A person uses Nimble Beauty’s Nimble Device to paint their nail during Pepcom's Digital Experience at the The Mirage resort during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 8, 2024. — AFP
LAS VEGAS: Salon-worthy manicures at home and expert skin care advice from artificial intelligence: the beauty industry is counting on tech to get consumers pampered like the rich and famous.
The Nimble manicure salon calls itself the world’s first device to combine AI and complex robotics to paint nails flawlessly – without the hassle of making an appointment.
Resembling a heavyset printer, Nimble can varnish all ten fingernails and dry them in just twenty-five minutes.
The device, an eight-kilo white box with a special door for the hand, is on display this week at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the tech industry's annual hub.
According to its creators, the device uses high-resolution micro-cameras and 3D imaging to determine nail shape, size and curvature.
Then a small robotic arm, guided by AI algorithms, applies the requisite three coats, with a blow dry after each applied layer.
Nail polish used in Nimble Beauty’s Nimble Device is seen during Pepcom's Digital Experience at the The Mirage resort during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP
When it goes on sale in March, more than thirty colours will be available in capsules costing US$10 (RM46) each. The unit costs US$599 (RM2,785).
In a study published in May, consulting firm McKinsey put the global beauty industry – which includes skin- and hair care, perfume and make-up – at US$430bil (RM1.99 trillion) in 2022 and forecast it to reach US$580bil (RM2.69 trillion) by 2027.
The industry’s Internet sales almost quadrupled between 2015 and 2022.
AI, a term often deployed as the latest catchphrase for anything tech, has also infiltrated beauty products such as make-up and skincare, including from industry giants.
The 3D shu:brow, from She uemura, part of L’Oreal, which enables users to craft custom 3D brows at home in mere seconds, on display at L'Oreal on January 7, 2024 at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP
The free Beauty Genius app, presented by L’Oreal, is intended to be an AI-supported “virtual personal advisor”.
It recommends skincare and make-up products according to skin type, gives tips on techniques and answers questions about problems such as acne and hair loss.
Users can also try out the products virtually, guiding customers who are overwhelmed by a physical shop’s rows of foundations with similar shades and varied textures, or creams with seemingly endless specificities.
This is also the aim of the program Beautiful AI, created by Perfect Corp, which combines generative AI and virtual reality to perform live skin analyses, 3D hairstyle or jewellery trials and make recommendations.
The HAPTA makeup applicator from Lancome, part of the L'Oreal Luxury Products division, demonstrates its precise computerised makeup applicator, powered by AI learning sensors for people with limited mobility to apply lipstick easily and evenly on display at L'Oreal on Jan 7, 2024 at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP
Korea’s Prinker, a specialist in ephemeral, customisable tattoos for skin and hair, is unveiling a similar product that will apply make-up this year.
The device will also put AI to work with a biometric 3D scanner to map facial features and then recommend the right contours, “printing” the corresponding powders to the face.
Infrared hair blower
Companies are also bringing beauty personalisation tech to hair care.
This week, L'Oréal presents the world premiere of a connected hairdryer that can be customised via an app, taking hair type into account and automatically adapting power and heat distribution.
The L'Oreal AirLight Pro hairdryer, powered by patented infrared light technology, is displayed beside attchments for the hairdryer and a cellphone displaying the app at L'Oreal on January 7, 2024 at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Airlight Pro uses infrared light to dry hair, increasing drying efficiency 30%, preserving the hair's moisture, and enables energy savings of 31% compared with a conventional appliance, Adrien Chrétien, head of augmented beauty development at L'Oréal, explained to AFP. It is due to go on sale in April. — AFP
The Airlight Pro uses infrared light to dry the hair, allowing it to preserve the hair’s moisture, Adrien Chretien, head of augmented beauty development at L’Oreal, told AFP.
Due to go on sale in April, it also offers energy savings of 31% compared with a conventional appliance, he added.
A finger points out where the cartridge for hair dye goes on L'Oreal's Colorsonic, an at-home reusable hair colour device that uses a mess-free process to mix hair colour and apply it evenly, on display at L'Oreal on January 7, 2024 at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AFP
Another product scheduled for launch later this year is Colorsonic, a brush-like hair colouring device that uses cartridges and that L’Oreal says has been in development for nine years. – AFP
