L’Oréal gets 'Perso'-nal

Using AI to deliver prompt, personalized skincare
Sandy Smith
NRF Contributor

Every January at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, tech giants trot out their latest wares. TVs are bigger, robots are smarter, vehicles are closer to driving themselves and humans can measure just about any health metric imaginable.

This year L’Oréal joined the crowds, showcasing its latest offering. Perso, a 6.5-inch beauty device, uses artificial intelligence to deliver personalized skincare: Once a user launches the Perso app and takes a photo with their smartphone camera, L’Oréal’s ModiFace technology analyzes overall skin condition, from wrinkles and lines to dark spots and pores. Using geo-location data, Perso considers environmental conditions such as weather, pollen and humidity. After the technology has done its thing, the consumer can express their concerns about issues such as dullness or pigmentation.

Makeup has gotten a lot better in terms of personalization, particularly by adding variety and depth to cosmetics lines to account for differences in skin tones. But this raises the bar dramatically. Not only does it create a unique formula for an individual; that formula is unique to the single use as well.

L’Oréal is making a quick solution from its 2018 purchase of ModiFace, the AI-powered algorithm that was trained by L’Oréal’s research and innovation scientists. It also builds upon L’Oréal’s Vichy SkinConsult — launched last year — which used the same basic technology to provide a customized skincare routine.

But Perso ups the ante. Instead of waiting for a custom-blended skincare product to arrive in the mail, Perso puts it in the consumer’s hands. The data comes together to create a personalized blend of skincare, every single time.

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