AI-beauty routine

A nice simple idea. I am sure it’s already in development or maybe even partly implemented. Ideas human, write-up AI.

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The Future of Beauty: Revolutionizing Makeup with AI and Advanced Technology

In an age where technology integrates seamlessly into every aspect of our lives, the beauty industry stands on the cusp of a revolutionary change. Imagine a world where your makeup application is not just a routine but an experience—a dynamic expression of personal style and preference, managed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and innovative materials. Here’s a glimpse into a future where makeup meets technology to offer unprecedented customization and convenience.

AI-Enhanced Makeup Application

The future of makeup lies in AI-enhanced systems capable of transforming beauty routines. Picture starting your day by using your mobile device to scan your face, allowing an AI app to analyze your features and suggest makeup styles. These suggestions aren’t just random; they’re tailored to your skin tone, facial structure, and even your schedule for the day. Whether it’s a business meeting or a casual dinner, your AI assistant knows just the look that will work for you.

Customization and Real-Time Previews

With augmented reality (AR), previewing these looks in real-time becomes possible. Adjust the color palette, the intensity, or the style with simple gestures on your screen. Once you approve the virtual preview, the real magic begins.

Precision Application with AI-Controlled Devices

Enter the AI-controlled applicator, a device designed to apply makeup with precision unparalleled by human hands. This device uses advanced sensors to assess the contours of your face, applying the perfect amount of product to achieve the desired look. From flawless foundation layers to intricate eyeliner details, the applicator ensures each application is immaculate.

Varying Levels of Permanence

Innovation doesn’t stop at application. The technology extends to how long the makeup lasts. Users can choose from daily wear applications to semi-permanent styles that maintain a fresh look for days or even weeks. But what if you could change your makeup color or style with just a thought or a tap on your smartphone?

Revolutionary Materials: E-Ink in Liposomes

Imagine liposomes, tiny biocompatible vesicles, encapsulating e-inks—similar to those used in e-readers. These e-inks can change color based on electrical impulses controlled by a special device. This technology allows for a lipstick or eyeshadow color to be altered instantly, providing flexibility and adaptability unseen in current beauty products.

Safety, Sustainability, and Skin Health

Any system that interfaces so closely with human skin must prioritize safety and hygiene. The proposed AI makeup system would use disposable or sterilizable components to maintain cleanliness. Additionally, by reducing the need for multiple makeup products, this system promotes sustainability, minimizing waste associated with packaging and expired products.

Integrating sensors that monitor skin health could provide feedback, allowing users to not only look their best but also keep their skin in optimal condition. These sensors could suggest products based on skin hydration levels or alert users to potential allergic reactions.

The Future Is Here

This vision of an AI-powered makeup system illustrates a bold convergence of beauty, technology, and health. As these technologies develop, they promise to transform daily beauty routines into personalized experiences that celebrate individuality and artistic expression, all while caring for the skin and respecting the environment.

The implications are profound, offering a glimpse into a future where beauty and technology are seamlessly intertwined, making the morning rush a thing of the past. As we look forward, it’s clear that the face of beauty is changing—and it’s more exciting than ever.

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The future of feminism and fashion

Perhaps it’s a bit presumptive of me to talk about what feminists want or don’t want, but I will make the simplifying assumption that they vary somewhat and don’t all want the same things. When it comes to makeup, many feminists want to look how they want to look for their own pleasure, not specifically to appeal to men, or they may want to attract some people and not others, or they may not want to bother with makeup at all, but still be able to look nice for the right people.

Augmented reality will allow those options. AR creates an extra layer of appearance that allows a woman to present herself any way she wants via an avatar, and also to vary presented appearance according to who is looking at her. So she may choose to be attractive to people she finds attractive, and plain to people she’d rather not get attention from. This is independent of any makeup she might be wearing, so she may choose not to wear any at all and rely entirely on the augmented reality layer to replace makeup, saving a lot of time, effort and expense. She could even use skin care products such as face masks that are purely functional, nourishing or protecting her face, but which don’t look very nice. Friends, colleagues and particular subsections of total strangers would still see her as she wants to be seen and she might not care about how she appears to others.

It may therefore be possible that feminism could use makeup as a future activist platform. It would allow women to seize back control over their appearance in a far more precise way, making it abundantly clear that their appearance belongs to them and is under their control and that they control who they look nice for. They would not have to give up looking good for themselves or their friends, but would be able to exclude any groups currently out of favour.

However, it doesn’t have to be just virtual appearance that they can control electronically. It is also possible to have actual physical makeup that changes according to time, location, emotional state or circumstances. Active makeup does just that, but I’ve written too often about that. Let’s look instead at other options:

Fashion has created many different clothing accessories over the years. It has taken far longer than it should, but we are now finally seeing flexible polymer displays being forged into wrist watch straps and health monitoring bands as well as bendy and curvy phones. As 1920s era fashion makes a small comeback, it can’t be long before headbands and hair-bands come back and they would be a perfect display platform too. Hair accessories can be pretty much any shape and size, and be a single display zone or multiple ones. Some could even use holographic displays, so that the accessory seems to change its form, or have optional remote components seemingly hanging free in the nearby air. Any of these could be electronically controllable or set to adjust automatically according to location and the people present.

Displays would also make good forehead jewellery, such as electronic eyebrows, holographic jewels, smart bindis, forehead tattoos and so on. They could change colour or pattern according to emotions for example. As long as displays are small, skin flexing doesn’t present too big an engineering barrier.

In fact, small display particles such as electronic glitter could group together to appear as a single display, even though each is attached to a different piece of skin. Thus, flexing of the skin is still possible with a collection of rigid small displays, which could be millimetre sized electronic glitter. Electronic glitter could contain small capacitors that store energy harvested from temperature difference between the skin and the environment, periodically allowing a colour change.

However, it won’t be just the forehead that is available once displays become totally flexible. That will make the whole visible face an electronic display platform instead of just a place for dumb makeup. Smart freckles and moles could make a fashion reappearance. Lips and cheeks could change colour according to mood and pre-decided protocols, rather than just at the whim of nature.

Other parts of the body would likely house displays too. Fingernails and toenails could be an early candidate since they are relatively rigid. The wrist and forearm are also often exposed. Much of the rest of the body is concealed by clothing most of the time, but seasonal displays are likely when it is more often bare. Beach displays could interact with swimwear, or even substitute for it.

In fact, enabling a multitude of tiny displays on the face and around the body will undoubtedly create a new fashion design language. Some dialects could be secret, only understood by certain groups, a tribal language. Fashion has always had an extensive symbology and adding electronic components to the various items will extend its potential range. It is impossible to predict what different things will mean to mainstream and sub-cultures, as meanings evolve chaotically from random beginnings. But there will certainly be many people and groups willing to capitalise on the opportunities presented. Feminism could use such devices and languages to good effect.

Clothing and accessories such as jewellery are also obvious potential display platforms. A good clue for the preferred location is the preferred location today for similar usage. For example, many people wear logos, messages and pictures on their T-shirts, whereas other items of clothing remain mostly free of them. The T-shirt is therefore by far the most likely electronic display area. Belts, boots, shoes and bag-straps offer a likely platform too, not because they are used so much today, but because they again present an easy and relatively rigid physical platform.

Timescales for this run from historical appearance of LED jewellery at Christmas (which I am very glad to say I also predicted well in advance) right through to holographic plates that appear to hover around the person as they walk around. I’ve explained in previous blogs how actual floating and mobile plates could be made using plasma and electro-magnetics. But the timescale of relevance in the next few years is that of the cheaper and flexible polymer display. As costs fall and size increases, in parallel with an ever improving wireless and cloud infrastructure, the potential revenue from a large new sector combining the fashion and display industries will make this not so much likely as  inevitable.