The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2020–2021
Masks killed the lipstick, so L'Oréal Paris ended 52 years of makeup in Japan in 2021
With faces masked, mass makeup demand collapsed in Japan, so L'Oréal Paris closed its 52-year-old makeup business and the essie nail brand there within 2021.
L'Oréal · Japan L'Oréal · 2021-05
What happened
L'Oréal Paris entered Japan in 1969 and built one of the country's best-known mass-market makeup franchises: foundation, lipstick, eyeshadow and brow products on the drugstore and variety-store shelf. In 2019 a new brand director made lip colour the centrepiece, launching the Rouge Signature matte liquid lip and the Brilliant Signature gloss.
On 31 May 2021, Japan L'Oréal announced it would end the L'Oréal Paris makeup business and the essie nail brand in Japan within the year. The company described it as a decision to rebuild its portfolio under the spread of COVID-19 and concentrate management resources on growth businesses; no new makeup products would be released in Japan. Makeup demand had stagnated while the haircare and hair colour categories kept growing through the pandemic.
The exit had a group precedent: NYX Professional Makeup, also L'Oréal-owned, announced its withdrawal from Japan in June 2020 and closed its directly operated stores by the end of September. Industry commentary read the move as part of a changing of the guard in Japan's cosmetics market, with low-price newcomer brands taking share. L'Oréal Paris had been in the country for 52 years; essie for seven.
Why it happened
- Mask-wearing under COVID-19 made lipstick and much of daily makeup pointless — mass makeup demand in Japan stagnated while masks stayed on
- L'Oréal's stated logic was portfolio restructuring: concentrate management resources on growth businesses, and haircare and hair colour were the categories still growing through the pandemic
- The mass-market shelf was getting harder to hold: low-price newcomer brands were gaining popularity in Japan's cosmetics market
- The group had already begun the retreat — NYX Professional Makeup left Japan in 2020, so L'Oréal's mass makeup footprint was being wound down piece by piece
The lesson
Masks made the face private, and a 52-year-old makeup franchise stopped mattering in one year. A ritual built on daily use can be erased by a change nobody sells — resources went to haircare.
Aftermath
L'Oréal Paris makeup sales in Japan ended on 31 December 2021, confirmed on the brand's official notice page, which recast L'Oréal Paris as an expert in haircare and hair colour. The Rouge Signature lip line and essie's Japan range were discontinued, and the salon brand L'Oréal Professionnel continued alongside. The withdrawal left Japan's mass makeup shelf to the low-price newcomer brands that had been gaining share. NYX had already left in 2020, and the Consumer Products Division in Japan — still running Maybelline and 3CE — kept the group present in mass beauty.
Sources
- Fashionsnap — 「ロレアル パリ」のメイク部門とネイルブランド「エッシー」 年内で日本から撤退 (31 May 2021; announcement, 1969 entry, no new makeup releases, haircare growing, NYX 2020 precedent)
- Mainichi Shimbun — 「ロレアルパリ」メークアップ事業が年内で日本撤退 ヘア事業に注力 (31 May 2021; announcement, COVID reason, haircare continues)
- L'Oréal Paris Japan — official notice: makeup category sales ended 31 December 2021, continuing as hair expert
- MA Online — ロレアル パリ、エッシー撤退の裏でコスメ業界の地殻変動が… (31 May 2021; changing of the guard, low-price newcomers, 'agonizing decision')
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