needed to virtually reapply.” In her own line, MMSkincare,
Marmur is already using ingredients designed to be light- and
heat-activated, like a special kind of algae that promises to kick
in to repair damage when UV rays are present. “‘Activated’
ingredients are a new category, so we still have a lot to learn
about them, but there may be something there,” says Wilson.
“We need advances like this as our environment changes.
There was far less pollution 50 years ago.”
your skin care will have to
prove it’s working. Instant glow!
Plumper skin! Before we get to 2030,
such claims will be easily fact-
checked. Wilson predicts drugstores
will have the same skin-analysis
machines currently found only in
doctors’ offices and labs. “There’s so
much you can’t see with the naked
eye. These machines will measure oil
and hydration levels, track wrinkle depth, and show pigment
that’s waiting, in deep layers of skin, to become sun spots,”
she says. Based on all of these measurements, you’ll get tar-
geted product recommendations (across brands) for your
skin’s unique needs, down to different products for specific
areas of your face. You’ll use your new routine for a few weeks
and—this part is key—go back to get a new reading to see,
proof-positive, whether your new regimen is working. (And
yes, it is possible for the right formulas to make a measurable
difference in wrinkle depth, skin tone and texture, and radi-
ance and hydration in as little as three weeks.) “It will take
away the placebo effect and subjectivity that’s wrapped up
with skin care, and the misconception that the same formulas
deliver for everyone,” says Wilson. “The one that’s great for my
skin could do absolutely nothing for you.” And until these
professional-grade machines become widely available, brands
like Unilever’s new Skinsei will recommend products based on
results of self-assessment surveys you fill out online.your hair routine will
go high-tech. Take a survey,
and brands like Prose and
Function create unique sham-
poos, conditioners, and masks
based on your answers. Prose
even takes your ZIP code’s pol-
lution and hard-water levels
into account. But that person-
alization comes at a price.
“The formulas out there now tend to be hand-mixed by chem-
ists in a lab, which means they’re often expensive,” says cos-
metic chemist Joe Cincotta. (Indeed, a shampoo, conditioner,
and mask from Prose will run you $88.) “As we move toward
greater personalization, the whole industry is going to have to
mass-produce customized formulas.” He predicts you’ll fill out
a survey—or even analyze your hair health with a device at
home—and then an algorithm will generate the best formulas
for you. A shampoo bottle with a generic base will move down
a factory’s conveyor belt through different filling stations.
“Based on your hair’s needs, maybe you’ll get .5 milliliters
from station two, 2 milliliters from station three, and nothing
from station four,” he says. “The bottle will get a label with
your name on it—delivered to your house in three days.” He
predicts skin care will go the same way, and that means
“everything will be digital—you’ll never have to leave your
couch. Brick-and-mortar stores will become a thing of the
past. It’s sad, but this is the future.”you’ll lower your carbon footprint and get a
trendy pink shadow on demand. “Imagine if instead of
going to a makeup counter to buy a palette, you could print
your own at home,” says makeup artist Robin Black, who
expects we’ll be printing our own lip glosses and highlighters
in 10 years—or even less. “It’s certainly possible,” says Dick-
ens. “At-home printing is so sophisticated now, I could foresee
having personal 3-D makeup printers.” Creating customized
liquid formulas—foundations, stains—is easy enough, but any-
thing thicker would require patience. “Materials more viscous
than milk can’t go through printers, so you’d need to mix them
with a solvent,” says Dickens. “Then you’d have to leave the
makeup perfectly still and wait hours for that solvent to evap-
orate.” But the payoff might be worth it: You pick the color,
texture, and finish you want and, just like that, personalized
makeup. “It’ll really eliminate waste by cutting out shipping
and packaging, and you could have gorgeous old-school
makeup cases—engraved with your initials—that you refill
instead of throwing plastic compacts away,” says Black. You
could peruse a makeup-trend story and print the orange-red
lipstick you loved in seconds (perhaps you’d scan a bar code
and pay the individual brand to print its colors, the same way
you’d buy a lipstick at counters). Or you could design your
own palette and—what a novelty—actually be excited to wear
every single shade inside. “You see so many highlighter pal-
ettes that have silver, rose-gold, and gold shades in them—it
would be rare to find one complexion that works with all of
those colors. And I’m always looking for a specific shade of
’60s matte pastel blue; I would love to print it myself,” Black
says. “This is my fantasy of the future of makeup.”In the
next
five +
years...
And in amoredistantfuture...