As a busy female owner of a company, and growing older by the minute, I am often overwhelmed by the choice of skincare products and ingredients that are available in shops, online and through influencers. It seems the days of popping into the nearest pharmacy to buy a generic moisturiser are numbered because the market is responding to people’s need to know more about what they are putting on their skin.
Hyper-personalisation for Skincare
Along with the deluge of new products advertised on Instagram and Tik Tok, there are new companies responding to the need for a hyperpersonalised service, such as Proven and Skin & Me who create tailored products for each person based on age, skin type and environment. You will receive a beautifully packaged product to your door by subscription.
When looking beneath the surface, there’s a deeper personal element to each person’s skincare routine. Stress for example may mean you suffer from skin outbreaks or acne, lack of hydration may leave your skin dry.
Living in a city means your skin needs protection from polluted airbourne particles and spending more time in the sun due to your work calls for a higher daily dose of SPF. All of these factors along with skin type and age will have an affect on which skincare products you should choose.
Digitial Interaction
“80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences.” Epsilon research.
In addition, following beauty influencers and using digital analysis tools to interact help us decide which products would be best for our skin.
Buyers are more wary of toxic ingredients and look more towards brands who sell clean, sustainable products. There are virtual make up ‘try ons’ and magic mirrors to try before we buy. As a result brands are seeing huge increases in customer loyalty, in some cases doubling in online conversion rates and also welcoming triple-digit growth in turnover. But the market is still flooded with new products, brands, confusion, trial and error and waste.
In April, we received Innovate UK funding to create a new brand for interactive skin analysis called Future Face.
With our new services and products, we’d like to start a conversation to help demystify what your skin needs. In other words, how can we nail the process of buying the right products for our age, skin type, lifestyle and environment at different times in our lives? How do we minimise the trial and error of buying products that simply don’t work for us at times when we may be suffering from stress or the menopause for example? Would products that worked your 30’s work for you in your 50's? If a stressful lifestyle leads you to have dull dry skin, what ingredients will help with that? We are all different, in genetic makeup and chronological age, but what about our biological age? We want to partner with mroe brands to solve this problem.
Lifestyle and Skin Microbiome
The skin microbiome refers to the community of microorganisms that live on the surface of your skin. Your lifestyle can influence this microbiome in several ways. Factors such as diet, hygiene practices, stress levels, and exposure to environmental elements (like pollution) can all influence the composition and balance of your skin microbiome. For example, a poor diet, excessive use of harsh cleansing products, or high-stress levels can disrupt the natural balance of your skin’s microbiome, potentially leading to issues like acne, inflammation, or sensitivity.
Where you come from
Your skin type and your environment can impact your skin quality and how you react to various products. Different ethnicities have varying levels of melanin in their skin, which affects factors such as susceptibility to sun damage, pigmentation issues, and sensitivity. Certain skincare products may be more appropriate for specific skin types and concerns that are more prevalent in certain ethnic groups. It’s important to choose products that are tailored to your skin type and where you live, whether it's in a city with pollution or up in the mountains where the air is clean.
Skin Age
As you age, your skin undergoes changes in structure, texture, and function. Younger skin typically produces more natural oils and has better elasticity, while older skin tends to be drier and less elastic. The choice of skincare products can change with age to address these evolving needs. For instance, younger individuals might focus more on oil control and preventive measures, while older individuals might prioritize hydration, collagen support, and anti-ageing ingredients. Sun protection becomes increasingly important as you age, as cumulative sun exposure can lead to wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and other signs of aging.
Future Face products and services
We’ve been working hard to create a new type of skin analysis using AI which is specifically trained using AI with unbiased image datasets with an emphasis on inclusivity and diversity, serving the diverse communites we exist in.
We are working together with skincare and beauty brands to analyse skin, environment and lifestyle to predict and recommend products will work best because your skin is always changing. We’ve created a timeline of age, younger, older, try on lifestyles and skin analysis that can reveal important insights into the needs of a global audience.
Contact us if you’re a skincare brand and would like to try the face analysis tech — we’d really welcome feedback on our beta products and services.
Future Face: Skin Analysis, Detection, Prediction, Recommendations
Future Face: Try on Virtual ‘try on’ of stress, sun damage, pollution, sleep and cosmetic ingredients
Future Face: Age view yourself older and younger combined with lifestyle factors