I was in Shanghai last May to visit the R&D Center of AVON. Aside from the fact that it was my first time in Shanghai, being with nine other women who share the same interest in getting to know a company that is celebrating its 40 years in the Philippines was one of the many reasons why I was excited to go no this trip.
Never imagine Shanghai to be this charming! A mix of old and new structures merged beautifully to create a thriving city.
We were checked in at Twelve at Hengshan. Love the modern look of the hotel. 
We arrived just in time for dinner. We capped off our first night in Shanghai with cocktails at Epicure on 45, Radisson Blu where we got a 360 degree view of Shanghai.
Early morning the next day and we’re off to AVON R&D Center.
All smiles because I was thrilled to know more about AVON. A brand that empowers generations of women through beauty and entrepreneurship. Besides their various thrusts to support women, the brand is also deeply rooted in science– each product is the result of years of research and innovation.
Rafal Lukasik, Lead AVON Shanghai R&D Center welcomed us. AVON stared in 1886 in Suffern, New York and their first ever product is fragrance. 11 years later and the brand grew and started manufacturing and investing on R&D. Currently AVON has three manufacturing centres: India, China and the Philippines and two R&D centres. The main one being a multimillion dollar facility in Suffern, New York and a similar one in Shanghai, China to cater to the evolving needs of Asian women in this side of the world. According to Rafal, the R&D center in Shanghai it’s important to do research & development to cater to Asia-specific products because women’s needs and wants differ from region to region.
There are four group clusters in the R&D center: skin care, body care, color group and fragrance group. We literally went around the center and walked through five stations, each having specific demos for us to get a better understanding of what goes on. You can watch clips of each demo at the end of this post.
ANALYTICAL LABORATORY
Peggy demonstrated to us how they test anti-oxidative Activity of Glutathione.
Pollution & stress are some external factors that causes excess free radicals. AVON research to protect how to combat free radicals.
COLOR PRODUCT LABORATORY
Frank introduced the second station wherein an interactive program of making our own lipstick was waiting for us.
Liz Lanuzo of Project Vanity volunteered to pour the freshly mixed lipstick in their molds.
And each one of us got to put our own lipstick in its container. 
Yay!
SKIN CARE PRODUCT LABORATORY
Summer showed us how ANEW Fairness Technology can help protect against skin pigmentation–to lighten melanin and not to inhibit it.
Here’s the before photo of the potato juice in their respective dish prior to adding ANEW Fairness Technology
After a few minutes, here’s the result. Galing! The lighter potato juice means ANEW Fairness Technology helps lighten melanin, therefore helping reduce skin pigmentation.
CLINICAL EFFICACY
Ellie introduced us to the fourth station where we had to do a skin test to check moisture and barrier function.
Can you guess my score? Revealed it on my vlog at the end of this post!
spoiler alert: it really pays to religiously apply lotion every. single. day!
PILOT PLANT
Edith welcomed us at station five that is kinda like “the kitchen” where all the ingredients goes into the process of mixing.
AVON Sheer Passion Body Spray in the making.
The R&D facility works hard in research and product innovation to make sure that every product that comes out produces optical results, all in an effort to serve a purpose the goes beyond function. I’ve learned that 85% of the patents the R&D team gets per year is actually applied to their products? That’s high conversion from research to development of actual products. This just proves that Avon thoroughly goes through each of their product making sure ingredients have efficacy. Even in the 80s when they were starting, they’ve already gotten patent to retinol and have developed AHA creams back in the 90s. With over 100 years of experience the company that is all for women empowerment is all about innovation. And for Avon, innovation means more than finding breakthroughs in cosmetics– it’s about giving Filipinas and women all over the world new opportunities to earn and to better themselves.
I together with Raiza Contawi, Chin Obcena, Chesy Mirasol, Isha Borromeo, Shai Habon, Charlene Owen, Ira Nopuente, Liz Lanuzo and Genzel Habab are your Avon Beauty Insiders. Thank you Avon Philippines for gathering us & letting us get first dibs on Mark. and letting us visit Avon R&D Center in Shanghai.
Watch the video I made over at my YouTube account https://youtu.be/f5h-9_iW0No
Posting an unboxing of Avon Mark. cosmetics next week! 🙂
[…] here’s another reason why I was in Shanghai last May. Aside from visiting Avon R&D Center, I was also the first few (at least in the Philippines) to see the newest makeup line of Avon […]