Health and beauty are some of the hottest products sold through ecommerce these days, but finding the correct products without having the ability to see, test, and feel them is challenging.

Identifying trends around personalization and sustainability, L’Oréal created a technology incubator nearly a decade ago and this week released two innovative products born in the lab at CES 2021.

Guive Balooch, head of L’Oréal’s global technology incubator, spearheaded the products that are built on tech and three values: personalization, augmented performance, and sustainability. “The group finds ways to build products and services that intersect technology and beauty,” he said.

About 50 people work in the global group. Half are engineers, and the remainder are from marketing, science, design and other areas.

Four years in the making, the L’Oréal Water Saver — a sustainable haircare system for salons and the home — was developed with environmental innovation company Gjosa, which can micronize droplets of water.

The salon product launches this week, but the home product will become available in 18 months.

The salon version connects to a dashboard, but the home version will work from an app similar to Google Nest. It will report how much energy and water has been saved.

L’Oréal’s partnerships with the salons will help to spread the word with consumers at home, Balooch said. “In the next six months we will do some large partnerships with salons,” he said.  

L’Oréal, which owns brands like Kerastase and Kiehl’s, has about 35 brands.

The second product is Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Sur Mesure Powered by Perso, a first-of-its kind at-home device for custom lipstick colors.

On the bottom of the device there are three cartridges that contain color. The device allows the user to create new colors and match shades in fabrics by snapping a picture with a phone camera through a matching algorithm.  

The top of the device has three holes. “Our group hand made and designed a patented feature that pushes the liquid lipstick to the top through the tube,” he said. “You just mix it with an applicator that attaches to the top. Then you snap off the container and take it with you for the day.”

The beta program, which began today, allows people to pre-order for shipment in the spring.