China is the world's number 3 cosmetics market and foreign-based brands are trying to gain a foothold. But as one luxury goods adviser said, despite clear opportunities, China's beauty market is difficult to crack, reports ZHANG YUWEI in New York.

On a snowy evening in early December, the residence of Peter Thomas Roth, founder of Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan was filled with its first group of guests for a pre-Christmas party. The cozy gathering was not for family members or friends but a group of Asian journalists, with quite a few from China, where the brand considers it to be its best bet for overseas growth in the coming years.

"You should really try our cucumber eye cubes - it's amazing," said Roth, passing an eye-mask-shaped box to Maddie Liu, a Chinese guest at the party.

Liu, 39, is among many professional, trendy Chinese women who seek unique, new skincare brands from aboard. "The cucumber products of PTR has a good selling point in the Chinese market because the concept of using vegetable fruit for skincare attracts a lot of Chinese women of different ages," she said as she checked out the eye cubes.

A Beijing native who moved to New York three years ago, Liu said the best selling point for PTR - or any new Western brands tapping into the Chinese market - is its uniqueness.

"Especially for those women in first and second-tier Chinese cities, if a new foreign beauty brand wants to stand out from the well-established premium brands, it must offer something unique," said Liu.