L’Oréal and Modiface launch digital diagnostic tool for skin ageing

21-Feb-2019 - Last updated on 21-Feb-2019 at 09:01 GMT

Based on scientific research into skin profiles as the skin ages, beauty leader L’Oréal and Modiface, a digital platform company, have launched a new diagnostic technology.

Modiface’s tech is based on augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI), and the new diagnostic is a technology based on the AI-powered algorithm developed by the company, and expanded by L’Oréal’s skin aging expertise and photo database.

L’Oréal plans to apply the new diagnostic technology to various applications, with the first application already on the market: Vichy’s SkinConsultAI, launched in January 2019 in Canada and will be rolled out on the brand’s websites worldwide later this year.

Myriam Bekkar-Schneider, Vichy General Manager, said: “As #1 anti-aging brand in European pharmacies, we are proud to present SkinConsultAI, a true scientific milestone developed with dermatologists.

“For the first time, this technology allows all women to obtain a personal diagnostic to better understand their skin aging and to find a skincare routine tailor-made for them.”

How does it work?

The SkinConsultAI will provide women a tailor-made diagnostic in 3 easy steps:

Women are invited to take or upload a selfie on the brand’s website.
The technology detects seven aging signs: under-eye wrinkles, lack of firmness, fine lines, lack of radiance, dark spots, deep wrinkles and pores. The aging signs are analyzed and the women discover their personalized skin aging matrix, their skin strengths and priorities to act on.
Each woman receives a tailored made product routine to address her specific skin priorities

How was it developed?

Using deep learning, L’Oréal says the algorithm has been trained on 6000 clinical images from L’Oréal’s R&I evaluation and knowledge studies, which made up the company’s Skin Aging Atlases, and then a new model was created on over 4500 smartphone selfies for three groups of women (Asian, Caucasian and Afro-American) in four different lighting conditions.

The results, which were developed with dermatologists, achieved a high level of skin assessment precision, the beauty giant suggests, with accurate results were obtained with different facial expressions and photo taking conditions (light, phone position) similar to those used by consumers.

“With the acquisition of ModiFace, we have started a second phase of L’Oréal’s digital transformation, focused on reinventing the beauty experience through technologies such as voice, AR and AI,” explains Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer of L’Oréal.

“We believe that services will be the new gateways for discovering our brands and products. After virtual makeup try on, virtual hair color try on, online beauty consultations powered by AR, L’Oréal and ModiFace are proud to unveil the first skin care diagnostic authentically powered by AI and science.”