Brands
COVERGIRL Unveils Its Flagship Store In New York’s Times Square
The end of November saw the opening of the COVERGIRL TIMES SQUARE flagship store, the brand’s first permanent outlet. It’s on two levels and offers shoppers a virtual greeter, called Olivia, who can give beauty advice or direct you to a product you want. There are also Holition augmented reality stations for virtually try-ons, a customization station for customers to personalize products, and a makeup and advisory service from COVERGIRL BFFs (Brow Friends Forever). [Image Credit: © Coty Inc]
New Investment In Lunata Aimed At Tapping Into Beauty Tech Potential
Entrepreneur Joe Mimran is investing in Lunata Hair, which specializes in portable wireless hair styling products. Mimran met Lunata’s founders on the “Dragons’ Den" TV show in Canada and believes the company can tap into the growth of the beauty tech market. At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, the brand will unveil a cordless curling iron/wand, which will be tested on Ulta.com. The brand’s cordless range offers full-sized, battery and rechargeable tools. The cordless hair straightening iron can be used for up to 45 minutes at the highest setting before recharging. [Image Credit: © Lunata Hair]
Companies
Ulta Has Been Investing In Tech To Deliver Deeper Personalization
Beauty retailer Ulta Beauty is investing in personalization. It has invested in Iterate, a digital workflow company, and Spruce, an online booking platform. It has also acquired QM Scientific and GlamST, two companies to support its augmented reality and artificial intelligence efforts. Ulta said that it may acquire more companies but doesn’t see M&A as a big part of its strategy. As well as personalization, Ulta is also keen to increase the number of digitally native brands it sells, and it aims to better segment and target consumers. Its personalization plans will be supported by the 30 million members of loyalty program, who contribute 95 percent of its sales. [Image Credit: © Ulta Beauty, Inc.]
L’Oréal Introduces The My Skin Track UV Device From La Roche-Posay
L’Oréal has announced the launch of La Roche-Posay My Skin Track UV, a battery-free wearable device to track the skin’s exposure to UV. It’s available in the US on apple.com and in some Apple Stores. The device was unveiled earlier this year at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show and includes a companion app that also measures environmental factors such as pollution, pollen and humidity. The sensor is powered by the user’s smartphone. And clips on to clothing or other accessories. It costs $59.95.[Image Credit: © La Roche-Posay]
Perfect Corp. Founder Talks About YouCam And Its Place In Beauty 3.0
Founder and CEO of Perfect Corp., Alice Chang, spoke at the CEW Connected Consumer Conference about ‘Beauty 3.0’, the company’s name for what it sees as the future of beauty. It will, she says, combine more personalized and proactive tech involving human touch characteristics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. The result will be an extremely accurate virtual try-on experience. Perfect Corp. and its YouCam apps are now used by some 200 beauty brands and 700 million users. The company also encourages users to try YouCam’s set of virtual apps, free of charge, to enable them to test their features.[Image Credit: © Perfect Corp]
Nars Cosmetics Is Seeking To Capture Consumer Data And Use More Beauty Tech In 2019
Shiseido brand Nars Cosmetics is trying to balance the needs of those looking for human interaction in beauty shopping and others that like the speed and convenience of direct-to-consumer e-commerce. ‘Clienteling’ is a key focus, and it wants its sales associates and makeup artists to collect consumer data when they speak to them, and encourage them to use the data to make the experience more personal for the shopper. The brand sees 2019 as a big tech year for the company, with trials of virtual try-ons and artificial intelligence applications, such as for skin tone data. [Image Credit: © NARS Cosmetics]
A Facebook Chatbot Is Driving Traffic And Sales For Wander Beauty
Wander Beauty says that half of its sales are via its e-commerce site, with mobile the main driver. The high-end brand is expanding its online communication with consumers by using a Facebook chatbot. It asks customers six questions and the answers are used for product recommendations chosen by a customer service team. In the four months since it was launched, 17 percent of customers engaged with the chatbot and bought something, well above the industry average. Around 70 percent of its e-commerce traffic is coming from mobile and the chatbot within Facebook Messenger is helping to promote dialog between the brand and customers on the move. [Image Credit: © WANDER BEAUTY LLC]
AI And Other Tech Are Finding Homes In Beauty Brands And Retailers
Beauty brands are embracing artificial intelligence in order to better appeal to consumers. Clinique is launching a free app called Clinical Reality, which recommends products on the basis of user selfies and answers to a questionnaire. The app is scheduled to be launched at the start of 2019, and will later in the year also include a virtual try-on feature. The app follows other similar platforms, such as that sold by ModiFace. L’Oréal acquired ModiFace earlier this year, Shiseido acquired US startup MatchCo last year, and Neutrogena unveiled its Skin360 skin scanning device almost a year ago. Beauty tech is also emerging in physical stores, with Sephora installing 3D augmented reality mirrors from ModiFace. The trend addresses research findings from Deloitte that by 2025 one third of women will buy personalized products[Image Credit: © kinkate from Pexels.com]
Meitu And Secoo Team Up To Grow The Beauty App
Meitu, a company offering a range of image and video apps, including for the beauty industry, has agreed a strategic partnership with Secoo, a luxury online marketplace in China. Secoo TryTry will control various aspects of the Meitu’s beauty app, including promotions, sales and customer service, as well as supply chain operations. The Meitu app uses facial recognition and machine learning, together with an artificial intelligence skin testing platform. The two partners aim to establish a platform for consumers, merchants and services. The deal is an extension of an previous arrangement between the two.[Image Credit: © Secoo]
Foreo Continues Its Expansion In Travel Retail
Beauty tech company Foreo has grown quickly within travel retail over the last two years, reaching over 200 outlets in over 20 countries. One of its innovations is the UFO ‘smart mask’. Although Asia is currently its main geographic region, it will focus on other regions next year, especially Europe, North America and Latin America. South Korea is a very important duty free market for the Swedish brand, with distribution in all of the top Korean travel retailers. The 20th and latest Korean opening was the recent launch at Hyundai Duty Free in Seoul’s Gangnam area. [Image Credit: © FOREO]
SK-II Opens Tech-Based Beauty Pop-Up In Singaore
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Procter & Gamble’s SK-II beauty brand has opened its Future X Smart pop-up store on Singapore’s Orchard Road, offering visitors skin care and beauty tech, with an Instagram experience. Personalized skin care comes via the brand’s Magic Ring Skin analysis to provide product recommendations. It’s open until the end of January.[Image Credit: © Procter & Gamble]
Coty Launches At-Home Color Action For Google Home
Coty has launched ‘Clairol Color Expert’, which it claims is the first hair color at-home Action for Google Assistant on Google Home. It can guide users throughout the hair coloring process, from identifying the best shade through applying and reapplying the color. Previous beauty tech from Coty includes a collaboration with Holition for a blended reality Magic Mirror at the Bourjois outlet in Paris. The latest innovation was built by Coty’s in-house digital agency, and Voice tech developer Voxly Digital.[Image Credit: © Coty Inc.]
New Beauty App Connects Customers And Top Stylists For Home And Workplace Appointments
Salon iQ, a salon booking system, is partnering with bgX for the London launch of the new bgX app, aimed at arranging for top salon stylists to visit customers’ homes or workplaces, in association with Uber. bgX says it’s the first beauty tech company globally to offer an 'on demand' automated platform for customers and top stylists to connect. [Image Credit: © BG Technologies DMCC]
Innovations
Collaboration Develops AI-Based Age Predictor For Personalized Skin Care
Haut.ai, an artificial intelligence company, and Incscillio Medicine have teamed up to explore how skin ages and to develop an accurate predictor of chronological age. The PhotoAgeClock uses artificial intelligence to look at visual biomarkers of age, to predict age within an average of 2.3 years. Skin around eyes is the best biomarker for assessing age, and the data can be used for personalized medical and skin treatment to slow the aging process. The research was published in the journal Aging.[Image Credit: © Haut.AI]
Look Out For The Latest Innovations From Perfect Corp. At CES 2019
YouCam Makeup’s parent company, Perfect Corp., will showcase its full suite of artificial intelligence and augmented reality beauty tech, or “Beauty 3.0”, at January’s Consumer Electronics Show. It will include AI-based solutions for product recommendations based on preferences; a skin shade finder for foundation; and a skin diagnostic and monitoring tool. There will also be demos of new developments in virtual makeup, ombré hair color makeovers, and beauty advisor video consultations on demand. The company will also host a beauty tech keynote and panel session, including CEO and founder Alice Chang. [Image Credit: © Perfect Corp]
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