More personalized recommendations, faster problem identification — all made possible with the help of AI in the beauty industry. Advancing rapidly, innovative solutions in the beauty industry are now within reach and being integrated. In this article, we will explore how AI is shaping and transforming this sector.
The Rise of AI in the Beauty Industry
The adoption of AI in the beauty and cosmetics sector is gradually increasing. According to The Business Research Company, the market is expected to grow from $3.72 billion last year to $9.44 billion by 2029. Companies can integrate AI into various solutions:
- Personalized recommendations. AI can process and analyse vast amounts of data, using a customer’s purchase history, preferences, or specific skin diagnostic results to create a fully personalized product basket. Firstly, this may astonish consumers, as recommendations are curated quickly. Secondly, a completely tailored beauty routine is developed — something beauty store staff or skin clinic experts would struggle to prepare as efficiently.
- Interactive product testing. Hundreds of testers in beauty stores, where customers continuously try out products, are gradually becoming a thing of the past. AI and augmented reality interactions allow the creation of tools where customers can virtually try specific products on themselves.
- Skin diagnostics. AI in the beauty industry merges with medical methods to enable smart and comprehensive facial skin analysis. By submitting a photo, AI algorithms generate a facial analysis report, identifying acne, wrinkles, pigmentation, and other skin features. Based on this, the technology can recommend tailored beauty products and tips for skincare steps.
- Sustainable initiatives. AI has paved the way for sustainable solutions in business processes within the beauty industry. In the future, the need for physical testers in stores may decrease due to virtual tools. Moreover, AI in the beauty industry could optimize business processes by forecasting demand for specific products.
- Cosmetic development. With the ability to analyse vast amounts of data, AI can contribute to research for new beauty product formulations, considering customer expectations, common issues, and active ingredients.
Who Is Already Ahead with AI in the Beauty Industry?
Leading global brands are gradually leveraging AI in the beauty industry capabilities. L’Oréal has integrated augmented reality and AI through its ModiFace system to introduce a skin diagnostic tool.
The tool is trained on 6,000 clinical images from the brand’s skin aging atlas research, alongside consultations with dermatologists. The developed model incorporated 4,500 selfies focused on three groups — Asian, Caucasian, and African American women. The system performs analyses under varying lighting conditions, phone angles, and more.
The result is SkinConsult AI, a tool for facial diagnostics. By uploading a selfie to the brand’s website, customers receive a report on seven signs of aging (wrinkles in different facial areas, skin firmness, glow, pigmentation, pores). Based on the results, a tailored product basket is created for your skin routine.
The Beauty Genius1 chatbot provides in-depth beauty consultations and product recommendations. Moreover, L’Oréal has also integrated virtual product trials on Amazon in the US and Japan2. Customers can try different lipstick shades using their images or selfies.
Virtual testing of different lipsticks. Image source: L’Oréal GROUPE
Final Word
AI in the beauty industry paves the way for unique and personalized interactions with customers, helping them achieve the best results on their journey to healthy and beautiful skin. While we currently see individual examples from major brands, in the future, AI will become a standard assistant in every beauty setting.
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Source: EVELAB INSIGHT, L’Oréal GROUPE1, L’Oréal GROUPE2,L’Oréal Paris, Medium, The Business Research Company
