What is beauty tech? 10 trends shaping the cosmetics industry

Technology touches each space of life – together with beauty and cosmetics.
Beauty tech is the integration of know-how into cosmetics and beauty merchandise. Recent improvements in synthetic intelligence (AI), augmented actuality (AR) and the web of issues have all contributed to a noticeable surge in the industry.

This affect of know-how on beauty was prominently featured at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest tech occasion. The keynote speech by L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus set the tone for a recurring theme of beauty tech improvements set to rework the beauty industry. Innovations highlighted embody a state-of-the-art lip instrument; a strand-protecting blow dryer; and the Nimble manicure salon, the world’s first machine that mixes AI know-how and complicated robotics to flawlessly paint nails with out ever needing to go to a nail salon.
These newest trends point out that the beauty routines beforehand restricted to the bodily realm of brushes, make-up artists and palettes are actually transferring to the digital sphere of algorithms and pixels, reworking the beauty industry for good. According to Vantage market analysis, the yearly development price for sensible units in the beauty enterprise is an impressive 18.8%, with gross sales estimated to achieve $144.2 billion by 2028.
Here are a few of the most up-to-date know-how trends influencing the beauty industry.

1. Virtual try-ons utilizing AI/VR instruments
Imagine having the ability to check out totally different make-up appears with out ever touching a compact or strive on an outfit with out sporting it. Thanks to generative AI, the trend and beauty industries are altering quickly. Many beauty apps which might be coupled with AI and VR capabilities are actually obtainable on the market, making digital try-ons a actuality for customers.
Virtual try-ons additionally took heart stage at CES 2024, as firms launched new AI and VR options of their beauty merchandise, together with digital try-ons for watches and jewellery in addition to 3D hairstyling. The smartest thing about digital try-ons and on-line product sampling is that customers can strive on a number of shades of lipstick, eyeshadow and hairstyles by merely utilizing the cameras on their smartphones.

2. AI-powered pores and skin evaluation and lip care
AI-powered pores and skin evaluation is a quickly rising development in cosmetics and skincare. This know-how examines totally different facets of a person’s pores and skin utilizing AI algorithms. Users can seize pores and skin photographs with smartphones or by way of real-time reside digicam modes, which the AI system then processes to determine pores and skin traits and situations, corresponding to pores and skin sorts, zits, darkish spots, wrinkles and pores. Based on these findings, personalised skincare strategies are offered to clients.
Perfect Pro’s pores and skin diagnostic know-how, for instance, analyzes three facial photographs — entrance, left and proper profiles — to detect points corresponding to zits and wrinkles. This exact technique ensures complete protection — even in difficult areas corresponding to the chin and cheeks.
Along with skincare, these latest trends are additionally specializing in AI-based lip care. Amorepacific’s Lipcure Beam, a lip machine that not solely acknowledges lip considerations but in addition delivers remedy and improved lip care, secured the prime place in the Digital Health class at CES 2024, showcasing the fast development of AI in the cosmetics and skincare industry.

3. Wearable beauty units
Wearable know-how, corresponding to smartwatches and health bands, has additionally gained recognition in the beauty industry. These devices measure a number of well being components, together with coronary heart price, sleep patterns, pores and skin harm, temper modifications and exercise ranges. Tracking these indicators helps people make knowledgeable choices relating to their normal well-being, which may additionally enhance their general look and beauty.
One such wearable beauty gadget, the Evie Ring, received an innovation award at CES 2024. This sensible ring offers a complete understanding of girls’s well being by contemplating components corresponding to vitality ranges, menstrual well being and hormonal fluctuations.
Wearable UV trackers integrated with sensible sensors are additionally turning into standard. For instance, the Shade UV tracker displays UV radiation publicity and offers real-time suggestions on solar safety. Wearable as a wristband or connected to clothes, these trackers hyperlink to an app for personalised product strategies relating to sunscreen and different protecting measures.

4. Automatic hair evaluation
This newest beauty tech development entails computerized hair evaluation. By using superior algorithms and sensors to evaluate hair high quality and scalp situations, AI-driven instruments provide personalised insights for tailor-made hair care routines.
Brands corresponding to MYAVANA debuted their hair strand evaluation know-how at CES 2023. This know-how offers AI-driven hair evaluation and personalised suggestions. Revieve, an AI hair care adviser, requires solely a buyer selfie to exactly determine the situation of a buyer’s hair to supply interactive schooling and steerage to the buyer.

5. 3D-printed make-up
The 3D-printed make-up development has gained momentum in the beauty industry, providing a brand new stage of customization and creativity. One notable instance is the Mink 3D make-up printer, which lets customers rework any picture into wearable make-up. The printer works by depositing ink onto a powder-coated substrate, creating immediately wearable cosmetics in powder kind.
The idea of 3D-printed make-up has piqued the industry’s curiosity, pushing different firms to pursue related concepts. For instance, an organization named Adorn launched a 3D beauty pen that scans the face and creates a basis shade ideally matched to a person’s pores and skin tone.

6. Smart mirrors
This beauty development is formed by technologically superior mirrors that accumulate private information to optimize day by day beauty routines and supply personalised insights to clients. Key options embody adjustable lighting primarily based on particular person wants, microscopic pores and skin evaluation utilizing embedded cameras and sensors, an interactive expertise with Wi-Fi connectivity, and voice-enabled controls. The embedded cameras use augmented actuality know-how to superimpose the desired product on the buyer’s reflection in actual time.
Consumers can use sensible mirrors for a wide range of duties together with pores and skin evaluation, previewing an outfit or beauty product, monitoring modifications in complexion, assessing product effectiveness and receiving AI-driven personalised suggestions. Unlike conventional product testers, that are sometimes utilized on one facet of a hand, sensible mirrors let customers strive on make-up gadgets as a part of an entire look or precisely the place the product is supposed. For occasion, the Mirart AI mirror, which received an innovation award at CES 2024, can predict an individual’s ideally suited look.

7. Metaverse for beauty
The metaverse, a digital actuality setting that facilitates person engagement and the use of digital parts, is a development anticipated to form the course of the beauty industry. Beauty manufacturers are investing in the metaverse to enhance buyer experiences and foster creativity.

The metaverse lets customers experiment with appearances and merchandise through digital make-up to get a real-time visualization of cosmetics utilized to their faces. Furthermore, beauty firms can produce and market limited-edition digital items in the metaverse by way of the use of non-fungible tokens, giving clients unique possession and commerce alternatives. By fusing the digital and bodily spheres, the metaverse creates new alternatives for client interplay and model partnerships.

8. Virtual make-up filters
Virtual make-up, often known as e-makeup, is an idea that elevates a person’s facial look in photographs utilizing digital beauty filters. These filters are amongst the most sought-after options on platforms corresponding to (*10*) and Snapchat, the place digital make-up artists create intricate make-up filters for his or her followers to boost their photographs. For occasion, Sephora provides a collection of AR filters on social media websites for patrons to strive. Customers may also experiment with totally different beauty types and hues utilizing these filters and get a digital makeover expertise like that offered by an expert make-up artist.

9. Clean merchandise and blockchain beauty
According to Ulta’s “Beauty Consumer Insights Survey, 2023,” 90% of Gen Z and youthful millennials are thinking about buying clear beauty merchandise in the future. More than 50% of Gen Z rigorously take into account the substances in beauty merchandise earlier than making a purchase order. Technology is bolstering this development by empowering beauty manufacturers to make sure transparency in ingredient sourcing and manufacturing processes.
Using digital and social media platforms, manufacturers can convey their dedication to sustainable practices, together with the sourcing of natural biotech substances and efforts to attenuate detrimental results on the setting. Virtual product sampling has additionally lowered the want for bodily product samples, resulting in a extra sustainable method to beauty.
Blockchain know-how is additionally more and more being utilized in the beauty tech provide chain, making traceability and transparency simpler by monitoring the sources of substances, the manufacturing procedures and the veracity of claims made by firms relating to natural or pure substances in cosmetics.

10. Virtual beauty advisers
With the proliferation of e-commerce and multi-channel sale platforms, know-how is reshaping the method merchandise are marketed to customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, beauty manufacturers began incorporating digital consultations into their web sites in response to retailer shutdowns. For instance, Ulta’s AI-powered beauty adviser makes use of GenAI to offer customers with a simple method to entry the firm’s in depth beauty sources.
Virtual beauty advisers additionally provide personalised beauty suggestions and tutorials by way of live-streaming, chatbots and grasp lessons, mimicking the experience of in-person beauty interactions. The interactive method provided by digital beauty advisers boosts client engagement and lets clients discover the newest beauty methods and trends from the consolation of their houses.
Kinza Yasar is a technical author for WhatIs with a level in laptop networking.

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