YouTube tutorials, beauty edits and hours spent perusing the shelves of Sephora. These are the pastimes of the increasingly catered-to 'beauty junkies'. L'Oréal is providing a whole new service: a virtual reality smartphone app that doubles as an interactive mirror.

Asia's selfie obsession – especially amongst women – is more prominent than ever. In response, there's been an explosion of beautifying apps that automatically detect facial features, and enhance them according to Eastern beauty ideals.

For the last decade, Chinese magazines, sites and government bodies have been labelling unmarried women over 27 as sheng nu –‘leftover women’ – in a bid to counter a social trend seen as destabilising society. But who are these leftover women? And why should brands be paying attention to them?

With an increasing number of marketing-savvy homegrown brands taking on China’s beauty market, how can the multinational giants keep up? This report explores how different colours have been used in China’s beauty sector to signify meaning.