Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience.

How are digital worlds reimagining IRL beauty? What do skintellectuals want from brands? And how is emerging tech shifting consumer expectations of cosmetics? In this part of the 2023 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how online and offline innovations are impacting beauty routines.

Isamaya Beauty is a cult beauty brand representing constant transformation and challenging conventional beauty standards. Its seasonal collections, created by make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench, appeal to Gen Zers using make-up as a way to articulate shifting self-expression over a more fixed identity.

With masks being lowered in the wake of the pandemic, people’s lips are back on show. A new tool from YSL, the Rouge Sur Mesure, allows users to personalise their lipstick shades – a signal that the beauty brand is responding to an industry primed for innovation.

As the beauty tech market grows, Japanese brand Shiseido has unveiled the world’s first AI-powered make-up advisor. With tech blending further with beauty, brands have the opportunity to innovate around product discovery, help people better understand their skin, and use AI to tailor products.