Five tech trends shaping the beauty industry

Beauty brands are using everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to augmented reality (AR) to keep their customers engaged in a fiercely competitive market. But do such innovations actually work or are they simply marketing hype? When L'Oreal said last year it no longer wanted to be the number one beauty firm in the world, but "the number one beauty tech company", it was clear things in the industry had changed. "Women have had the same beauty concerns for 30 to 40 years, but technology has created a more demanding consumer," explains Guive Balooch, global vice president of L'Oreal's Technology Incubator. "They want more personalised and precise products, and we have to respond."