The beauty brand L’Oréal recently announced its expansion into the Web3 world at Viva tech 2022 held in Clichy, France. With this venture, the company will onboard technologies, namely blockchain, NFTs, and metaverse, into its beauty ecosystem. With Web3’s conceptual decentralized approach, the company hopes to shape the future of retail.
This is the sixth tech event held by a Paris-based startup called Viva Technology (Viva Teach), and L’Oréal Groupe has been a regular. The CEO of the company Nicolas Hieronimus said, “We have always taken bold steps to pioneer beauty tech innovations, and it’s our mission to explore emerging technologies and channels to engage a new generation of beauty consumers.”
Blockchain beauty
The company’s venture into blockchain technology will let its customers own digital assets. We know that blockchain is a peer-to-peer transaction technology. And NFTs are non-fungible tokens that can be bought or sold with a digital wallet over cryptocurrency. With the company’s Yves Saint Laurent Beauté (YSL Beauty) wallet, customers can buy NFTs that will be their irreplaceable, digitally owned asset.
The NFTs will then unlock many options for the consumers to enter into metaverse spaces to explore their products immersively. L’Oréal believes that the future of beauty will be influenced by the digital aspect of the world. “The future of beauty is physical, digital, and virtual. Therefore, while keeping our feet firmly grounded in Web2 acceleration, we are exploring Web3 with a novel on-chain beauty approach,” said Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at L’Oréal.
The company’s luxury fragrance brand, Mugler, released its first NFT of one of its fragrances called ‘Angel.’ This NFT will feature “a crypto-art collection of 3D angels designed by a digital artist.”
L’Oréal beauty tech
The company hopes to use the Web3 platform to help its customers have an immersive experience with their products. The company also plans to expand its connections with communities with the help of metaverse and blockchain technologies. The following is a list of devices that the company added to its beauty ecosystem.
Water-saver salon tech
The partnership of the company with a startup called Gjosa brings to the table a “water saver” device. The device will optimize the volume of the water and the hair product used while washing the customer’s hair.
Scent station
The YSL Beauty ‘Scent-Sation’ headsets are coupled with sensors and an EEG tracker to note the consumers’ reactions to different fragrances. Based on the feeling, the scent station will recommend the most suitable scent for the customer.
Skin analysis
The Lancôme skin screen device analyzes the underlying skin issues using AI and UV and white lights. The results of the analysis will be shown on the screen with marked areas on a person’s face. Then the beauty advisor at the salon will recommend a treatment or a routine based on the damage.
Meet Simian, he sells lipstick for a living and can’t function without autocorrect on his phone. As Simian says " if beauty is your passion, let it show and live unapologetically". #allloveisworthit #Pride2022 pic.twitter.com/unu3Idl3Cl
— L'Oréal Paris USA (@LOrealParisUSA) June 24, 2022
Innovation in lipsticks
Personally, I could not have ever imagined an electronic innovation in lipsticks. The company’s YSL Beauty Rouge Sur Mesure is a travel-friendly AI-enabled device. Instead of lipsticks, it comes with rouge-colored cartridges. As soon as the device is hooked to the cartridges, it will release three shades of red, and those can be mixed to get beautifully red-stained lips. You can also choose a red color from your surroundings and feed it to the device.
Inclusivity for professionals
The company’s NYX Cosmetics is a makeup brand and has something in store for beauty professionals across all genders. The makeup brand celebrated Pride Month by creating looks and styles for the LGBTQ community for different occasions. Their new Pride collection celebrates diversity. In their inclusivity plans, the company will empower all its professionals and allies to become “the next generation of 3D beauty creators” through Web3.
Photo credit: All images shown are owned by L’Oréal.
