Digital beauty is a very important area to focus on, as it offers some of the best routes to solving issues that have proved difficult to deal with through conventional means. What digital technology offers us is a way to really target an individual’s skin needs, by analysing skin type and offering the potential to keep track of its health over time.
Over the past decade, people have become accustomed to monitoring overall health through linked digital devices. The concept of also doing this with skin health is therefore not too great a leap. What also makes this a relatively simple step, is the fact that people now routinely carry high definition cameras with them everywhere they go.
Taking a ‘fitness tracker’ approach to skin health opens up a great deal of possibilities for beauty companies, who would then have a consumer base who are completely in touch with their skin’s individual needs, informed by evidence rather than perception. Having an array of data built up over a sustained period will inevitably result in a more accurate analysis of an individual’s skin, as well as showing how it responds to different conditions, rather than relying on the consumer to self-diagnose their particular skin type, which does not always lead to accuracy. A greater dialogue and level of connection between consumers and beauty companies would also potentially engender trust and loyalty.
The key outcome of the progression towards utilising digital technology is the increase in ‘personalisation’ for the consumer. This has been a target for quite a few years now, but to truly achieve personalisation in this industry, digital devices will be essential. It will be interesting to see how the whole beauty industry, ingredient suppliers, as well as brands, respond to new digital technology and continue to utilise it in order to create products that reflect the true nature of an individual’s skin.
Richard Scott is the editor at Personal Care Magazine. For more beauty industry news and insight go to