By stufflovely
Even if it’s not stamped with your monogram, nothing says luxury (or, you know, “hands off”) like a bespoke beauty product. Whether it’s a treatment made just for your breakouts or a supercharged serum that probably scored better on the SATs than you did, options for a custom bottle of moisturizer has never been more readily available. Methods for fine-tuning formulas range from intuitive mobile apps, fun online quizzes, and one-on-one IRL consultations, but the writing’s on the wall: Personalized skin care is just getting started.
“We customize everything in our life from our style to our diet — the same should be applied to skin care,” New York City-based dermatologist Dendy Engelman tells Allure. “I love when my patients come in with a list of questions and we talk about what their goal is; from there, I can suggest treatment options and we can decide on a regimen that is fitting of their schedule and timeline. Brands [that offer customized products] allow the consumer to find the right product for themselves.”
However innovative these formulas may be (and they are), it’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as a magic bottle to get you flawless skin. “Customizable skin care is a fascinating trend, but I’m not sure if the promise of the concept — an ideal product made to precisely match an individual’s skin needs — is really being met,” adds Kenneth Howe, a dermatologist at Wexler Dermatology in New York City. “The appeal of these brands is that they provide guidance for patients who otherwise have [little to] none.”
However, unless you’re talking face-to-face with a professional to help guide you, taking a survey or questionnaire about your skin requires a certain degree of beauty know-how. “Although this stuff seems simple to some people, to others it isn’t,” Howe points out. “It’s not all that uncommon for me to talk with patients who either mischaracterize their skin, or have not given any thought to it. They just know they want their skin to look better.”
Here, we take a closer look at 12 brands winning the customized skin-care trend.
