Beauty retailer Ulta Beauty is investing in personalization. It has invested in Iterate, a digital workflow company, and Spruce, an online booking platform. It has also acquired QM Scientific and GlamST, two companies to support its augmented reality and artificial intelligence efforts. Ulta said that it may acquire more companies but doesn’t see M&A as a big part of its strategy. As well as personalization, Ulta is also keen to increase the number of digitally native brands it sells, and it aims to better segment and target consumers. Its personalization plans will be supported by the 30 million members of loyalty program, who contribute 95 percent of its sales. [Image Credit: © Ulta Beauty, Inc.]

Founder and CEO of Perfect Corp., Alice Chang, spoke at the CEW Connected Consumer Conference about ‘Beauty 3.0’, the company’s name for what it sees as the future of beauty. It will, she says, combine more personalized and proactive tech involving human touch characteristics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. The result will be an extremely accurate virtual try-on experience. Perfect Corp. and its YouCam apps are now used by some 200 beauty brands and 700 million users. The company also encourages users to try YouCam’s set of virtual apps, free of charge, to enable them to test their features.[Image Credit: © Perfect Corp]

L’Oréal has announced the launch of La Roche-Posay My Skin Track UV, a battery-free wearable device to track the skin’s exposure to UV. It’s available in the US on apple.com and in some Apple Stores. The device was unveiled earlier this year at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show and includes a companion app that also measures environmental factors such as pollution, pollen and humidity. The sensor is powered by the user’s smartphone. And clips on to clothing or other accessories. It costs $59.95.[Image Credit: © La Roche-Posay]

Shiseido brand Nars Cosmetics is trying to balance the needs of those looking for human interaction in beauty shopping and others that like the speed and convenience of direct-to-consumer e-commerce. ‘Clienteling’ is a key focus, and it wants its sales associates and makeup artists to collect consumer data when they speak to them, and encourage them to use the data to make the experience more personal for the shopper. The brand sees 2019 as a big tech year for the company, with trials of virtual try-ons and artificial intelligence applications, such as for skin tone data. [Image Credit: © NARS Cosmetics]

Beauty brands are embracing artificial intelligence in order to better appeal to consumers. Clinique is launching a free app called Clinical Reality, which recommends products on the basis of user selfies and answers to a questionnaire. The app is scheduled to be launched at the start of 2019, and will later in the year also include a virtual try-on feature. The app follows other similar platforms, such as that sold by ModiFace. L’Oréal acquired ModiFace earlier this year, Shiseido acquired US startup MatchCo last year, and Neutrogena unveiled its Skin360 skin scanning device almost a year ago. Beauty tech is also emerging in physical stores, with Sephora installing 3D augmented reality mirrors from ModiFace. The trend addresses research findings from Deloitte that by 2025 one third of women will buy personalized products[Image Credit: © kinkate from Pexels.com]

Meitu, a company offering a range of image and video apps, including for the beauty industry, has agreed a strategic partnership with Secoo, a luxury online marketplace in China. Secoo TryTry will control various aspects of the Meitu’s beauty app, including promotions, sales and customer service, as well as supply chain operations. The Meitu app uses facial recognition and machine learning, together with an artificial intelligence skin testing platform. The two partners aim to establish a platform for consumers, merchants and services. The deal is an extension of an previous arrangement between the two.[Image Credit: © Secoo]

Haut.ai, an artificial intelligence company, and Incscillio Medicine have teamed up to explore how skin ages and to develop an accurate predictor of chronological age. The PhotoAgeClock uses artificial intelligence to look at visual biomarkers of age, to predict age within an average of 2.3 years. Skin around eyes is the best biomarker for assessing age, and the data can be used for personalized medical and skin treatment to slow the aging process. The research was published in the journal Aging.[Image Credit: © Haut.AI]

Beauty tech company Foreo has grown quickly within travel retail over the last two years, reaching over 200 outlets in over 20 countries. One of its innovations is the UFO ‘smart mask’. Although Asia is currently its main geographic region, it will focus on other regions next year, especially Europe, North America and Latin America. South Korea is a very important duty free market for the Swedish brand, with distribution in all of the top Korean travel retailers. The 20th and latest Korean opening was the recent launch at Hyundai Duty Free in Seoul’s Gangnam area. [Image Credit: © FOREO]

Subscription services are continuing to grow in the beauty category, offering customers time and convenience benefits. Birchbox is the most high profile of them, claiming some 2.5 million active customers and operating in six markets, but there are now many more, including Scentbird, Ipsy and Facetory. There is still plenty of room to grow the market, with 27% of US households saying that they intend to join a subscription beauty service in the next six months, according to one survey. Millennials represent the largest group of subscribers, with over half of the beauty and grooming market. Gen X customers contribute 25%. Across all 14 subscription categories, just over half of subscribers are men. In beauty/grooming, 44% are male.[Image Credit: © Birchbox]

Procter & Gamble’s SK-II beauty brand has opened its Future X Smart pop-up store on Singapore’s Orchard Road, offering visitors skin care and beauty tech, with an Instagram experience. Personalized skin care comes via the brand’s Magic Ring Skin analysis to provide product recommendations. It’s open until the end of January.[Image Credit: © Procter & Gamble]

Entrepreneur Joe Mimran is investing in Lunata Hair, which specializes in portable wireless hair styling products. Mimran met Lunata’s founders on the “Dragons’ Den" TV show in Canada and believes the company can tap into the growth of the beauty tech market. At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, the brand will unveil a cordless curling iron/wand, which will be tested on Ulta.com. The brand’s cordless range offers full-sized, battery and rechargeable tools. The cordless hair straightening iron can be used for up to 45 minutes at the highest setting before recharging. [Image Credit: © Lunata Hair]

Coty has launched ‘Clairol Color Expert’, which it claims is the first hair color at-home Action for Google Assistant on Google Home. It can guide users throughout the hair coloring process, from identifying the best shade through applying and reapplying the color. Previous beauty tech from Coty includes a collaboration with Holition for a blended reality Magic Mirror at the Bourjois outlet in Paris. The latest innovation was built by Coty’s in-house digital agency, and Voice tech developer Voxly Digital.[Image Credit: © Coty Inc.]

Salon iQ, a salon booking system, is partnering with bgX for the London launch of the new bgX app, aimed at arranging for top salon stylists to visit customers’ homes or workplaces, in association with Uber. bgX says it’s the first beauty tech company globally to offer an 'on demand' automated platform for customers and top stylists to connect. [Image Credit: © BG Technologies DMCC]

YouCam Makeup’s parent company, Perfect Corp., will showcase its full suite of artificial intelligence and augmented reality beauty tech, or “Beauty 3.0”, at January’s Consumer Electronics Show. It will include AI-based solutions for product recommendations based on preferences; a skin shade finder for foundation; and a skin diagnostic and monitoring tool. There will also be demos of new developments in virtual makeup, ombré hair color makeovers, and beauty advisor video consultations on demand. The company will also host a beauty tech keynote and panel session, including CEO and founder Alice Chang. [Image Credit: © Perfect Corp]

Neutrogena is using the Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES) to debut the Neutrogena MaskiD™, a new personalized skincare solution using a 3D-printed sheet mask. The user takes a selfie on a smartphone with a 3D camera to generate a 3D map of the face. Personalized data in the Neutrogena Skin 360™ system assesses the skin care needs and what ingredients would be best. Finally, the ingredients are printed onto the customized mask using a proprietary 3D-printing system in the areas where they are needed most. It will be sold exclusively on Neutrogena.com in the US later this year. [Image Credit: © Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.]