interesting to see,” she adds.
Aesthetic Ideals
The typical Russian beauty standard is associated with fair-skinned and light-haired supermodels such as Natasha Poly or Natalia Vodianova, but this image belies the cultural diversity of the country. “We have so many different ethnicities living in Russia that look nothing like the traditional blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned person: Armenians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Uzbeks. My hope is that people know more about Russia than that stereotypical ideal of beauty and the politics. Hopefully beauty is that little avenue to help people discover a different side to the country,” Karr says.
Something that is proving universally adored across this landscape is a velvet skin finish. “You still get the very hydrated skin finish, but you don't get the glossy, glass finish [popular in Asian beauty], perhaps because we don't have elements such as glycerin in leading positions within the INCI ingredients list. The botanicals nourish the skin, but it's a very different quality of the skin,” Karr explains. Skin health, best maintained with regular cosmetologist visits, remains an important priority within Russian beauty culture.
While it is important to uphold and nurture the traditions that make every country unique, one could argue that the online world is leading to a unification of beauty standards and trends across the world over time. “When we're talking about K-beauty, J-beauty, C-beauty, R-beauty, we are using it as a marketing tool,” Dycheva-Smirnova states. “But with social media uniting the world, I don't believe that beauty has nationalities.”
While the online world can be seen as ushering in the era of beauty without borders, and the metaverse promises to bring our lives online all the more, celebrating and honoring the traditions of our physical life forms, while acknowledging the nuances of culture, ethnicities, even aesthetic preferences, across the globe, remains a steadfast modus operandi. From its onset in the ’90s to future potential, beauty in Russia—whether imported, exported, or locally existing—adds another exciting element to the industry.
