Navin M. Geria, AyurDerm Technologies, LLC05.01.20
Devices are so advanced they can extract vital medical information about a patient’s health by processing photos and developing algorithms to accurately and minutely evaluate specific criteria linked to perceptions of human beauty and health. According to Futurist Dr. James Lovelock, we are entering a new age, known as Novacene, a time in which humans may be eclipsed by intelligent machines.
But can machine learning and artificial intelligence understand beauty? More importantly, can machines make us more beautiful? Personal assistants like Siri and Alexa have already made artificial intelligence a part of our daily lives. Artificial Intelligence is the development of technology that aims to allow machines, computers and software to mimic human thought and intelligence. AI is already starting to make things easier for consumers. AI is defined by Webster’s dictionary as: (a) a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers, and (b) the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. One particular branch of AI-machine learning helps understand images and text. AI is certainly big business.
The global cosmetics products market is expected to reach $806 billion by 2023, according to Orbis. Meanwhile, AI will reach $12 billion by 2023 in global spending by retailers, including beauty, up from an estimated $3.6 billion this year according to Juniper Research, a UK-based company. AI is reshaping the way we view and consume beauty. It has been a driving factor because it can showcase products versatility and educate the consumer on how to use it. Multinationals like Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble all embrace the latest emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented reality (AR), to give customers a more personalized, tailor-made approach to beauty and health.
This column takes a brief look at how AI technology is helping to drive growth, and shape the future of the beauty industry. From Google and Amazon to Apple and Microsoft, every major tech company is dedicating resources to artificial intelligence. More beauty brands, including MAC, Estée Lauder, Clinique, L’Oréal and Neutrogena, use AI to customize user experiences and create products that appeal to younger consumers. Beauty brands face fierce competition in this fast-paced digital environment. To stay competitive, brands must anticipate emerging trends and seize opportunities at the right time. Several beauty apps and devices are being utilized currently in the marketplace.
Beauty Apps and Devices
Beauty apps have significant value to cosmetic companies because of the valuable data generated. They enable companies to get a clearer picture of their customers and what their customers want. Smart beauty devices are entering the home, too. There is greater integration between technology and beauty. Over the years, beauty brands large and small have introduced an assortment of high-tech beauty devices and their own apps; one beauty startup, Proven, won MIT’s 2018 AI award. The Proven app requires consumers to complete a skin assessment before sending a personalized data-driven skin care product right to her door.
Using machine learning, Curology’s app provides customized online acne care. Customers send a selfie, fill out questionnaires and get matched with a professional who compounds a custom formula that targets their individual skin care needs.
Function of Beauty’s app creates customized shampoos and conditioners using big data and machine learning. Similar to Proven, customers enter their hair type and structure, and hair goals, on the FoB website. All that information is put through an algorithm that prints out the customer’s personalized shampoo and conditioner.
Olay launched the Skin Advisor app, which is based on a deep-learning algorithm which analyzes skin, using selfies and recommends to consumers, beauty products suitable for them. Atolla Skin Lab Solutions uses a specialized data base, in conjunction with a machine-learning algorithm, to connect combinations of ingredients to skin attributes, such as skin hydration, oil content, sun damage, and skin concerns and goals.
Yours has AI-based personalized skin care products such as night creams, moisturizers and serums. According to its Founder Navneet Kaur, when Yours Company creates a regimen for its users, it takes into account the age, skin type and habits such as sleeping, smoking and water consumption, because lifestyle and environment, do impact skin health.
My Beauty Matches provides solutions for skin care using the products that currently exist in the market. It provides personalized and impartial recommendations to consumers and also compares prices for various beauty brands.
Luna Fofo is an aesthetically-pleasing AI-based cleansing device with advanced embedded sensors to analyze the user’s skin and generate a customized report. The app creates facial cleansing routines, including intensity and duration guidelines.
Revieve’s Digital Beauty Advisor provides skin care recommendations based on an AI-powered personalization search engine which analyzes nearly 68 factors such as redness, eye bags and wrinkles via selfie analysis. Beauty retailer Nordic Feel relies on it to provide a personalized experience for its online shoppers.
L’Oréal’s Hair Coach is billed as the world’s first smart hair brush to assess the quality of hair and monitor the effects of different hair care routines.
Shiseido’s Optune system is said to eliminate the need to screen skin care products. The app analyzes the consumer’s skin and selects the best ingredients from cartridges, which dispenses just the right amount of product. When the cartridges are nearly empty, replacements are ordered automatically. This is a personalized app, which gets modified and adapted according to individual needs.
Samsung’s skin app makes recommendations on how to improve skin, along with skin therapy by integrating microneedle patches containing crucial skin care products with collagen.
Rimmel’s “Get the Look” 3D makeup simulation app enables consumers to take a photo of a makeup look and try the look on themselves. Moodo introduced a “Home loT Scent” diffusing machine that uses WiFi and Alexa integration to activate fragrance cartridges to scent the home. Lidl’s DIY face mask maker is a private label budget beauty line which creates custom hydrogel face masks using collagen, fruit juice, milk or yogurt.
More Tech Ideas
Other technologies for beauty enthusiasts include Lancôme’s Le Teint Particulier, which promises to find the exact foundation match for your skin. Sephora’s Virtual Artist lets customers virtually try on thousands of shades of lipstick and eyeshadow through their smart phones or at kiosks in stores. Similarly, the Hi Mirror, a smart mirror from Taiwan’s NewKinpo Group, takes photo of the user’s face every time she logs in, and scans it for wrinkles, red spots, fine lines and brightness levels. It rates these factors, from good to poor, and sends personalized tips and product recommendations to consumers.
The Opte Wand from P&G scans skin and precisely applies tiny amounts of makeup to hide age spots, burst blood vessels and other blemishes. The tiny built-in camera takes as many as 200 photos per second, while a microprocessor analyzes the data to differentiate between light and dark areas. A micro printer applies the foundation to the skin.
AI Face Beauty, a mobile app created by Youth Laboratories, uses algorithms to evaluate symmetry, facial blemishes and wrinkles, and estimate age, before comparing results to famous actors and models.
There are face apps to virtually smooth out wrinkles, wipe away dark spots and fill in dark circles. This includes apps like FaceApp’s Age Challenge, which takes facial images and “ages” them with filters. Oldify and Snapchat cater to consumers’ self-loving tendencies. Age Me app helps consumers visualize what could be the long-term effects of smoking on their skin. There have been dozens of beauty and makeup apps, including Glad Scout, YouCam, Match Co, The Glam, Spruce, Priv, Keep Shopping, Misfit Shine, Visada, Beautified, Life Booker, Glam Squad, Skin Better, Beauty Booked, Think Dirty, Face Tune, Stash and Drugstore Dupes, to name just a few. Voice-based AI apps may be beauty game-changers, according to leading industry players like Coty, Estée Lauder, Perfect Corp and ModiFace.
IBM’s Philyra creates perfumes for specific customer demographics. In the same vein, Givaudan developed Carto, an AI-powered tool that brings science and technology together for use by their perfumers.
Dermatology Apps
The use of AI in the field of dermatology may be beneficial to patients and dermatologists alike. Technology can augment decision-making, but cannot replace dermatologists. Still, AI is the wave of the future in skin care, according to Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research in the department of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.1
Of course, no app can replace a face-to-face consultation with the dermatologist. Here are various dermatologist-approved skin care apps.
ModiFace is an augmented reality startup created by dermatologists. It uses AR to perform try-on simulation through photos or videos for makeup, hair and skin care. It also helps measure the precise state of skin and observe any potential skin changes in live video. The app’s technology is able to detect changes such as dark spots, discoloration, dryness, uneven skin and rosacea. It can even visualize the changes before and after the use of any beauty product, helping to recommend and ultimately sell products for customer’s specific skin care needs.
Skin Vision is approved by Rhonda Klein MD, Modern Dermatology, Westport, CT While this app certainly does not replace annual skin exams, you can save photos of spots on your skin and track changes over time, which may spur you to make an appointment and show it to your doctor.
Skin Safe is the app of choice for Kara Shah MD, Kenwood Dermatology, Cincinnati, OH. This app simplifies the product selection process for those with sensitive skin or allergies, or those who just want to avoid certain ingredients. Skin Safe searches thousands of skin care products, cosmetics and household products by name or ingredient.
Gretchen Frieling MD recommends iHydrate. She notes that hydration is essential for avoiding fine lines, wrinkles and dark eye circles. If you struggle to remember how much alcohol you drank the previous night, this app measures how much you should drink and monitors your progress.
The beauty industry is undergoing a massive disruption as AI technology evolves. There are new challenges, opportunities, risks and rewards for brands and marketers. Digitization has a huge impact on the skin care world. AI is reshaping the way brands are helping consumers become more beautiful. This transformative technology is revolutionizing the health and beauty sector in many ways. Most consumers remain reluctant to buy cosmetics that they have only virtually applied; this is particularly true when it comes to foundation, tinted moisturizer, concealer and hair dye.
References
Navin M. Geria
Chief Scientific Officer
AyurDerm Technologies, LLC
navin@AyurDerm.com
Navin Geria, former Pfizer Research Fellow is a cosmetic and pharmaceutical product development chemist and the chief scientific officer of AyurDerm Technologies LLC, which provides Ayurvedic, natural and cosmeceutical custom formulation development and consulting services to the spa-wellness-dermatology industries. He has launched dozens of cosmeceutical and ayurvedic anti-aging products. Geria has more than 30 years of experience in the personal care industry and was previously with Clairol, Warner-Lambert, Schick-Energizer, Bristol-Myers and Spa Dermaceuticals. He has nearly 20 US patents and has been published extensively. Geria edited the Handbook of Skin-Aging Theories for Cosmetic Formulation Development focus book published in April 2016 by Harry’s Cosmeticology. He is a speaker, moderator and chairman at cosmetic industry events. Most recently, he is author of the soon-to-be-released Aging Well: Advances & Treatments published by Chemical Publishing Company.
But can machine learning and artificial intelligence understand beauty? More importantly, can machines make us more beautiful? Personal assistants like Siri and Alexa have already made artificial intelligence a part of our daily lives. Artificial Intelligence is the development of technology that aims to allow machines, computers and software to mimic human thought and intelligence. AI is already starting to make things easier for consumers. AI is defined by Webster’s dictionary as: (a) a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers, and (b) the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. One particular branch of AI-machine learning helps understand images and text. AI is certainly big business.
The global cosmetics products market is expected to reach $806 billion by 2023, according to Orbis. Meanwhile, AI will reach $12 billion by 2023 in global spending by retailers, including beauty, up from an estimated $3.6 billion this year according to Juniper Research, a UK-based company. AI is reshaping the way we view and consume beauty. It has been a driving factor because it can showcase products versatility and educate the consumer on how to use it. Multinationals like Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble all embrace the latest emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented reality (AR), to give customers a more personalized, tailor-made approach to beauty and health.
This column takes a brief look at how AI technology is helping to drive growth, and shape the future of the beauty industry. From Google and Amazon to Apple and Microsoft, every major tech company is dedicating resources to artificial intelligence. More beauty brands, including MAC, Estée Lauder, Clinique, L’Oréal and Neutrogena, use AI to customize user experiences and create products that appeal to younger consumers. Beauty brands face fierce competition in this fast-paced digital environment. To stay competitive, brands must anticipate emerging trends and seize opportunities at the right time. Several beauty apps and devices are being utilized currently in the marketplace.
Beauty Apps and Devices
Beauty apps have significant value to cosmetic companies because of the valuable data generated. They enable companies to get a clearer picture of their customers and what their customers want. Smart beauty devices are entering the home, too. There is greater integration between technology and beauty. Over the years, beauty brands large and small have introduced an assortment of high-tech beauty devices and their own apps; one beauty startup, Proven, won MIT’s 2018 AI award. The Proven app requires consumers to complete a skin assessment before sending a personalized data-driven skin care product right to her door.
Using machine learning, Curology’s app provides customized online acne care. Customers send a selfie, fill out questionnaires and get matched with a professional who compounds a custom formula that targets their individual skin care needs.
Function of Beauty’s app creates customized shampoos and conditioners using big data and machine learning. Similar to Proven, customers enter their hair type and structure, and hair goals, on the FoB website. All that information is put through an algorithm that prints out the customer’s personalized shampoo and conditioner.
Olay launched the Skin Advisor app, which is based on a deep-learning algorithm which analyzes skin, using selfies and recommends to consumers, beauty products suitable for them. Atolla Skin Lab Solutions uses a specialized data base, in conjunction with a machine-learning algorithm, to connect combinations of ingredients to skin attributes, such as skin hydration, oil content, sun damage, and skin concerns and goals.
Yours has AI-based personalized skin care products such as night creams, moisturizers and serums. According to its Founder Navneet Kaur, when Yours Company creates a regimen for its users, it takes into account the age, skin type and habits such as sleeping, smoking and water consumption, because lifestyle and environment, do impact skin health.
My Beauty Matches provides solutions for skin care using the products that currently exist in the market. It provides personalized and impartial recommendations to consumers and also compares prices for various beauty brands.
Luna Fofo is an aesthetically-pleasing AI-based cleansing device with advanced embedded sensors to analyze the user’s skin and generate a customized report. The app creates facial cleansing routines, including intensity and duration guidelines.
Revieve’s Digital Beauty Advisor provides skin care recommendations based on an AI-powered personalization search engine which analyzes nearly 68 factors such as redness, eye bags and wrinkles via selfie analysis. Beauty retailer Nordic Feel relies on it to provide a personalized experience for its online shoppers.
L’Oréal’s Hair Coach is billed as the world’s first smart hair brush to assess the quality of hair and monitor the effects of different hair care routines.
Shiseido’s Optune system is said to eliminate the need to screen skin care products. The app analyzes the consumer’s skin and selects the best ingredients from cartridges, which dispenses just the right amount of product. When the cartridges are nearly empty, replacements are ordered automatically. This is a personalized app, which gets modified and adapted according to individual needs.
Samsung’s skin app makes recommendations on how to improve skin, along with skin therapy by integrating microneedle patches containing crucial skin care products with collagen.
Rimmel’s “Get the Look” 3D makeup simulation app enables consumers to take a photo of a makeup look and try the look on themselves. Moodo introduced a “Home loT Scent” diffusing machine that uses WiFi and Alexa integration to activate fragrance cartridges to scent the home. Lidl’s DIY face mask maker is a private label budget beauty line which creates custom hydrogel face masks using collagen, fruit juice, milk or yogurt.
More Tech Ideas
Other technologies for beauty enthusiasts include Lancôme’s Le Teint Particulier, which promises to find the exact foundation match for your skin. Sephora’s Virtual Artist lets customers virtually try on thousands of shades of lipstick and eyeshadow through their smart phones or at kiosks in stores. Similarly, the Hi Mirror, a smart mirror from Taiwan’s NewKinpo Group, takes photo of the user’s face every time she logs in, and scans it for wrinkles, red spots, fine lines and brightness levels. It rates these factors, from good to poor, and sends personalized tips and product recommendations to consumers.
The Opte Wand from P&G scans skin and precisely applies tiny amounts of makeup to hide age spots, burst blood vessels and other blemishes. The tiny built-in camera takes as many as 200 photos per second, while a microprocessor analyzes the data to differentiate between light and dark areas. A micro printer applies the foundation to the skin.
AI Face Beauty, a mobile app created by Youth Laboratories, uses algorithms to evaluate symmetry, facial blemishes and wrinkles, and estimate age, before comparing results to famous actors and models.
There are face apps to virtually smooth out wrinkles, wipe away dark spots and fill in dark circles. This includes apps like FaceApp’s Age Challenge, which takes facial images and “ages” them with filters. Oldify and Snapchat cater to consumers’ self-loving tendencies. Age Me app helps consumers visualize what could be the long-term effects of smoking on their skin. There have been dozens of beauty and makeup apps, including Glad Scout, YouCam, Match Co, The Glam, Spruce, Priv, Keep Shopping, Misfit Shine, Visada, Beautified, Life Booker, Glam Squad, Skin Better, Beauty Booked, Think Dirty, Face Tune, Stash and Drugstore Dupes, to name just a few. Voice-based AI apps may be beauty game-changers, according to leading industry players like Coty, Estée Lauder, Perfect Corp and ModiFace.
IBM’s Philyra creates perfumes for specific customer demographics. In the same vein, Givaudan developed Carto, an AI-powered tool that brings science and technology together for use by their perfumers.
Dermatology Apps
The use of AI in the field of dermatology may be beneficial to patients and dermatologists alike. Technology can augment decision-making, but cannot replace dermatologists. Still, AI is the wave of the future in skin care, according to Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research in the department of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.1
Of course, no app can replace a face-to-face consultation with the dermatologist. Here are various dermatologist-approved skin care apps.
ModiFace is an augmented reality startup created by dermatologists. It uses AR to perform try-on simulation through photos or videos for makeup, hair and skin care. It also helps measure the precise state of skin and observe any potential skin changes in live video. The app’s technology is able to detect changes such as dark spots, discoloration, dryness, uneven skin and rosacea. It can even visualize the changes before and after the use of any beauty product, helping to recommend and ultimately sell products for customer’s specific skin care needs.
Skin Vision is approved by Rhonda Klein MD, Modern Dermatology, Westport, CT While this app certainly does not replace annual skin exams, you can save photos of spots on your skin and track changes over time, which may spur you to make an appointment and show it to your doctor.
Skin Safe is the app of choice for Kara Shah MD, Kenwood Dermatology, Cincinnati, OH. This app simplifies the product selection process for those with sensitive skin or allergies, or those who just want to avoid certain ingredients. Skin Safe searches thousands of skin care products, cosmetics and household products by name or ingredient.
Gretchen Frieling MD recommends iHydrate. She notes that hydration is essential for avoiding fine lines, wrinkles and dark eye circles. If you struggle to remember how much alcohol you drank the previous night, this app measures how much you should drink and monitors your progress.
The beauty industry is undergoing a massive disruption as AI technology evolves. There are new challenges, opportunities, risks and rewards for brands and marketers. Digitization has a huge impact on the skin care world. AI is reshaping the way brands are helping consumers become more beautiful. This transformative technology is revolutionizing the health and beauty sector in many ways. Most consumers remain reluctant to buy cosmetics that they have only virtually applied; this is particularly true when it comes to foundation, tinted moisturizer, concealer and hair dye.
References
- Paging Dr. App, WebMD.com
Navin M. Geria
Chief Scientific Officer
AyurDerm Technologies, LLC
navin@AyurDerm.com
Navin Geria, former Pfizer Research Fellow is a cosmetic and pharmaceutical product development chemist and the chief scientific officer of AyurDerm Technologies LLC, which provides Ayurvedic, natural and cosmeceutical custom formulation development and consulting services to the spa-wellness-dermatology industries. He has launched dozens of cosmeceutical and ayurvedic anti-aging products. Geria has more than 30 years of experience in the personal care industry and was previously with Clairol, Warner-Lambert, Schick-Energizer, Bristol-Myers and Spa Dermaceuticals. He has nearly 20 US patents and has been published extensively. Geria edited the Handbook of Skin-Aging Theories for Cosmetic Formulation Development focus book published in April 2016 by Harry’s Cosmeticology. He is a speaker, moderator and chairman at cosmetic industry events. Most recently, he is author of the soon-to-be-released Aging Well: Advances & Treatments published by Chemical Publishing Company.
