The introduction of AI into the beauty industry has modernized the capabilities of beauty brands and the experiences they can provide a consumer. AI in the beauty industry can now offer shoppers a personalized experience which aims to make shopping more targeted and easier.  

Through a skincare diagnostic selfie experience or a shade matching try-on, AI, along with AR, provides a wide range of solutions to fit in with the needs of a beauty brand and its customers. 

COVID-19 was another factor that acted as a catalyst in AI’s entry into the public beauty domain. Ongoing health and safety concerns have also led to a need for shopping solutions that don’t include physical product testing.  

Consumers prefer more personalized solutions to their new shopping experience, so brands are expanding their product lineups to include AI-powered platforms. For instance, with L’Oreal’s new system Color&Co, consumers answer a three-question survey about their hair needs and video chat with a trained hair colorist for 10 minutes. The colorist, after the survey, creates a personalised hair-dye kit that is manufactured and bottled on demand and contains everything you need for an at-home dye job. 

Look like celebrity 

The energy of AI now lets you instantly see how you’d look wearing the makeup of your favorite celebrity or influencer. The algorithm will start working its magic over the image added once the user chooses any makeup look.  

The algorithm developed by a Tel Aviv-based start-up, Mistrix, applies a hyper-realistic digital filter that’s personally tailor-made to the facial options, pores and skin tone. It then identifies precisely which beauty merchandise to use across a range of brands and lets you add any or all of them to your cart. 

There is a virtual try-on for garments and a digital try-on for makeup. Mistrix permits the space to shop by look, not by product. 

Virtual Shade Matching 

In the post-pandemic world, when people are skeptical about in-person shopping, accurate shade matching has become increasingly essential for buying beauty products online. Consumers are used to tech delivering reliable shade matching and will feel safer and more comfortable using these methods in the future. 

However, there are some drawbacks to AI technology in this space. Facial recognition technology is guilty of light-skin bias, according to a report on skin inclusivity. The algorithmic Justice League’s research on systems used by big tech companies such as IBM and Microsoft showed they correctly identified the gender of a light-skinned woman 95 per cent of the time but threw up an error message ten times more frequently when scanning the face of a black woman. Even though the road to racially inclusive AI is long, it can aid in narrowing down the products.  

Beyond shopping experience 

The reach of AI is beyond a better shopping experience. ML and AI have a future as potentially lifesaving resources. The convenience of this technology in reliably diagnosing, prescribing and tracking skin conditions could prove increasingly helpful for patients as we continue to shelter in place. 

It’s an area that beauty brands should look to invest in, in the months and years to come. As consumers grow more comfortable with at-home beauty tech, the industry will likely continue to turn its eyes to the future with more accessible, inclusive, convenient, and hygienic AI. 

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