L’Oréal presents system for large-scale personalisation of cosmetics products

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
May 13, 2019

Augmented reality, AI and personalisation will be the stars of the Viva Technology show, scheduled on May 16-18 at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris. Among the 1,500 firms taking part in this event dedicated to high-tech innovation, international cosmetics giant L’Oréal will present its vision of the future of beauty.

The French group will showcase its Virtual Hair Advisor, which enables users to test various hair colour shades virtually, and Skin Consult by Vichy, an app which detects the signs of skin ageing and is able to recommend a bespoke skincare routine. But the most stunning innovation by L’Oréal is surely My Little Factory, a system that makes it possible to respond to the growing demand for personalised cosmetics products by consumers worldwide.

My Little Factory is an entirely automated production line for skin foundations which, according to L’Oréal, “is capable of producing on demand one hundred units [of a specific product] per hour.” This high-tech innovation will be first tested in the USA, to be deployed worldwide at a later stage.

The concept of My Little Factory was initiated through skincare brand Lancôme, which belongs to the L’Oréal group's luxury division. Since 2017, Lancôme has sold a foundation called Le Teint Particulier at about 40 leading cosmetics retailers, including Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. How does it work? After the customer’s skin is scanned digitally, the resulting data is processed using an algorithm, which identifies the ideal foundation formula for the skin in question. A tailor-made product is then prepared at the store in approximately 20 minutes, priced at about €89.

Following in the wake of Le Teint Particulier, Lancôme will present at Viva Technology a new concept called Shade Finder, an AI-based technology which recommends to in-store customers the most appropriate Lancôme foundation shade. The Shade Finder service is being deployed worldwide, and will be available at over 1,000 cosmetics stores by the end of 2019.