Original title: Suddenly Selling Like Hotcakes After 2 Years on the Shelf: A Chinese Face Paint Palette Nabs $4.2 Million in 4 Weeks on TikTok
Author: TT123 Cross-Border E-Commerce
Source: TT123 Cross-Border E-Commerce
Cover image source | pexels
With nine days to go until Halloween, American consumers can no longer contain their excitement and are sharing their holiday preparations across social media. Among them, "Halloween makeup" has become one of the hot topics. Backend data shows that content tagged #halloweenmakeup on TikTok has received over 688 million impressions in the past 30 days; content tagged #facepaint has also exceeded 100 million impressions.
Source: TikTok
From skull makeup, vampire looks, and animal-inspired transformations to all kinds of wildly creative special-effect makeup, countless users are showing off their makeup ideas and preparing their holiday looks in advance.
As related content continues to heat up, demand for face paint products is also rising. Recently, a cosmetics brand from Guangzhou leveraged the Halloween makeup craze to revive a product that had been on sale for over two years, scoring a massive sales surge in the TikTok US market.
A Chinese face paint palette logs $4.2M+ in transactions in 28 days
The author found that a multi-color makeup palette for face and body painting has recently climbed to No.1 on the latest weekly sales ranking in the beauty subcategory of TikTok US.
Data shows that in the past 28 days (September 23 – October 20), this body paint palette sold 46,100 units, with total sales exceeding $642,300 (approximately RMB 4.289 million), showing strong sales momentum.
According to the introduction, this body paint palette comes from Guangzhou cosmetics brand UCANBE, currently priced at $19.99–40.29 (approximately RMB 133.57–269.21).
In terms of product features, this body paint palette brings 20 colors into a single palette, offering a rich color selection that meets users' needs for free mixing and blending. Whether for face painting, body painting, or creating temporary tattoo effects, it flexibly adapts, balancing color richness with diverse usage scenarios.
The palette uses an oil-based formula with a smooth texture that is easy to apply, blend, and mix. The colors are vivid and highly pigmented, making it better suited than ordinary cosmetics for creating bold, layered creative looks. The product also emphasizes water resistance and long wear, and can be used with setting powder to meet wear-time needs at Halloween, masquerade parties, and similar occasions. Bundles with makeup remover oil and brushes are also available.
For makeup enthusiasts who want to DIY a Halloween look with their own hands, this 20-color face paint palette is undoubtedly a practical and fun creative tool.
To date, UCANBE's body paint palette has sold 159,700 units in total on TikTok US, with cumulative GMV exceeding $2.3361 million, approximately RMB 15.5993 million. In addition, the brand also offers a similar product for children's face painting, which has also performed exceptionally well in sales recently.
A mature product that has been on the US market for over two years has suddenly clinched the top spot in the beauty category—driven behind the scenes by US consumers' early-heating enthusiasm for Halloween costumes.
Hitting the holiday makeup demand
From the sales trend, UCANBE's body paint palette performed relatively flat in the early part of this year, with sales staying at a low level and little fluctuation overall. It was only in October that sales began to climb noticeably, with daily sales repeatedly exceeding 3,000 units recently—a clear peak-season burst.
This sales trend shows that, as Halloween approaches, festive consumer demand is a key factor driving the growth of this mature product.
Moreover, the face paint palette itself matches the demand in European and American markets for face painting, festive makeup, and role-play. Face and body painting has a broad range of applications in the West—not limited to Halloween; masquerade parties, fashion music festivals, cosplay events, and various themed parties all feature painted makeup looks.
For consumers, face painting is not just part of a makeup look, but a way to express personality, shape a character, and create festive atmosphere. This provides sustained market demand for body paint products that offer rich colors and easy mixing.
In addition, the viral spread on social media such as TikTok has added fuel to the palette's sales growth.
According to backend data, the recent sales channels for the palette have mainly come from TikTok influencer short-video commerce. Several short videos have each driven thousands of orders.
On October 4, TikTok creator @Daus Mendoza posted a Halloween makeup short video. In it, he used UCANBE's 20-color palette to recreate the classic look of Emily, the heroine of the animated film "Corpse Bride," with high-fidelity makeup and striking visuals. To date, the video has surpassed 1.6 million views and driven 1,687 orders, demonstrating how creative makeup content directly boosts product sales.
Source: TikTok
For products with strong visual appeal like face paint palettes, influencers don't need elaborate verbal pitches—simply showing the application process, the color payoff, and the final look intuitively demonstrates the product's value. When video content aligns with Halloween makeup demand, consumers get both styling inspiration and a quick understanding of the tools needed to achieve the look, shortening the path from content-driven interest to purchase.
In the video comments, many netizens were drawn to the creator's transformation, exclaiming: "We need a tutorial," "This look is amazing," and "You look like a cartoon character."
Notably, the comment-section discussion was not limited to the palette itself; many users also asked about the other beauty products in the video:
"Where did you get your wig? I want to dress up like this for Halloween too!"
"Please tell me what lashes you're wearing above?"
"What makeup brushes do you use?"
From this, the Halloween makeup craze is not only boosting face paint palettes—related products such as wigs, false lashes, lip liner, setting spray, and makeup tools are also poised to see sales growth driven by holiday costume demand.
Therefore, for cross-border beauty sellers, seizing the Halloween consumption window means not just chasing a single hero product, but building out the full makeup-creation process—further mining opportunities in sub-categories like face paint palettes, wigs, false lashes, and makeup brushes—and expanding sales possibilities through bundled selection and scenario-based content marketing.
Mining the business opportunities around makeup and styling
This market opportunity is already emerging on TikTok Shop.
In Mexico, which prepares early for holidays like Día de los Muertos and Halloween, painted makeup is likewise an essential part of festive looks.
The weekly bestseller chart on TikTok Shop Mexico shows that three of the top five products in the beauty category are face paint palettes, including UCANBE's same 20-color palette. Meanwhile, setting spray, false lashes, lipstick, and other products tied to complete makeup looks also made the hot-seller list, further reflecting how festive makeup demand lifts related beauty categories.
In the latest week on TikTok US, sales of eyeliner, lip liner, eyeshadow, and mascara rose sharply week over week, with some bestsellers exceeding 10,000 units in weekly sales. These basic cosmetics serve not only daily makeup needs but also the finer details of Halloween looks; as the holiday approaches, their sales potential becomes increasingly evident.
Beyond that, Bobisuka, another Guangzhou cosmetics brand, has also seen sales growth recently. Its Halloween simulated blood makeup effect set sold 8,954 units in the past 28 days. Products like these are mainly used to simulate blood, wounds, and other visual effects, complementing face paint palettes to help consumers create more visually striking holiday looks such as vampire makeup and horror special effects—also offering cross-border sellers new ideas for expanding Halloween beauty selection.
Source: TikTok Shop
To mine the opportunities around makeup and styling, cross-border sellers should also make good use of popular hashtags on TikTok—such as "easy Halloween makeup tutorial," "essential Halloween makeup tools," and "Halloween makeup inspiration"—planning content around different characters, makeup styles, and holiday scenarios.
Compared with simply showing the product, such content embeds product functions into specific holiday scenarios, sparking users' desire to try and buy. Especially in the run-up to Halloween, creators continuously producing face paint content around different characters and themes can help the same product reach more interested audiences, further amplifying the traffic value of the holiday trend.
Final thoughts
The author believes that although body paint palettes are not a high-tech-barrier product, their popularity reflects the niche opportunities in the cross-border market. For sellers, the key lies in keenly capturing consumption trends, mining new usage scenarios and needs from mature categories, and turning holiday hotspots into actual sales opportunities.
It should be noted that while holiday hotspots can bring short-term sales growth, sellers should not blindly chase trends. They should prioritize products with stable demand that can fit multiple makeup scenarios, then expand into related categories such as simulated blood, special-effects makeup tools, wigs, and false lashes based on holiday trends—avoiding blind stocking. At the same time, product safety and compliance should be taken seriously.
