In just a decade, Flower Knows has blossomed from a Hangzhou-based indie startup into one of the most recognizable names in Chinese beauty.
With a presence in more than 20 countries, the cosmetics player has carved a niche—based not on traditional Chinese aesthetics, like several of its peers, but on fairytale worldbuilding and whimsical product designs. In 2025, the brand generated RMB 1.7 billion ($254 million) in revenue and RMB 280 million ($41.8 million) in net profit, with China accounting for roughly 80% of total revenue.
2026 marks a pivotal year for the brand. Besides celebrating its 10th anniversary, Flower Knows has hit several milestones, including transitioning to majority ownership under Proya Cosmetics, debuting in 450 Ulta Beauty stores, and opening a global flagship in Shanghai.
The year also signals a turning point in the brand’s growth narrative. Flower Knows largely gained traction through its fast beauty model and organic social media buzz. Now, as it deepens engagement in its largest international market, the US, it is testing whether that online virality can translate into mainstream retail success and whether a brand still largely driven by China can scale into a truly diversified global business.
Flower Knows was founded in 2016 by Yang Zifeng and Zhou Tiancheng, two Chinese cosplayers popular on Instagram, Facebook, and Bilibili. The pair met in 2011 at an anime convention in China and, by the time the brand was conceived, had amassed a global following as a cosplay couple under the stage names Baozi (Yang) and Hana (Zhou). The former was renowned for his complex prop work and the latter for his elaborate makeup transformations.
Being heavy cosmetics users, the duo decided to create a brand tailored to the needs of the anime, comic, and gaming (ACG) communities. The founders pooled their savings of RMB 1 million (around $100,000) to launch a makeup line centered on “girliness” (少女心), featuring bold, saturated colors, suitable for both cosplay and more imaginative takes on daily makeup.
“The aesthetic was there from day one, growing out of our founders’ creative interests and their belief that cosmetics could be more than functional products—they could be objects of imagination and emotional expression,” Gong Fang, CMO of Flower Knows, told BeautyMatter. “What evolved over time was not so much the aesthetic itself but how we articulated its meaning.”
Targeting the “girly” aesthetic proved to be the right move. In just three months, Flowers Knows generated over RMB 2 million ($298,000) in sales, and by 2019, that figure had exceeded RMB 20 million ($2.98 million). As the brand refined its messaging, it landed on the English-language slogan “Live Your Fairytales,” reflecting its belief that “wanting a little fantasy and beauty in everyday life isn’t tied to a particular fandom, subculture, culture, or age—it’s a universal human desire,” Fang said.
Flower Knows’ reach quickly extended beyond ACG circles, capturing China’s wider Gen Z and millennial base. Today, most customers are below 35. Frequent product launches further appealed to this younger demographic, tapping into their appetite for novelty and collecting.
“In the past, we have been successful in keeping the cadence of launching three themed big collections a year, a cadence closer to fashion. The pace kept us in constant conversation with our community, created anticipation, and made each collection feel collectible,” Fang added.
In 2019, Flower Knows chose Japan as its first overseas market, betting on Japanese consumers’ affinity for dreamy, anime-inspired designs. In 2021, Baozi told Chinese media outlet 36Kr, “We discovered that the Japanese market is heavily driven by culture—or rather, by brand identity—and this positioning would actually help us later when we eventually expanded into Southeast Asia.”
The C-beauty label leveraged its strong visual identity to establish an online presence before partnering with a local distributor to enter brick-and-mortar retail. Its accessible pricing also helped differentiate it from Japanese competitors, with its Cherry Love liquid eyeshadow and eyeshadow palette retailing for ¥1,300 ($8.24) and ¥1,800 ($11.42), respectively, in 2021.
“Our pricing is similar to many domestic cosmetic brands,” Baozi said in the same 36Kr interview. “However, compared to Japanese brands like Anna Sui, which focuses on high-end cosmetics, our cosmetics, with the same packaging and quality, are only one-third the price.”
Flower Knows saw similar potential in Southeast Asia, where it identified a gap for ultra-girly cosmetics. It entered the region through e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada in 2021 before targeting Western markets through its official website the following year. These early moves taught the brand an important lesson in globalization: A distinctive point of view often travels further than a heavily localized one.
As Fang explained, “The Flower Knows fairytale universe was what attracted consumers in the first place, so rather than changing that core identity, we learned to localize around it—through shade and assortment edits, local creators and communities, merchandising, and the way consumers discover the brand … I often describe our philosophy as: Localization is finding the local language for the same brand soul.”
As Flower Knows’ e-commerce footprint expanded, so did its social media visibility. By 2021, the digital-first brand partnered with key opinion leaders on Chinese social media platforms Douyin and Xiaohongshu, appearing in livestreams with beauty influencer Austin Li, and had appointed South Korean girl group LE SSERAFIM member Miyawaki Sakura as its first Asian brand ambassador.
Its ornate designs were natural fodder for unboxing videos. For instance, the Strawberry Rococo collection, a bestseller since 2022, features lip tubes shaped like vintage perfume bottles and blushes embossed with 3D angel and strawberry motifs. In 2022, Flower Knows’ total sales surpassed RMB 220 million ($32.8 million), with the Strawberry Rococo line generating over RMB 20 million ($2.98 million) in gross merchandise value (GMV) in seven days.
According to Siqi Mou, Senior Advisor at Flower Knows and Managing Partner of Solvia Foundry, organic, creator-led content has proved most effective for growing its global audience.
“We gravitate toward creators with a genuine interest in what we are building and rarely rely on paid media,” Mou told BeautyMatter. “Our first advent calendar in 2025 was a great example: It sold out within a week alongside a huge amount of organic social conversation. One of our core beliefs has always been that product is content, and content can become growth.”
By the end of 2025, Flower Knows counted 4 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, bolstered by organic celebrity buzz, from Sabrina Carpenter holding the Little Angel Hand Mirror behind the scenes of her Manchild music video to beauty creator Mikayla Nogueira posting a full-face makeup review that drew over 1 million likes. The brand had officially entered the mainstream.
Despite its APAC success, entering the US required a “more sophisticated approach,” said Fang. Given the country’s diverse consumer base, Flower Knows needed to develop products and shades for a broader range of skin tones and work with retail partners to curate wider assortments.
Urban Outfitters provided an entry point. In May 2024, Flower Knows made its US brick-and-mortar debut through an exclusive six-month partnership with the lifestyle retailer, quickly becoming one of its top three beauty brands. As Kailu Guan, another Senior Advisor to the brand and Managing Partner of Solvia Foundry, told BeautyMatter, “retailer fit matters just as much as retailer scale,” noting the demographic overlap between the two.
The partnership offered important operational lessons. “We learned the value of creating reasons for customers to shop at a specific retail partner,” Guan said, citing exclusive products, bundles, and assortments tailored to Urban Outfitters’ customers. Flower Knows also learned how to become “a better retail partner, not just a vendor,” creating value through events, cultural initiatives, and merchandising stories.
“We treated the US business almost like a startup: assume the customer has never heard of the brand, assume the retailer needs to be educated from the beginning, and earn every relationship one at a time,” Guan continued.
US expansion also coincided with a major ownership shift. In September 2025, Proya Cosmetics purchased a 38.45% stake in Flower Knows, then raised it to 51% in May 2026 to take majority control. With Proya’s capital and established supply chain network, Flower Knows was poised to accelerate its next phase of global growth.
This brings the brand to its current chapter. Building on its US retail debut and corporate backing, Flower Knows is now doubling down on brick-and-mortar and in-person events.
If Urban Outfitters provided an introduction to American consumers, Ulta Beauty widened its reach. After launching on Ulta.com in December 2025, Flower Knows expanded into 450 Ulta Beauty stores in September 2026. The retailer will spotlight five hero products through its “Just Dropped Beauty” platform through January 2027.
To increase opportunities for discovery and play, Flower Knows has also been expanding its in-person touchpoints. The brand landed at UK retailer Boots in March 2026, unveiled its first global flagship store in Shanghai in October, and will host a three-city international pop-up tour in October and November across Shanghai, Seoul, and New York.
“At the end of the day, Flower Knows is a portal that builds dreams and not just sells products,” said Guan. “And the way we are realizing this ambition is by introducing our global pop-up tour for our 10-year anniversary that covers Shanghai, Seoul, and New York and building a stronger local logistics presence so international fans get the speed they expect and can experience our products faster.”
In 2025, Flower Knows generated over $200 million in GMV globally, with the US making up 60% of its international revenue. The brand’s repurchase rate now exceeds 42%.
But beyond numbers, the biggest indicator that Flower Knows has made it abroad, according to Mou, will be when it is no longer talked about solely as a “viral Chinese beauty brand.”
“Success is not making Flower Knows look like an American brand. It is getting to a point where the brand can participate in and even contribute to American culture while still feeling unmistakably like Flower Knows,” said Mou.
She said another indicator is accessibility—not just online, but in establishing Flower Knows as a brand regularly seen, shopped, and used. “Social media allowed Flower Knows to build awareness very quickly, but becoming an established brand means consumers should be able to encounter it naturally in their everyday lives. Expanding the right retail presence is therefore a very important part of the next chapter.”
As Flower Knows continues to plant roots globally, it’s proving that a Chinese beauty brand can build a global business without losing its distinct identity—or its whimsy. Its next challenge will be turning shelf space into staying power, cementing its place in the broader beauty and cultural conversation.
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