LAS VEGAS—CES may be known for crazy gadgets and TVs, but there’s also a ton of beauty and lifestyle tech from brands like L’Oreal, which gave us a demo of its big debut for this year, the Cell BioPrint.
The tabletop devices determines the “biological age” of your skin within five minutes. It then recommends the creams and goops that are best for you, helping you save time and money chasing the endless trends that plague the beauty industry.
L’Oreal Cell BioPrint (Credit: Emily Forlini)
L’Oreal developed the Cell Bioprint with Korean startup NanoEnTek. It will first go into Asian department stores in 2025, then expand globally. The idea is to help beauty counter customers find the right products to buy. In the future, it could go in dermatology offices, big box retailers, and eventually a modified version for homes.
The process starts by dabbing a nickel-sized, tape-like patch on a clean part of the skin 15 times. Then, the patch goes into a plastic container that houses a liquid solution. The solution pulls out the skin proteins collected on the patch. The technician then plops a drop of it onto a credit card-sized “lab on a chip.”
Drop of skincare solution goes onto a ‘lab on a chip’ (Credit: Emily Forlini)
You can see the solution filter through the chip, further isolating the proteins to be fed into the machine. This is a miniature version of what a pharmaceutical lab may do with much larger, more complex equipment. NanoEnTek shrinks it down to a tabletop device so consumers can directly interact with it.
As the machine is working its magic, you enter your age on an iPad while the technician takes a zoomed-in photo of the surface of your skin. With all your data entered and collected, you’re ready to get the results.
(Credit: Emily Forlini)
So, what’s my skin’s biological age? Happily, it’s about the same as my age (the L’Oreal employees said they have seen examples with much more deviation). But being in desert conditions in Vegas, my skin was dry, dry, dry. And being a white person, it’s very prone to wrinkles compared to other cultures. But on the positive side, I have a “high responsiveness” to wrinkle-busting retinol cream, meaning it takes to that active ingredient well, so I should theoretically be able to fend them off.
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I also learned that my pores are in good shape, and my skin tone is relatively even, so products with alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) likely won’t benefit me. That’s helpful to know, because I have purchased and used those products in the past. They are all the rage, and continuously pushed by skincare influencers on social media, but haven’t done much for me. Now I know why!
L’Oreal told me my optimal skincare routine would include ceramides (for moisture), retinol, and a good sunscreen. And I have to say I was ready to buy it, because this science-based marketing tool is a lot more compelling than a beauty influencer on TikTok.
(Credit: Emily Forlini)
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About Emily Forlini
Senior Reporter
