For Melissa Snover, founder and CEO of 3D-printed supplements brand Nourished, personalization in beauty is a matter of enabling bespoke production at a sustainable scale. The entrepreneur is passionate about offering efficacious products individualized to the consumer in a world of private-label manufacturing. In a major milestone for the start-up, Nourished has partnered with Neutrogena to reveal Skin360 Skinstacks, 3D-printed personalized skincare supplements that leverage proprietary technology "to create a new dimension of comprehensive inside-out skin care."

“Where a lot of people are talking about personalization, they’re doing one of two things. Either A, they have 50 different products and they’re pushing people into buckets, and so it seems personalization-istic, but it’s not really personalization. Or they’re taking a bunch of different premade products or components, and putting them together in a personalized edit,” Snover told BeautyMatter. “But what we have done with technology is come up with a manufacturing model where we make a unique product on every single printer and we never make the same product [twice]. We are able to make 22 billion different combinations using that technology, which is fast enough for us to be scalable. The customer is delighted they’re not having to wait three weeks for it and not having to pay three or four times as well.”

Since launching in 2019, the DTC subscription-based nutrition brand has raised £20.7MM in funding from angel investors, as well as from HenkelX Ventures and Apater Capital. “With the monies raised, our goal is to optimize operational efficiencies, particularly in relation to production, develop exciting new product lines and ultimately expand the business internationally,” Snover stated at the time of investment announcement.

Part of that expansion included a collaboration with oral care leader Colgate, focusing on supplements for optimal dental health, solidifying Nourished’s place as a well-respected science-led brand. “We are developing collaborative products which will be co-branded. And I think this will also really kind of just take it to the next level. Because I still think a lot of people haven’t heard of us and I think those partnerships will help to solve that,” she told BeautyMatter in 2021.

The latest collaboration with Neutrogena was created to ensure skin health routines can be simple and accessible for all. Skin360 Skinstacks are on-demand supplements designed to help consumers reach their ideal skincare goals. Users submit a selfie on the Skin360 app, which uses a digital skin assessment program that analyzes the image using over 100,000 pixels to examine 2,000+ facial attributes. The technology was developed using over 10,000 facial databases, which included a vast range of ages (from 7-70 years old), ethnicities, and lighting situations.

Once the digital assessment has taken place, the app recommends a customized nutrient stack and topical routine (with over 2.5 million product recommendations) based on the consumer's results and selected skin goals. The options for these are Ageless, Clear, Hydrate, Glow, and Resilient. After the consumer has selected the gummy best suited to them, their personal offering is developed using Nourished’s 3D-printing technology, combining seven layers of science-backed ingredients, including co-enzyme Q10 and zinc, into a vegan and sugar-free supplement.

"At Neutrogena, we are grounded in the belief that beauty begins with healthy skin and are proud of a heritage that consistently delivers skincare solutions built at the intersection of science and technology, in a way that makes sophisticated science simple and inclusive for our consumers," says Roberto Khoury, Senior Vice President, Neutrogena. "Working with Nourished allows us to further that commitment by marrying our award-winning digital skin assessment with Nourished's elegant 3D printing technology to create on-demand dietary supplements to help consumers meet their personal skincare goals."

Snover also sees the positive environmental impact of these customized and on-demand products, creating zero-waste manufacturing processes. “3D printing means we only have to order exactly what we need. We have never thrown a product away—not even a raw material, like an ingredient or a nutrient or vitamin. We do what we do in a very data-driven way, so that we’re extremely efficient in the way that we manage our supply chain,” she adds.

Recent research studies conducted by The Benchmarking Company found that 92% of beauty consumers believe the best way to reach their beauty goals is through an inside-out approach. As a result, many consumers are attending to internal issues such as gut health to tackle skin issues like acne instead of solely using external acne-reducing products.

Alongside the rise of this method, it has also been reported that 76% of women who already take a health supplement would be interested in taking another to combat specific problems, from wrinkles to aging and other skin issues, solidifying the need for supplements such as Skinstacks. Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable of their needs and how to tackle them, opening up doors of opportunity for beauty brands to harness scientific approaches and execute them to a high level.

With innovations such as Skinstacks coming to market, brands are coming up with new and enticing elements of personalization in response in order to keep on top of a very competitive sector. Statista predicts that by 2024, the global beauty supplements market will be worth $6.8 billion. As a result, technological advancements are becoming the norm, encouraging cross-industry partnerships, as also showcased by L’Oréal who recently partnered with UK retailer Sainsbury’s to offer in-store skin analysis to shoppers, enabled through the congolomerate’s ModiFace technology.

Collaborations such as those between Nourished and Neutrogena are a testament to the power of partnerships that truly leverage the expertise and innovation of each enterprise, pushing the boundaries of multiple categories, from personalization to supplements and holistic beauty approaches. With consumers eager for efficacy-led and science-substantiated skincare solutions, their offerings are sure to find an audience.