A Penalty Uncovered by Streamers' Public Spat: LACHOCO Faces 300,000 Yuan Fine for Private Label Scandal

On June 22, two operators of domestic Chinese cosmetics brand L'ADORECOLORS — Shanghai Tide Pupil Business Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Shanghai Jinlang Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. — were legally issued administrative penalties by the Huangpu District Market Supervision Bureau of Shanghai, on the grounds of "failing to provide goods or services under their true names and marks".

The administrative penalty decision shows that on March 18, 2025, the "L'ADORECOLORS Glazed Crystal Diamond Long-Lasting Cushion Foundation 01 Ivory White" set sold in the birthday special live stream of Douyin's "L'ADORECOLORS Personal Care Flagship Store" faced severe overselling due to insufficient pre-stocked goods. Staff took advantage of the similarity between the "01 Ivory White" and "02 Natural Shade" shades, re-labeled some "02 Natural Shade" cushion refills in the warehouse with "01 Ivory White" labels before shipping them out. On March 22, the second birthday special live stream of Douyin's "L'ADORECOLORS Personal Care Flagship Store" continued to sell the remaining stock of this mislabeled batch.

The merchants' deceptive practices resulted in the delivered products not matching the descriptions, triggering mass consumer complaints and refund requests.

In accordance with the *Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China*, the regulatory authority determined that their actions constituted "selling goods with false or misleading product descriptions", decided to confiscate the illegal gains of the involved parties, and imposed fines of 314,700 yuan and 18,300 yuan respectively on the operating entities of the two flagship stores.

Did the brand's scandal stem from a public feud between internet influencers?

From the timeline, the incident traces back to March 2025, when the 149-yuan L'ADORECOLORS cushion sold nearly 10,000 sets in the birthday special live stream hosted by Douyin short-video creator "Famengchong" (the live-stream account of internet influencer "Little Yellow Duck"). Facing inventory shortages, the operating team took the deceptive shortcut of substituting the products.

Consumers were not easily fooled. Some followers of influencer "Little Yellow Duck" noticed the delivered products had the wrong shade, contacted the influencer to report the issue, and the influencer promised to hold the brand accountable — but the matter was dropped without resolution after several months.

It was not until July 31, 2025, that a total of 52 complaints regarding products purchased from L'ADORECOLORS' personal care flagship store live stream were filed on the national 12315 platform.

Image source: @Blue Service Technology

The reason the March incident was not widely exposed until the end of July was that influencer "Little Yellow Duck" was embroiled in public controversy, which brought the mislabeling issue to light alongside it.

Two million-follower beauty influencers, "Little Yellow Duck" and "Xiao Yi", had previously both promoted L'ADORECOLORS cushions. However, at the end of July 2025, "Xiao Yi" released a video stating that multiple brands including L'ADORECOLORS had unilaterally terminated their cooperation with him. He claimed that "Little Yellow Duck", who also promoted products for the brands, had pressured them to cut ties with him, accusing his peer of malicious exclusion, workplace bullying, and inciting followers to launch online harassment.

The subsequent public feud between the two beauty influencers spilled over to L'ADORECOLORS, as "Xiao Yi"'s followers targeted the brand over its decision to designate a specific promoter. A neutral consumer who took no sides posted a video on Douyin showing them peeling off the labels of the L'ADORECOLORS cushion on the spot, which went viral and drew crowds of viewers to the comment section, where many users condemned "Little Yellow Duck" and joined in the public discussion.

The controversy over L'ADORECOLORS' mislabeling and "Little Yellow Duck"'s failed promotion fully erupted, prompting many consumers who bought the cushions from "Little Yellow Duck"'s birthday live stream to file complaints on dedicated platforms.

After the incident, both L'ADORECOLORS' official live stream channel and "Little Yellow Duck"'s personal account closed their comment sections. L'ADORECOLORS' official customer service responded by offering "full refunds without product return and two replacement sets" for the problematic products.

The brand claimed that the labels were accidentally misapplied during production, and the batch was shipped out without the brand's knowledge, rather than being a deliberate act of concealment.

However, a year later, the regulatory authority's investigation confirmed that the brand (the involved party) had intentionally carried out the mislabeling "while being fully aware of the oversold situation" to "ensure the live stream performance", violating the provisions of the *Measures for the Penalties of Acts Infringing on Consumer Rights and Interests*.

Who is L'ADORECOLORS: the top performer in domestic cushion products

Founded in 2006, L'ADORECOLORS is one of the early domestic Chinese brands to enter the local cosmetics market. Positioned around "gentle care and healthy makeup", its product portfolio covers foundation, lip makeup, and eye makeup categories, with star products including the Raincoat Cushion, Double Milk Pudding Cushion, and Filter Collagen Cushion.

Yang Yan, the founder of L'ADORECOLORS, comes from a beauty industry family. Her father was a pioneer entrepreneur who founded the Ailibi Si beauty brand in Sichuan back in the 1980s. Leveraging the family's established foundation, L'ADORECOLORS expanded to over 3,000 cosmetics specialty stores during the early offline era, becoming a well-known cosmetics brand on par with names like Carslan and Marie Dalgar.

In 2022, L'ADORECOLORS officially settled in Douyin E-commerce to focus on content-driven e-commerce. It rapidly expanded its brand visibility through influencer promotions and social media marketing. By 2024, L'ADORECOLORS had secured a spot in Douyin's top 20 cosmetics brands, with annual GMV exceeding 1 billion yuan, and its cushion products consistently ranked high on sales charts across major platforms.

As L'ADORECOLORS' flagship product line, cushions account for nearly 90% of its product offerings. According to 2025 data from Chan Magic Cube on the top 10 cushion brands, L'ADORECOLORS' annual cushion sales reached 500-750 million yuan, consistently ranking among the top 3 best-selling cushions on Douyin with a market share exceeding 7%.

Image source: @Chan Magic Cube

In recent years, the cushion category has been a major segment of China's beauty market, with total sales reaching nearly 10 billion yuan in 2024-2025, accounting for 22.23% of the facial cosmetics market, representing a year-on-year growth of over 52% with a clear upward trend.

Image source: Chan Magic Cube

Leading domestic brands such as Mao Geping, Carslan, and Marie Dalgar have heavily invested in the cushion category, while international luxury brands including YSL, Valentino, and Armani have also entered the market. L'ADORECOLORS' success in achieving top sales with a few core products stems from its unique competitive advantages.

Focusing on Chinese consumers' top priorities — high coverage, moisturizing effects, water resistance, and long-lasting wear — L'ADORECOLORS has put significant effort into product R&D.

Take its Raincoat Cushion as an example: the formula incorporates antioxidant Sainfoin extract and anti-acne White Willow Bark extract to address common pain points like excess oil, breakouts, and oxidation-related dullness. To solve the widespread problem of foundation caking and flaking, the brand adopted hemispherical hollow powder particles, added extra grinding processes, and developed a "three-dimensional card house" structure to ensure the foundation adheres smoothly and stays put all day.

The Raincoat Cushion has earned widespread recognition from consumers: across social media videos, posts, and reviews focused on "beauty product recommendations" and "unsponsored real beauty reviews", positive feedback for L'ADORECOLORS cushions far outweighs negative comments, with users praising its "nice finish", "no makeup transfer", and "suitability for combination oily skin", while a small number of users reported issues like "breakouts and sensitivity after use" and "insufficient product quantity".

L'ADORECOLORS' cushions are priced between 100-350 yuan, with the Raincoat Cushion and Double Milk Pudding Cushion averaging 149-169 yuan. They offer exceptional value for money at their price point, and are far more affordable than luxury brands with comparable makeup effects, earning them the reputation of "the shining star of budget-friendly cushions".