SHANGHAI — Chinese skincare giant Proya Cosmetics has recently been fined by Hangzhou West Lake District’s Market Supervision Authority for a misleading product description that labeled an antiaging serum as containing the next concentration of lively ingredients than it actually did.

Proya Cosmetics claimed Proya’s Elastic Brightening Youth Essence contained “2% ergothioneine” and “1% decarboxylated carnosine” on major social media platforms comparable to Douyin, WeChat Mall and Xiaohongshu. But a test conducted by the local authority showed that the actual concentration was 0.001 percent and 0.1 percent for the 2 ingredients, respectively, in line with the penalty decision.

As an entirely owned subsidiary of Proya Cosmetics, Zhejiang Meiligu Electronic Commerce Co. Ltd., which was in command of operating the corporate’s e-commerce business, was fined 200,000 renminbi, or $28,346, and ordered to discontinue the misleading commercial on e-commerce sites, in line with the ruling.

Based on local media reports, Proya Cosmetics said the error, which didn’t differentiate “the answer of the raw material and the actual concentrate within the product,” was because of human error and apologized for confusing consumers.

Proya Cosmetics, known for popularizing the “Morning VC (short for Vitamin C serum) Night VA (short for Vitamin A serum)” skincare regime, is the owner of eight skincare, beauty and hair care brands, including Proya, Timage and Off & Calm down.

Despite supply chain strains and COVID-19-induced lockdown woes in 2022, the corporate recorded 37.82 percent year-over-year growth to achieve 6.385 billion renminbi, or $904.95 million, in revenue in 2022.

Net profit increased 41.88 percent year-over-year to 817 million renminbi, or $115.8 million.

As the corporate’s star brand, Proya, which accounts for greater than 83 percent of overall sales, was certainly one of the fastest-growing domestic brands during Tmall’s Singles’ Day Festival in 2022, with its hero products, comparable to the 359 renminbi, or $50.80, Ruby Lightening Serum and the 389 renminbi, or $55.10, Double Effect Brightening Essence, reaching 100 million renminbi in GMV respectively.