Consumer choice is abundant. Too abundant. Consumers look at the offerings online and in stores and are left wondering which product or service might best suit them and their busy life styles.
Add to that the increasing complexity of product formulations, combined with the trend for personalisation and it is not just consumers who are left baffled, industry professionals are also in a constant state of flux as to what the competition is up to.
In recent month the launch of a series of apps targets this problem, with technology designed to make the complex area of colour cosmetics and personalisation simpler, making beauty services and treatments more convenient and helping allergy sufferers to more easily identify potential allergens and safety risks.
This article will look at three recent app launches each targeting these areas and take a look at how they are serving to help make the beauty world less complicated and confusing.
QuelCosmetic targets allergies
A new French app for mobile devices has hit the market, aimed at consumers who want to check the ingredients in their beauty products for safety and lack of skin sensitization potential.
The free app, called QuelCosmetic, is now in its second version, which designers say is even more practical and well adapted to the needs of each consumer profile.
The app for mobile devices is aimed at consumers who want to check the ingredients in their beauty products for safety and lack of skin sensitization potential.
To date, there are 143 undesirable or allergenic substances flagged by the app in more than 120,000 products.
Uber and blowout&go partner on app
Tech giant Uber earlier this year announced a partnership with specialist beauty tech firm blowout&go, developing an app that aims to bring beauty services to the customers’ door.
The companies have launched bgX, an app that allows people to book a wide range of beauty services and treatments that can be carried out in the comfort of their homes at a time that works for them. For more details about the launch of the app, please click here.
The service will initially be rolled out in London, Paris and Dubai, and the joint venture has already secured deals with 11 salons, using premium salons, to ensure a ‘high threshold for competence, quality and professionalism’.
Luxury French company Balmain Paris Hair Couture has already come on board as a strategic and educational partner for the service.
Available for iOS and Android, there will be a rating service similar to the Uber car app so that customers can rate their stylist out of five.
Wow targets enhanced personalisation
A female-founded beauty tech startup has fast forwarded beauty apps by incorporating gaming technology into its app launch aimed at offering consumers a higher level of personalisation.
Designed with the aim of providing an enhanced consumer lifestyle experience, the technology includes a ‘Virtual MUA’ function that recognises facial features to determine colour cosmetic applications from millions of combinations/tones that can also be tailored around individual preferences.
The app has been designed to work in real time and can be used once it is successfully downloaded onto any type of smartphone to help women make the right choices rather than buying the wrong product and making a potentially expensive mistake..
The technology is based on both augmented and virtual reality to provide the sort of perspective a make-up artist might have when choosing the right type of look for their client.
