2021.03.23
Innovative Technology Selected by CES - Lip Picker by Color Tailor
What cosmetics will future customers use? What cosmetics do they want? In 2016, Amorepacific R&D Center established a team to predict what makeup products customers want in the future and to conduct R&D on new types of cosmetics by applying technologies of different areas. Developing the technology for a solution to create tailored lip makeup began from one of the ideas to the question, ‘what is the new customized cosmetics that our customers need the most in the future?’ Based on existing survey data that showed women in their 20s and 30s owning, on average, more than 7 lip makeup products, we discovered a purchasing pattern of customers buying various lip makeup items depending on skin characteristics, preferred color, and for different situations. Some customers wanted to find out what colors match their skin tone.
In the beauty market around that time, items such as smartphone apps that created realistic makeup looks with virtual simulation based on AR technology or devices that made customized products on the spot in cartridge types reflecting personal preference, much like the coffee brand Nespresso, caught the eye of many.
In the beauty market around that time, items such as smartphone apps that created realistic makeup looks with virtual simulation based on AR technology or devices that made customized products on the spot in cartridge types reflecting personal preference, much like the coffee brand Nespresso, caught the eye of many.
Based on this understanding of customers and technology trends, Amorepacific began to invest R&D in making an on-the-spot manufacturing device for lip color makeup that reflects the various customer needs (color, feel, texture, nutrients, among others), while helping them capture color trend. The company developed a solution with the following two approaches to provide the most optimized tailored lip makeup product to customers.
First, Amorepacific developed a color database and applied it to an app that recommends the perfect color.
To provide the lip makeup color customers want, Amorepacific established a database of all the lip makeup products in the market. There were minor color differences among the many lip makeup products, but there was no way of defining the colors accurately. So, we selected the products and colors customers preferred and measured them all.
After measuring thousands of products and their colors under certain conditions using a colorimetric device and creating the colors digitally, Amorepacific established ‘Color Tailor’, a platform for lip makeup. The platform provided information on all the lip makeup colors and products in the market to customers via a smartphone app. By leveraging the platform, we secured meta data on lip makeup products and colors through the millions of customers visiting the platform and leaving reviews. And based on this data, we were able to select the main colors preferred by customers.
Color Tailor is also equipped with a function that recommends the best lip color for individual customers by gathering and analyzing survey information and data on customers’ skin tone through smartphone. By levering a deep learning algorithm, ‘Convolutional Neural Network’, the platform learns big data on facial images of women and can recognize skin tone from pictures. And then, by analyzing customer’s preferred color and survey information related to lifestyle, it suggests and recommends a personal color unique to the individual customer. Amorepacific R&D Center also developed a customized service that provides a tailored, customized lip makeup product by searching customized lip makeup trend online based on the Color Tailor app.
Second, we developed a precision pigment discharging device.
Developing a device that discharges pigments precisely is important in checking how accurately we are making the colors we want by using the pigments we use in producing makeup products and to see how many different colors we can make.
Generally, in mixing lip makeup colors, more than 10 pigments of different viscosity must be combined in the amount of 0.1%, respectively, of the entire mixture to complete the prescription. It is particularly important to prevent ingredient flow interruption, nozzle ball up, and maintain discharge rate when the device discharges high-viscosity liquid ingredient. To this end, we combined air-powered fluid dispenser and precision fluid control system used for precision processing in semiconductor factories and developed a device that discharges 15 pigments at a unit of 0.01g.
By using this device, we continued to study over a long period of time to ensure the production of colors our customers want in different base formulations when mixing different pigments. And the technology was applied to Lip Picker by Color Tailor, a tailored lip makeup manufacturing solution that provides optimal pigments and prescriptions for customers.
In the end of August 2020, the on-the-spot tailored lip tint manufacturing service, ‘Lip Picker by Color Tailor’, was launched at Amore Seongsu. Since the launch, more than a hundred customers visited the store every month. Most customers showed positive response in customer survey saying that they were amazed at the tailored lip makeup service and that they were happy to find the perfect color for their skin tone. Customer feedback showed high satisfaction around the fun factor in creating a one-of-a-kind product and in receiving professional tailored color recommendation. A customer satisfaction survey of 100 customers scored 4.73 points out of 5, demonstrating that the satisfaction level is overall high.
Lip Picker by Color Tailor was presented at CES 2021, the largest consumer electronics trade show in the US, and was selected as Innovation Award Honoree. Amorepacific received the honor of the recognition for its achievement in developing an innovative product combining tailored cosmetics and smart beauty technology for future customers.
Lip Picker by Color Tailor was presented at CES 2021, the largest consumer electronics trade show in the US, and was selected as Innovation Award Honoree. Amorepacific received the honor of the recognition for its achievement in developing an innovative product combining tailored cosmetics and smart beauty technology for future customers.
Lip Picker by Color Tailor currently provides lip makeup color recommendation logic at offline retail stores. (Of course, stores offer the service flexibly depending on COVID-19 circumstances.) To continue to expand the reach of the service to more customers, there is a need to evolve to a technology that can recommend more advanced tailored colors based on customer data. And to respond to the ‘untact’ and wellness needs due to COVID-19, we need an approach that can provide the tailored product online. Amorepacific continues to develop various base technologies with the goal of providing tailored lip makeup products that meet various customer needs accurately by gathering data from customers and online.
※ This column is written by a researcher at Amorepacific and is therefore, prohibited from being copied, distributed, or in any way changed without prior approval.
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