2025 has already been hailed as the year consumers will be obsessed with living — and looking younger — for longer. L’Oréal Group is leaning in with its latest innovation, a tool that promises to determine the skin’s rate of ageing. It signals a shift across the industry towards offering personalised data and tracking as part of everyday beauty routines.
“It’s like wearables, but for your skin,” says Vania Lacascade, the group’s chief innovation officer. “Imagine getting your blood analysed — but instead, it’s your skin, at the cellular level, in minutes.”
Using “lab-on-chip” technology, developed with Korean biotech innovator Nanoentek, the Cell Bioprint tool can analyse a customer’s skin cells to predict their responsiveness to ingredients like retinol and detect potential issues such as acne before they emerge, according to L’Oréal.
The tool will be unveiled during tech showcase CES in Las Vegas, which runs from 7 to 10 January, with the first of the group’s brands to introduce the tech to beauty counters and retailers this year, starting in Asia.
Lacascade says longevity will be a large focus for the group this year, as living longer becomes a bigger part of wellness and luxury. “There’s a new mindset among consumers. It’s the desire to age well and it goes beyond addressing the visible signs of ageing but deep diving into the root cause at the cellular, molecular level. The new era means we need to change our approach to product innovation because what we are trying to decipher is the mechanism of biological ageing,” she says.
She hopes the data collected from the skin analysis will pioneer a new era of skincare for the conglomerate. “The next generation will go beyond surface-level ageing and help us act on the multiple ageing markers within the cells.”
L’Oréal’s approach to innovation
To retain a competitive edge, the group invests $1 billion a year into its research and innovation arm, which translates to new products, patents and technologies globally, Lacascade says. It has a global team of 4,000 researchers and 8,000 tech experts who shape and anticipate emerging trends and develop scientific advancements determined by societal desires and consumer changes.
The group has to balance short-term trends with innovations that require longer development timelines. “Probably one of the biggest challenges that we face is balancing the long-term vision and the short-term demands because the beauty market is so fast paced, while true innovation often requires a longer term perspective,” says Lacascade. This was the case with Melasyl, a patented molecule developed to regulate hyperpigmentation and improve skin evenness, which La Roche-Posay recently launched in its MelaB3 skincare range. “It took over 15 years to develop.”
Finding that balance means the group’s innovation strategy is ever-evolving. “We’re constantly looking at consumers, conducting studies and observing even the slightest change in their needs. It’s like longevity. The trend has been there for a while, but it’s accelerated and now we’ve had to meet the sudden surge,” she says. “Research suggests that the population is living longer. We know that by 2040, 20 per cent of the global population will be over 60 (in 2024, over-60 accounted for 12 per cent of the global population, according to the Office for National Statistics) and by 2050, there’ll be approximately three billion aged over 60, with the supercentenarian (110 years or older) becoming commonplace.”
To support research and development and to bridge consumer trends, L’Oréal has 20 research centres that Lacascade says are strategically located around the globe to tap into local expertise. “We have a centre in Brazil specialising in natural ingredients; one in the US, super-connected to the tech ecosystem; one in Seoul, connected to the dynamism of K-beauty; and some in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) China and South East Asia regions. Each of them is complementary and close to the consumer market.”
Product innovation plans
The group has also been accelerating on medicalised beauty. “[The category] is another area where we are seeing growth, because it’s about offering solutions to the two billion skin and scalp sufferers globally. So it’s about UV protection, atopic dermatitis, scalp care and acne etc. All areas we’ve invested in with our L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty Division for Cerave, La Roche-Posay and Vichy brands for example,” says Lacascade. La Roche-Posay hopes to tackle post-acne scarring with MelaB3, while Cerave launched haircare in November 2024 starting with an anti-dandruff shampoo and conditioner formulated with zinc and the brand’s skin-identical ceramides to eradicate dandruff and balance the scalp barrier. “The pathological area of the skin and scalp is something we really want to continue developing,” says Lacascade.
Body care and fragrance are also ripe for innovation as more consumers are looking to these products to improve wellness or to increase sensuality, Lacascade says. “We are seeing tremendous growth acceleration within our L’Oréal Luxe division — which includes brands such as Maison Margiela, Yves Saint Laurent, Armani Prive and Valentino — because it encompasses this 360-wellness, expressive and sensual era. Plus, this trend is quite exciting for Aesop and its innovation roadmap, as this is the kind of brand we’ll be able to develop these opportunities and innovations into.”
Water consumption is another priority. In January 2024, the group acquired Gjosa, a Swiss startup known within the hair space for its showerhead that’s combined with a patented water fragmentation technology, designed to reduce water waste by 69 per cent per use. “At the moment, the device is for professional salon use only with plans to roll it out to over 200,000 salons worldwide — but ultimately, the hope is to make its way into consumer’s homes,” adds Lacascade.
Lacascade and her team are also reviewing how climate change will shape beauty routines and product formulations, and how global shifts could impact consumer trends down the line. “We know that by 2040, the majority of the global population will have melanin-rich skin and half of the population will have curly hair and that’s something that we need to integrate into our innovation strategy to deliver within our product portfolio,” she explains. “It’ll also mean advancing inclusive, consumer-facing tech to match personalisation needs.”
Lacascade concludes: “There’s a lot of elements that we’re looking at for 2040. We’re trying to anticipate what’s coming to future-proof our vision and innovation plans accordingly and right now, we’re tackling the longevity piece with innovations, including new devices and much more to come.”
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