How one Finnish tech brand is changing the way we buy beauty

Once in a while technology comes along that’s so good, you wonder how on earth you ever got by without it. That’s precisely how Revieve, a new 360 beauty platform, wants you to feel. Here we spoke to CEO and founder, Sampo Parkkinen, about marrying together the best of Silicon Valley with personalised product prescriptions.

Revieve partners with beauty brands and retailers so that they can deliver digital and personalised beauty experiences tailored to your skin type and needs – whenever and wherever you prefer to shop, be that online, in-store or via social media. All our experiences start with analysing your skin, asking you what you’re the most concerned about and providing personalised product recommendations across skincare, make-up, suncare and even nutrition. When it comes to make-up you can also virtually try on all the products you were recommended via Artificial Intelligence and true-to-life Augmented Reality technology.

During the main phases of the pandemic, there was a monumental consumer shift – that’s when make-up, for the first time, went down in sales and skincare was the top spending category in beauty. All that happened because consumers started to prioritise their wellbeing. It’s a well-known fact that stress, lack of sleep and inadequate nutrition all impact how our skin performs. Even the most prominent players don’t call themselves beauty companies anymore. Instead, they are wellbeing companies offering consumers skincare, make-up, vitamin supplements and hybrid products with multiple benefits.

Consumers are frustrated because they have too many options. For a brand to offer personalisation is more about increasing transparency and educating the consumer. Overall there's a lack of knowledge about skin type and what products or ingredients you should be using. Consumers are more than just a generation, age group or gender – they are individuals. They want personalised, intimate and inclusive experiences with their favourite brands. Personalisation is also a way for brands to express their unique character while offering clear benefits in their products.

All our experiences start from the same point: analysing your skin. It’s the biggest organ in your body and reflects your wellbeing. The patented technology that powers the online skin analysis is called ‘Mobile Skin Diagnostics’. Using a selfie, we can measure 120+ different metrics from your face. The algorithms are specifically designed to analyse skincare from specific areas in your face and provide real-time feedback.

The biggest advantage is that it is personalised to you. For example, you are exposed to hundreds and sometimes thousands of product options in the in-store environment. That can be overwhelming and sometimes even disappointing if you don't get recommended a product suited to your skin type or concerns. Revieve augments the role of the beauty consultant so that you can have a more in-depth discussion about your skin concerns and the products our AI/AR-powered solutions recommend.

People often consider suncare products to be sticky, messy and even bad for them if they have oily skin. They assume that all suncare products are the same and prefer to skip them when, in fact, there are so many products on the market for different skin types. Our AI Suncare Advisor recognises different types of spots on your face to help you identify any early signs of hyperpigmentation, thus enabling you to take a preventive approach to UV exposure by making the whole product discovery in suncare a smooth one.

As a company, we see that the digital revolution in beauty has been pushed heavily by Millenials and Gen Z. That has forced many brands to be built as ‘digitally native’ (conceived, shaped and operated online). To us, the future of the digital beauty and wellness experience will be around business models that merge innovative technologies, gadgets, labs, virtual reality experiences and rich data collection. For example, some brands have already started experimenting with early versions of the ‘metaverse’ (highly interactive virtual stores). The future we believe customers want to live in, is one where brands help their customers express individuality by bringing a new wave of experiential opportunities, regardless of location, language, format and environment.