A.S. Watson launches AI powered skincare solution with L’Oréal’s ModiFace

Health and beauty retailer, A.S. Watson, has taken the wraps off Skinfie Lab, a tool that creates personalised skincare product recommendations based on customers’ selfies.

This is making its debut at Watsons Hong Kong and will be rolled out to Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia by early 2023.

It builds on the launch of an AI powered skincare advisor at Superdrug in the UK last year.

Freda Ng, Chief Digital Officer (Asia) at A.S. Watson Group, says: “We believe that Skinfie Lab will change the way customers shop skincare - with only a selfie.”

“We’ve been using cutting-edge technology to innovate and develop new solutions that help deliver seamless O+O (offline plus online) shopping experiences to our customers.”

“We’re thrilled to launch Skinfie Lab in Asia, a pioneering tool that makes it simple for customers to find just what their skin needs.”

Skinfie Lab has been jointly developed by A.S. Watson and ModiFace, L’Oréal’s AI and AR company. It was created with dermatologists and based on 15 years of research.

It has been built and validated using over 16,000 selfie images and is able to detect a range of facial attributes from a customer’s selfie, including acne, fine lines, pigmentation, enlarged pores, wrinkles, radiance, skin firmness and overall skin condition.

Customers can take a selfie and answer a few questions on their mobile phone about themselves.

Skinfie Lab then generates a personalised, in-depth skin analysis, as well as a bespoke list of product recommendations from all products available in Watsons eStore. The routine it covers spans cleansers, face masks, toner, serum, eye cream, moisturiser and sunscreen.

Ng says: “Many customers want to better understand their skin and choose the best products to include in their skincare routine, but often they don’t know how.”

“Now, all it takes is a selfie. Skinfie Lab can help beauty beginners who are looking for advice in developing their own skincare regimen, as well as beauty enthusiasts who are looking for highly personalised recommendations that draw on the latest trends and products.”