The personalized beauty space is growing rapidly. A report by Research and Markets estimates that the personalization segment of the market will reach $92.53 billion by 2031.

How can you tap into the flourishing personalization market as a small home-to-lab beauty brand? 

Our guide below outlines simple tips to target segments of the market more effectively as part of your personalization strategy.

We explain how AI and new technological processes are facilitating personalization at the individual customer level, and we provide budget-friendly tips for enhancing the personalization of your website and your product packaging. 

Strategically Formulating & Marketing Your Cosmetics With Personalization In Mind 

Personalizing your beauty products is more important than ever. Gone are the days of releasing generic cleansers, toners, and moisturizers aimed at the entire cosmetics market. Consumers now expect skincare and makeup products to address their specific skin issues and preferences. 

Although it’s not financially feasible or efficient for new small-to-lab brands to customize every single product formula to each specific customer, it is possible to address individual segments of the market with separate ranges of cosmetics to tackle particular skin care or makeup problems. 

For example, a cosmetics brand could release four different skin care lines - one to address each major skin type. Potential product ideas for each segment include:

• Oily skin: cleansers or masks formulated with salicylic acid or non-OTC ingredients like capryloyl salicylic acid or willow bark extra (BHA precursor), blotting papers, and mattifying primers

• Combination skin: gentle exfoliants, lightweight moisturizers, and balancing serums

• Dry skin: hydrating cleansing milks, rich moisturizers, and sheet masks

• Sensitive skin: fragrance free gentle cleansers, hypoallergenic moisturizers, and mineral sunscreens

Personalization can be as simple as purchasing preformulated private label cosmetics or developing new products that appeal to separate segments of your target market. Work with a professional beauty lab that has the experience to tailor product formulas to suit different customer needs. 

At Genie Supply, we offer over 60 preformulated skin care and color cosmetic products to suit a range of different skin types, concerns, and preferences. Additionally, we offer custom product creation and custom formulating services to create highly personalized cosmetics. 

How Technology & Artificial Intelligence Are Enabling Personalization For Cosmetics Brands 

AI is already rapidly changing the beauty industry. Research by InsightAce Analytic estimates that the market size for Artificial Intelligence in Beauty and Cosmetics will reach $13.34 Billion by 2030. New technology that allows for more personalized makeup and skin care is at the heart of this recent surge.

Developments in the past decade include simple technology that allows customers to ‘try on’ different shades of the same beauty product simply by uploading an image of their face. Newer iterations are taking personalization to a new level - including utilizing AI scanners that analyze a person’s skin in-depth to determine their exact areas of individual concern.

For example, a team of computer scientists in 2019 developed an AI model to detect the severity of wrinkles on images of patients’ skin with 85.3% accuracy. Although this particular data was used to determine if the patient would benefit from forehead filler injections, it also has clear individualized product recommendation applications. 

This type of technology is already being deployed by major players in the beauty industry. L’oreal recently revealed the launch of their new ‘SkinCeuticals Custom D.O.S.E’ - an in-office service that utilizes special scanning technology to evaluate each individual person’s unique skin. The scan identifies skin issues and creates a tailor-made corrective serum based on that unique skin data.

These latest developments are not exclusive to the skin care industry. AI will improve personalization in both the makeup and hair care markets, too. For example, Renaud et al found that AI is becoming more effective at measuring hair growth characteristics and aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of hair disorders. 

Optimizing Your Website To Increase Personalization For Your Consumer Base

Incorporating technology like this into your business model is a straightforward way to carve out a competitive advantage for your brand. Although highly complex skin scanning machines are outside the budget of most small home-to-lab brands, one of the most cost effective ways to utilize this new personalization technology is by integrating it into your website. 

Optimizing your website is particularly beneficial if you offer a wide selection of products on your website. It sounds counterintuitive, but adopting a highly personalized business strategy without clear branding can result in fewer sales thanks to the paradox of choice.

For example, Iyengar and Lepper’s famous jam study found that customers were more likely to buy gourmet jams when limited to 6 choices compared to 24 or 30 choices. 

If personalization is your goal, you should steer your customers in the direction of the products that were formulated for their preferences. Adding a subcategory page for each skin type on your website is one simple way to make your personalized approach clearer to your audience.

New technological developments are effective at helping to steer potential customers in the right direction of the products that will work best for their skin, coloring, or facial features.

If you have the budget, try adding an Augmented reality (AR) virtual try-on to your website. If that is outside your current budget, personalization integrations can be as simple as creating a short quiz to identify the best makeup and skincare products for a customer’s particular skin type or cosmetic goals. 

Integrating Newly Discovered Ingredients To Improve Personalization 

Recent technological developments are also making it easier to identify new and improved ingredients to address specific beauty concerns and help personalize cosmetic treatments even further. 

For example, a 2020 study used machine learning to train an AI on how peptides impact the skin’s extracellular matrix. After the learning phase, the scientists instructed the AI to find a potential peptide for anti-aging in pea plants. The AI-selected peptide produced a number of skincare benefits, including up to 56% more production of elastin. 

The authors of the study note that efforts to increase elastin remain noticeably under-represented in terms of anti-aging strategies. Therefore this AI-induced finding is particularly promising for targeted skin care treatments for individuals with elastosis. 

This is merely one example, but we can expect these AI-assisted ingredient-finding developments to continue and improve the personalization of both skin care and cosmetics in the future. 

At Genie Supply, we specialize in new-to-market product concepts and novel chemical research. If creating highly personalized skin care or color cosmetics appeals to you, get in touch about our custom formulation services. 

Adding A Personal Touch To Your Customized Packaging 

The opportunity for personalization expands beyond your formula choices and website design - consider how personalization fits with your customized packaging strategy.

This can be as simple as adding copy to your product packaging that specifically addresses your target market’s main concerns. For example ‘designed for dry skin’ or ‘hydrating formula’ on your skin care products made for dry skin, or ‘high coverage for flawless looking skin’ on makeup products designed for acne prone skin. 

At Genie Supply, in addition to our screenprinting, custom coloring, and custom labeling services, we make designing your own product packaging as simple as possible:

• Choose your product packaging from the full range in our catalog (note: some private label formulas are limited to select packaging choices)

• We will send you the exact die lines for those specific packaging SKUs

• Collaborate with your graphic designer using the die lines to bring your dream product packaging to life

For a highly personalized approach, consider offering engraving services. Some big players in the beauty world already utilize this personalization method. For example, Charlotte Tilbury offers engraving services on gifts. 

If engraving is a step too far, consider offering customers the opportunity to customize their labels for an additional fee. Function of Beauty, a brand that allows customers to customize their own hair products from start to finish, also offers name printing services on their hair product bottles. 

In sum, adopting a successful personalization strategy for your cosmetics brand includes: 

• Strategically formulating and marketing your cosmetics with personalization in mind 

• Understanding how technological developments and especially AI are enabling greater personalization for cosmetics brands 

• Learning how to optimize your website to increase personalization for your consumer base

• Integrating newly discovered ingredients to improve personalization 

• Adding a personal touch to your customized packaging 

Ready to source high-quality, clean cosmetics that fit your brand’s personalization strategy? Genie Supply is here to help! Don’t hesitate to call us: (812)-329-1105 or email: customerservice@geniesupply.com