In recent years, there have been more and more cases of beauty brands being empowered by technology, and technology for skin texture and testing has emerged. Unilever-owned Vaseline launched a database of skin conditions for caring for, treating and monitoring skin at home.
Unilever-owned Vaseline has teamed up with HUED and VisualDx to launch See My Skin, a database of skin conditions shown on the skin of color with a view to improving healthcare outcomes for people of color.
The platform offers educational resources guiding consumers through caring for, treating and monitoring skin at home, and invites the community to contribute their own images in order to improve representation of skin of color.
The database allows users to search for skin conditions and facilitates connections with board-certified and culturally competent dermatologists. Users are also encouraged to submit their own images to expand the representation of skin of color. All content on the platform is independently evaluated for accuracy and relevance by Vaseline’s Dermatology Review Board.
The launch of the See My Skin database marks the latest initiative undertaken by Unilever to build a more equitable and inclusive society.
See My Skin received a warm reception online following its debut earlier this week. Helena Öhman, VP of creative technology and innovation strategy at Edelman, commended her team on LinkedIn for their efforts around the launch of See My Skin, adding “the work moves mountains.”
In recent years, there have been more and more cases of beauty brands being empowered by technology, and technology for skin texture and testing has emerged.
In March 2022, Shiseido launched a DNA skin testing program “Beauty DNA Program”. It is said that Shiseido has successfully developed a new DNA test that can evaluate the different innate skin characteristics of each person with high precision by combining AI technology with big data of 1,472 Japanese women and clarifying the correlation between DNA characteristics and skin condition, and building an algorithm based on the results obtained.
This method combines the direct influence of skin elements and indirect influences such as blood vessels, hormones, and vitamin metabolism, and uses a large amount of actual skin measurement data to create an algorithm that can test a client’s skin condition with high accuracy.
Through the “Beauty DNA Program”, Shiseido can provide the best skin care method based on the test results and offer customers a “customized beauty experience” anytime, anywhere, which is also Shiseido’s way to respond to the changing needs of customers after the new crown epidemic. This is Shiseido’s way of responding to the changing needs of its customers in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Once the system is officially launched, Shiseido will send seasonal beauty advice via email based on the DNA test results.
At the 2021 China International Import Expo held in Shanghai, China, a large number of beauty and personal care brands are offering devices such as virtual makeup trials and skin texture tests for visitors to experience, such as Estee Lauder’s multiple handheld devices that test skin color, moisturizing, and barrier function. Unilever’s oral brightening brand Signal’s Shark that applies smart tooth color recognition technology to provide professional care advice. And Kose’s mask customization service that scans the face to create 3D data and instantly print mask customization services, and a live experience of a personalized nail printer in collaboration with Casio.
International Skin Care Inc., Beiersdorf also debuted its patented technology, Skinly, a home-use skin diagnostic device, where the Beiersdorf R&D team made it possible for “consumers to test their skin texture at home in real time”. The Skinly is the size of a credit card, but functions almost like a large testing device.
According to the report, consumers only need a high-precision instrument at home to conduct skin quality testing, while the instrument will also record sleep, water consumption, emotions and other factors on the impact on the skin. In addition to diagnosing skin quality, the instrument is also able to monitor the pollution condition of the surrounding environment in real time, combined with the consumer’s own personal eating habits, and in the case of female consumers, can also be combined with the physiological cycle for personalized testing of the skin.
It is worth mentioning that Shohei Tamura, General Manager of Shiseido China R&D Center, unveiled two cutting-edge technologies that debuted outside of Japan, “Daily Disposable Skin” and “Skin Elasticity Visualization”. It is said that Shiseido’s “Daily Disposable Skin” technology combines Olivo Laboratories’ “Second Skin” technology with Shiseido’s original “3D Fix Technology”.
Olivo Laboratories, a U.S.-based company acquired by Shiseido in 2018, owns the patent and business related to the artificial skin formation technology “Second Skin” uses an invisible elastomeric polymer as a raw material that can be used as a skin coating to directly replace the original aging skin, creating a breathable, flexible, invisible artificial skin. This layer of skin can hide sun damage, hide wrinkles, uneven skin tone and other skin problems, giving consumers a smoother and younger looking skin.
