Kao launches Curél skincare brand across Nordics region
Curél is one of six focus brands, alongside SENSAI and Molton Brown, among others, driving Kao’s global cosmetics expansion.
EUROPE – Japanese consumer goods giant Kao is accelerating its European skincare growth by launching its flagship sensitive-skin brand, Curél, across the Nordics in September 2026.
The move extends Curél’s European footprint into Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, and reinforces Kao’s strategy of scaling differentiated, science-led beauty brands in high-value markets.
Curél will enter the Nordic region exclusively through two leading beauty retailers: KICKS and Matas.
This selective distribution approach mirrors Curél’s wider European playbook, which prioritises partners with strong skincare expertise, such as pharmacies in Germany and France, derma-focused drugstores in the UK, and now specialist beauty chains in the Nordics.
Linda Karlin, Senior Director, Marketing & Strategy, Consumer Care EMEA at Kao, stated, “The Nordics represent a highly sophisticated skincare market and a natural next step in Curél’s European growth journey.”
“Curél’s launch in the region reflects both the strength of the brand and Kao’s long-term commitment to advancing skin science.”
The Nordic rollout follows a staged European expansion: the UK in 2019, Germany and France in 2025, and the Netherlands in May 2026.
Strategic fit within Kao’s cosmetics growth plan
The Nordics launch is part of Kao’s “Global Sharp Top” strategy, which concentrates investment on high-value, differentiated brands and priority categories where the company can build leading positions.
Kao has set an international growth target for Curél: to lift sales to 1.6 times the 2024 level by 2030 and raise the share of overseas sales to around 50%.
Europe is positioned as a priority region within that plan, with the Nordics representing the latest step in building regional scale and brand awareness.
Curél is Japan’s No. 1 skincare brand for sensitive skin by turnover value (2015–2025), according to INTAGE data cited by Kao.
The brand is built on Kao’s decades of dermatological research, including the early identification of ceramides as key to maintaining skin moisture (1985) and the launch of Curél in 1999 to serve people with dry, sensitive skin.
The range leverages Kao’s proprietary biomimetic ceramide technology, combining gentle formulations with clinically proven efficacy focused on the skin’s natural barrier function.
This aligns with a broader shift in global beauty toward “J-beauty” propositions that prioritise long-term skin health and barrier science over short-term trends.
Curél’s European traction is already visible in the UK, where retail sales are up 24% year on year (year to date, Dec 28, 2025–June 27, 2026), underscoring demand for science-backed sensitive-skin solutions.
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