On a dreary November day, I drove from Boston to a large corporate project in Beverly, Massachusetts. I walked down a long, narrow hallway and entered a clinical-looking, medium-sized white room filled with robotic kiosks. I was visiting there SmartSKN Labsand these robots would make me a hyper-personalized, fully AI-created skincare line called K-AI.
I am always looking for the best and most effective products. I want powerful ingredients and effective delivery systems. I, and everyone else, want the science of the oversaturated amount of innovation-based skincare all in one $182 billion global market. The demand is overwhelming. Unsurprisingly, this is where AI comes into play.
The role of AI in personalized beauty is not new. Skincare brands like Proven and haircare brands like Prose are already using AI algorithms to help consumers optimize their routines. SmartSKN is doing something I’ve never seen before – using AI for self-production, on-demand production – and if it gains traction, it could revolutionize the beauty industry while improving the health of our skin and reducing our carbon footprint.
At the lab in Beverly, Val Neicu, co-founder of SmartSKN Labs, shared big dreams for the future of robots. First I wanted to see what they could do.
How it works
Everything starts with that Muilli AI Dermascope. This smart device examines the skin at a microscopic level at 60x magnification and captures high-resolution images of its surface for later analysis using artificial intelligence. Honestly, no one should suffer the ego death of seeing their flaws so magnified, but unfortunately, beauty is pain. Dermoscopic photography is accompanied by a so-called bioimpedance measurement, which measures the moisture and oil content of the skin and plays a crucial role in the overall analysis.
The Dermascope at SmartSKN Labs, which will develop my skincare products using AI.
I then filled out a short questionnaire in the SmartSKN app about my skin type, concerns and lifestyle. This helped the Smart SKN AI better understand my habits so that it could effectively create my personalized skin care line. It’s also far-reaching; This system has been trained on over 150,000 different skin profiles worldwide – all skin types, tones and genders – and is growing daily.
Thanks to the triad of dermoscopic photography, bioimpedance measurement and skin health questionnaire, I finally had the results of my skin analysis. Sensitivity, pigmentation, wrinkles, redness, pore size, oil content and dryness were measured.
The line consists of an essence/serum, an ampoule and a lotion. As I finished each product at the robot kiosk, I had the choice to add additional ingredients that could enhance the effect, such as brightening or firming. Then the robot, which looks like a bionic arm, got to work.
It selected the bottle, mixed and poured my unique formula into the bottle, and then screwed the cap on. The whole thing takes about five minutes. The robot then dropped my unique product into a container for me to pick up as if I had just won a toy from a claw machine. The robot also printed my labels, which included a QR code with my unique profile as well as instructions for the inside of the packaging.
Skin assessment results in the SmartSKN app.
Where the robots come from and where they are going
The AI robots, which SmartSKN has exclusive rights to, are made in Korea and use potent ingredients popular with Korean skincare brands in each personalized formula. For those who don’t know, the K-beauty industry was estimated at 91.9 billion in 2022with an expected compound annual growth rate of 9.3% between 2023 and 2030. Korean skincare’s reputation for using effective and high-quality ingredients is legendary. You can explore SmartSKN’s Rolodex of ingredients Here.
The SmartSKN team pays a lot of attention to its formulas, Neicu is aware of its position in the industry. “We’re not a skincare company, we’re a technology company,” she said. The robots can also make other products. Even if you haven’t dipped your toe into hair care yet, it’s not off the table just yet. Neicu explained to me that SmartSKN’s current offering is to “show people what we can do.” In the next phase, they want to license the technology so that companies can use the Muilli analysis function and the AI component for their own ingredients.
“Just as we developed a catalog of 150 ingredients that sit in this machine to create our skincare lines, (other brands) could use their own proprietary ingredients,” she said. “They could take their line to the next level if they had their own adaptive foundations and were able to develop formulations based on specific skin types.”
Neicu believes that if skin care brands could more customize each formula, they would see fewer drop-offs and increase customer loyalty. “A product may be great, but it’s not great for me. The active ingredients might work, but the base might be too oily or too drying. The base is 90% of the product experience.” She spoke passionately, and as I listened, I couldn’t help but see potential not only for smarter skincare, but also for solutions for a more sustainable future.
“We don’t need more products. We need better products”
Don’t get me wrong: I Love Buy skin care. I collect serums like kids collect Funko Pop toys. But I also realize that the excessive collection of products – the culture of the product junkie, so to speak – is not good for our skin or the planet.
Think about the last time you walked into a beauty salon surrounded by walls full of products. What happens to the product that is not purchased? Next, consider what a brand needs to do to keep up with the market: Make more products, not necessarily because there’s a gap in the market, but to survive. Novelty is a damn good drug.
Neicu sees a more sustainable future. “Imagine walking into a (cosmetics retailer) and there are no shelves left. Every company has a robot. There is no waste, they are streamlining their inventory, there is better management of the manufacturing process and they would be able to serve people better.” “
This also made me think about my own time and money. With every new product I have to wait and see. Will this work for me? Sometimes I break out, sometimes I don’t. If it doesn’t work, have I wasted my money (again)? What do I do if I can’t return it? When I say the quiet part out loud, it almost sounds silly to me that we are easy in 2024 provided A product might be suitable for our incredibly unique skin type. We can customize our coffee and our cars, but when it comes to the health of our skin, we just…remain hidden.
Products are formulated based on your skin assessment to reduce waste.
“We spend money on a product because, what? “The bottles look nice?” said Neicu. “Because an influencer told me to buy it? Because this company launched a new product? It has to be better.”
It also raises the possibility of an epidemic of sensitive skin. “Of course we know that there are many more products on the market than there were 20 years ago. What is directly proportional to the increase in products is people’s skin health. Seventy percent of Americans say they have skin sensitivity.” Neicu believes she gave herself acne and sensitivity issues because she used too many different products over the years.
“People are looking for products, especially with the craze of social media influencers. There is a glaring lack of education, especially for the younger generation. Plus, it seems like every celebrity has a skincare line. We don’t need more products. We need better products.”
SmartSKN wants to make skin care easier for everyone. Personally, I want a routine that lasts at least 5-10 minutes. (That’s “me time,” okay?) Smart SKN optimizes the skincare experience for those who don’t want a 6-12-step nighttime routine. Neicu said their consumer runs the gamut, but emphasized that men in particular are drawn to both the innovation of the AI-created regimen and its simplicity.
A guided user interface allows you to determine product weight and other characteristics.
Visit the lab or try it at home
SmartSKN is fairly new, which means they are still thinking about how to make their technology accessible to people. Currently, the only way to experience the robots in person is to drive to Beverly. The company is working on setting up pop-ups in major cities. “People need to see how this is done,” Neicu said.
You can also purchase the Muilli AI Dermascope and download the SmartSKN app. It’s not cheap, but one benefit of owning a Muilli is that it tracks changes in your skin over time, allowing for things like seasonal changes and lifestyle changes. With each scan, your personalized skin care line adapts to your current skin condition.
Robots know best
Since using my personalized skincare, what I’ve noticed most is that my skin feels perfectly balanced, whereas before it felt a little oily on some days and dry on others. It’s worth noting that I use gentle, moisturizing cleansers; Exfoliate regularly using chemical and physical peels. I use vitamin C daily and often finish my evening routine with a light oil to lock in moisture. I did all of this before my trip to the SmartSKN labs.
Today my skin looks and feels healthy, clear, and hydrated, and I think I have some robots to thank for that.
Opinions expressed by CNET Voices contributors are their own.
