Yeeregin

SHANGHAI-- L'Oréal SA has a new recipe for expanding sales in China and internationally. Ingredients include snail essence, roasted brown rice and plum blossom.

Those are varieties of a Chinese brand of cosmetic facial masks that the French cosmetic giant is gearing up to sell globally as well. In doing so, L'Oréal is attempting something that Chinese companies themselves are seeking: buyers abroad for China-created brands.

As part of its shifting China strategy, L'Oréal closed last week on its EUR636 million deal ($882.9 million) to acquire Magic Holdings International Ltd., the Chinese owner of the MG brand of beauty products.

MG sells 167 different kinds of paper-peel and mud masks across China, ranging from chamomile allergy-relieving to red wine complex whitening. L'Oréal will first look to expand MG masks in the brand's home market, where the French company is refocusing after pulling its mass-market Garnier beauty-products brand amid intense competition.

"If you are a beauty company, you need to have a Chinese skincare brand, " said Alexis Perakis-Valat, executive vice president of L'Oréal's Asia Pacific region, in an interview. "Skincare is to China what makeup is to the U.S."

Mr. Perakis-Valat said L'Oréal will widen availability of MG-branded facial cleansing and hydrating masks far beyond the current 288 distributors and more than 12,000 stores and other outlets. It will also work to create more products that blend the French beauty company's expertise--with moisturizing and whitening the skin--with MG's.

"It's really just the beginning," said Mr. Perakis-Valat.

He declined to disclose details of the company's plans for MG in China or abroad.

L'Oréal is looking for more customers like Jia Jingni, a 24-year-old marketer for a Shanghai real-estate company who says she likes to apply a mask to relax after coming home from work. "I say that I use it to improve my skin, but the truth is that it actually helps me improve horrible days,"...