Finding a new-season foundation or signature scent has long required a stroll through the beauty aisles of our favourite department stores. And while the rise of beauty e-retailers, like Cult Beauty and Look Fantastic, have made products readily available at the click of a button, the experience of swatching shades of products on the backs of our hands to find the best fit remains unrivalled. That all changed when the pandemic forced the closure of the industry and shopping online became our sole way of procuring the products that kept us sane amid multiple lockdowns. But the gap in shopping effectively for beauty buys that usually require a process of trial and error means COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated AI's entry in the public beauty domain. The newest innovations in beauty tech go above and beyond our usual shopping experiences to deliver a fully personalised and unique approach.

Veteran perfumer David Apel works on the AI-designed fragrance.IBM and Symrise Artificial intelligence, a buzzword across several sectors, may be about to shake up the fragrance industry. IBM Research and Symrise -- a major global producer of flavors and fragrances that counts among its clients Estee Lauder, Coty and Victoria's Secret parent L Brands -- have created what they described as the industry's first AI-designed perfume for sale, after the two parties came together over a year ago. The AI tool, named Philyra, uses a machine-learning algorithm to study Symrise's database of some 1.7 million formulas and can identify "white space" before suggesting not only formulas that may resonate with consumers but also combinations that perfumers may not have thought of before. For instance, when asked to come up with the "most creative" interpretation of a fragrance created 12 years ago, the AI system generated one formula that removed an outdated material and upped the dosage of a popular sandalwood scent. It also unexpectedly introduced to the mix cedar wood, another ingredient popular with today's consumers, said David Apel, Symrise's VP and senior perfumer of fine fragrance.

Veteran perfumer David Apel works on the AI-designed fragrance.IBM and Symrise Artificial intelligence, a buzzword across several sectors, may be about to shake up the fragrance industry. IBM Research and Symrise -- a major global producer of flavors and fragrances that counts among its clients Estee Lauder, Coty and Victoria's Secret parent L Brands -- have created what they described as the industry's first AI-designed perfume for sale, after the two parties came together over a year ago. The AI tool, named Philyra, uses a machine-learning algorithm to study Symrise's database of some 1.7 million formulas and can identify "white space" before suggesting not only formulas that may resonate with consumers but also combinations that perfumers may not have thought of before. For instance, when asked to come up with the "most creative" interpretation of a fragrance created 12 years ago, the AI system generated one formula that removed an outdated material and upped the dosage of a popular sandalwood scent. It also unexpectedly introduced to the mix cedar wood, another ingredient popular with today's consumers, said David Apel, Symrise's VP and senior perfumer of fine fragrance.

Veteran perfumer David Apel works on the AI-designed fragrance.IBM and Symrise Artificial intelligence, a big buzzword across different sectors, may be about to shake up the fragrance industry. IBM Research and Symrise, a major global producer of flavors and fragrances that counts clients including Estee Lauder, Victoria's Secret parent L Brands and Coty, have created what they described as the industry's first AI-designed perfume for sale after the two parties came together over a year ago. The AI tool (named Philyra) uses machine learning algorithm to study Symrise's database of some 1.7 million formulas and can identify "white space" and come up with formula suggestions that not only may resonate with consumers but also combinations where perfumers may not have thought of before. For instance, when asked to come up with the "most creative" interpretation of a fragrance created 12 years, one formula the system generated removed an outdated material and upped the dosage of popular sandalwood scent. It also unexpectedly introduced to the mix cedar wood, another ingredient popular with today's consumers, said David Apel, Symrise's VP and senior perfumer of fine fragrance.