These Chinese bloggers make a killing explaining cosmetics – and they’re men

This article was written by Rachel Zheng and originally published on Jing Daily

“What’s the magic behind the toning cream?” a Chinese man wearing a white lab coat asks standing in a laboratory setting. In the video, he mixes ordinary cream and white pigment that’s made with titanium dioxide, and presents it to the camera saying that this is the origin of the whitening function extracted from toning cream, a popular Korean beauty product that everyone is talking about on Weibo.

This is not a mad scientist from Frankenstein. This is a blogger explaining what goes into a popular beauty product which claims to have a supreme whitening effect. The trending product topic of skin whitening combined with the demystifying conceit of this three-minute scientific-like video has gone viral in China, making the blogger, Fang Junping, or “Junping Big Devil” an overnight sensation.

The rising industry of male beauty bloggers

Though Fang doesn’t have a medical degree in chemistry or pharmacy, he said his interest in studying beauty products dates back to his childhood growing up with a geophysicist for a father and a doctor for a mother. The laboratory, he has said, is his second home.

On Fang’s video, a woman (who is not seen by the camera) asks him questions as he breaks down the beauty products making the video feel like a visit to a doctor.

The emerging Chinese male beauty bloggers

Weibo underwent rapid development between 2009 and 2012, when many young talented men leveraged the platform to break down the information gap between brands and consumers. That’s when the Cheng Fen Dang bloggers, like Fang, emerged. Also in this group are “Kenjijoe” and “Beauty King and Chemists”.