Technology touches every area of life, and its influence on the beauty and wellness sector has been the catalyst for continuous transformation.
Game-changing technologies have enhanced brand connectivity and personalization to capture and keep consumers' attention. Technology has empowered professionals with tools that enable them to deliver better service while streamlining business functions and increasing profitability.
The BeautyMatter NEXT Award for Best Use of Technology (Brands) recognizes the use of technology (app, platform, SaaS) by a brand or retailer to solve a pain point, create an experience, or provide transparency.
The criteria applied by our judges while evaluating submissions included:
The judges:
AIREM Aesthetic Spa, AI Skin Health Analysis
Founded by NY facial plastic surgeon Dr. Eunice Park, AIREM offers medical-grade skincare, aesthetic treatments, and plastic surgery in a luxury, state-of-the-art facility that balances Eastern and Western beauty principles.
AI technology is becoming increasingly important in wellness and aesthetic medicine. It helps clinicians develop more personalized treatment plans, deliver treatments with greater precision and accuracy, and monitor patient progress. As a key opinion leader for Perfect Corp., a leading SaaS beauty and fashion tech business solutions provider, Dr. Park has been working with the company to beta test and enhance AI technology to serve medical aesthetic providers better. Visualization tools accessible through mobile applications and websites use AI technology to evaluate common skin concerns, provide treatment recommendations, and simulate treatment results.
AIREM gained first access to the latest version that provides skin analysis health scores while also recommending skincare and treatments that the provider programs. It looks at 14 different parameters to measure skin health in under two seconds. A skin health and age score are generated to give an overall sense of skin quality. Additional skin conditions that are scored include wrinkles, spots, moisture, oiliness, dryness, texture, redness, acne, and pores. The application shows the location of each of these parameters on skin in high definition.
This functionality helps create customized, comprehensive aesthetic plans aligned with the practice and saves a lot of paperwork and back and forth. Since implementing the skin analysis software, AIREM has seen a 31% uptick in repeat visits and a 47% surge in average expenditure per visit.
Beautyque NYC, Beautyque Verse
Founded by Sonia Khemiri, Beautyque NYC is a beauty retailer focused on making the online shopping experience as engaging and connected as possible. Launched in 2020 as the world’s first virtual reality beauty store, it offers a curated selection of high-quality beauty and wellness products, emphasizing niche and emerging brands with unique, mission-driven offerings. The goal is to bridge the gap between the tactile, personalized experience of in-store shopping and the convenience of online retail, enhancing the online shopping experience to be even more personalized than physical store visits.
Central to this mission is the flagship platform, Beautyque Verse, currently in beta testing. A VR platform that integrates AR and AI creates an immersive, interactive shopping environment that is accessible on iOS, Android, and Oculus devices. The experience offers a social, immersive shopping environment that enables users to shop with friends and family, interact with beauty expert avatars, and see live shoppers in the VR store, all while being represented by avatars.
Using AI and AR, the retailer aims to personalize the shopping experience to a high level of customer service and accessibility. AR is enhanced by the guidance of live beauty experts, while VR brings a sense of presence and connection. This setup provides near-tactile interactions with products, social shopping features, and live consultations replicating the customer service in physical retail settings.
Innersense Organic Beauty, Color Purity App
Innersense Organic Beauty is a clean, sustainable haircare brand dedicated to creating the safest and most effective products for all hair types and textures. Developed by stylists Greg and Joanne Starkman, the brand’s formulations feature sustainably sourced ingredients processed without animal testing. As a Certified B Corp, Innersense Organic Beauty aims to be a force for good by meeting the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility.
Born from five years of development and nurtured in salon environments, Color Purity is meticulously crafted to prioritize performance without compromising health and well-being. The result is a revolutionary hair color system that delivers brilliant nontoxic color with outstanding performance on all hair types and textures.
To support the launch, the brand created the Innersense Color Purity app, which is a comprehensive tool designed for professional colorists, offering a seamless experience for using the Innersense Color Purity hair color line. Available on both Android and Apple platforms, the app is an all-in-one solution for professionals, designed to make the colorist’s job easier and more efficient, while providing clients with exceptional results.
Since its launch, the Color Purity app has significantly enhanced efficiency and client management in the industry. Customizable timers and accessible educational resources have improved workflow and skill development. Secure client data management, including image tagging and color formula management, enables personalized service and consistent results. The formulation guide offers precise, tailored color formulations based on client attributes, ensuring high-quality outcomes. Additionally, the searchable color library with tagged client images aids decision making, and the live chat feature provides immediate support and direct communication.
This technology has promoted industry standardization and best practices, encouraged the adoption of innovative methods and tools, and improved personalized services, leading to higher client satisfaction and business growth.
