Picture a world where every beauty product, from serums to fragrances, is custom-made to fit your skin type, preferences and style. Say goodbye to the frustration of trial and error and half-empty bottles gathering dust on your vanity. No more worrying about bad reactions or wasting time on ineffective treatments. Welcome to the era of hyper-personalization, where technology can anticipate your needs, often before you do.
Featured Experts
- Adam Gam is the Perfect Corp.’s chief marketing officer
- Anahita Mekanik is the head of scent creation and cofounder of Scentronix
- Dr. Drew Taylor is the CEO and founder of Acorn Biolabs
- Dr. Matthew Elias is a board-certified dermatologist in Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in New York
Virtual Vanities
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) are revolutionizing personalization in makeup and skin care, with companies like Perfect Corp. leading the charge. According to Adam Gam, Perfect Corp.’s chief marketing officer, the company’s virtual try-ons provide true-to-life experiences for brands such as Estée Lauder, Clinique, MAC Cosmetics and Neutrogena. “Our technology accurately simulates makeup application on diverse skin tones and facial features,” Gam explains. “It allows consumers to make informed decisions in real time.” The virtual experiences are also highly accurate thanks to high-definition cameras on smartphones and laptops, which can detect subtle details like oil and moisture levels in our skin.
The shift to virtual try-ons has been driven by a post-pandemic change in buying habits. “The use of testers in stores has declined for hygiene reasons,” notes Gam. “Consumers no longer need to rely on arm swatches or wait for unavailable sales associates.” Highlighting innovations like Estée Lauder’s AI-powered foundation shade finder, Gam explains how precise matches save time and bypass crowded stores. The company also sees a future where virtual dermatology is the norm, using AI-powered skin-analysis software that can precisely identify concerns like wrinkles, redness, firmness, radiance and spots. Gam adds, “We collaborated with Wake Forest University’s dermatology department to validate our AI against professional observations and skin analysis imaging system machines.”
Custom Creations
If fragrance fatigue has set in from endless searches for the perfect scent, Algorithmic Perfumery offers a solution: bespoke scents inspired by your personality, not your nose. Anahita Mekanik, head of scent creation and cofounder of Scentronix, says, “We have countless ways to mix music and visuals with our apps in our smartphones, but scent remains largely unexplored.” The brand’s AI-guided platform, EveryHuman, allows users to co-create unique scents through advanced algorithms generating three personalized formulas. Users answer a questionnaire containing thought-provoking questions about self-perception and behavior. “Some are unconventional, like whether you are more ‘Kiki’ or ‘Bouba,’ which stems from a 1920s psychological test,” says Mekanik. The platform uses 48 glass dispensers with scent building blocks, or ‘chords,’ which can create more than 500 million possible combinations.
Self-Made Skin
A skin-care revolution is underway, and Acorn Biolabs is at the helm. Dr. Drew Taylor, CEO and founder, explains that they can preserve a person’s stem cells through a simple collection of hair follicles. These cells are the body’s building blocks. “Stem cells from hair follicles are ideal for creating personalized aesthetic treatments for hair and skin,” he says. Currently, Acorn Biolabs offers cryopreservation services, with custom hair and skin-care formulas made from a client’s own cells scheduled for an early 2025 debut. “By simulating conditions in a lab, we produce a patient’s own growth factors, matrix molecules and exosomes, which can be used for a truly customized treatment,” he adds. If cells communicate with each other, ideally the best ones to use are your own younger, healthier cells.
Tailored Transformations
Fort Lauderdale, FL dermatologist Dr. Matthew Elias says technology has finally caught up to the needs of diverse skin tones. “The new AVAVA Miria laser, for example, can safely deliver higher energy levels, catering to diverse skin types and effectively treating conditions, such as acne scars and wrinkles,” he explains. The AI-enhanced laser system utilizes high-definition cameras to precisely target only the areas requiring treatment at the safest energy levels for that patient.
Bespoke facial balancing is also a hyper-personalized approach transforming the treatment room experience, and it includes both fillers and facial surgery. “In the past, a woman in her mid-40s and another woman in her early 70s would get the same thing, a facelift and necklift,” says New York facial plastic surgeon Konstantin Vasyukevich, MD. “Today, we are much better at pinpointing specific areas of aging and tailoring surgeries to the patient’s individual anatomy and tissue conditions.” Procedures like endoscopic browlifts, lower eyelifts and lower facelifts are integrated into a more personalized plan. “Surgery is becoming more minimally invasive now,” he explains. “When combined with effective noninvasive treatments, we can even avoid certain surgeries, opting instead for smaller, more targeted procedures. Some are in the operating room, and some are outside of it.”
