C-Beauty and the Herbal Apothecary: Ginseng, Licorice, Astragalus and Friends
Picture a traditional Chinese herbal shop: walls of little wooden drawers, each holding a dried root, berry, flower or mushroom, weighed out by hand on a brass scale. Many of those same ingredients are now in serums and essences, thanks to the rise of C-beauty.
Jing Daily describes how the "Guochao" movement (a wave of pride in Chinese brands and heritage), together with official support for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is driving herbal C-beauty brands (Jing Daily). After K-beauty and J-beauty, let's open the drawers.
The TCM philosophy, in one paragraph
Traditional Chinese medicine sees beauty as a reflection of inner balance, so many beauty herbs were traditionally taken as teas, soups and tonics as well as applied to skin. Modern skincare borrows the ingredients, not the medical theory, and we'll look at the topical evidence honestly.
Drawer 1: Ginseng, the energiser
The king of herbs. Its active compounds, ginsenosides, have shown anti-ageing, antioxidant, brightening and collagen-supporting effects, mostly in lab and mechanism studies, according to a 2023 systematic review (Cong et al., Journal of Ginseng Research).
Try: Ginseng Root Extract or Notoginseng Root Extract.
Drawer 2: Licorice, the brightener
Licorice root gives us glabridin, which inhibits tyrosinase, the enzyme that makes pigment. A review of Asian brightening herbs also gives an important reality check: only about 11% of the studies were done in living organisms, most used mushroom tyrosinase in a test tube, and clinical data are few (Hu et al., Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2020).
Try: Chinese Licorice Root Extract, pure Glabridin (see the dictionary entry; it needs pre-dissolving), or soothing Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate. It pairs beautifully with the tranexamic acid routine.
Drawer 3: Astragalus, the resilience root
Huang qi is a classic TCM tonic root. A 2026 systematic review found astragalus extract promising for pigmentation and anti-ageing skincare, while calling for more randomised trials (Jackson, Waibel & Park, Journal of Drugs in Dermatology).
Try: Astragalus Root Extract, Standardised.
Drawer 4: The supporting herbs
- Goji Fruit Extract: a vivid, antioxidant-rich berry, lovely in essences. Skin-specific research is still thin.
- Poria Cocos Extract: a fungus prized in TCM. In skincare it's mainly a hydrating, film-forming polysaccharide, a cousin of the tremella in our mushroom post.
- Chrysanthemum and Honeysuckle: classic "cooling" flowers, often used in soothing formulas.
- Dang Gui Root Extract: a traditional "radiance" root.
- Hydrolyzed Pearl: pearl powder has a long history in Chinese beauty, and hydrolysed pearl brings that heritage to modern serums.
A "herbal tonic" essence blueprint
- Base: water or a light hydrosol, plus Glycerin and a little Poria
- Herbs: ginseng + licorice + astragalus at modest levels (check each supplier's use range)
- Soother: dipotassium glycyrrhizate
- pH about 5, plus a broad-spectrum preservative
Sourcing matters
With traditional herbs, quality varies a lot by species, plant part and extraction. Ask for the botanical name, plant part, solvent and standardisation (if any) on the Certificate of Analysis, and patch test. Natural doesn't always mean gentle.
Explore Traditional Chinese Ingredients and Standardised Extracts.