CES 2023: L’Oréal is helping those with limited mobility apply lipstick

At CES 2023, L’Oréal unveiled two new devices that solve some very different problems.

HAPTA is a machine that helps people with limited hand and arm mobility apply lipstick, and L’Oréal Brow Magic is an electronic eyebrow makeup applicator that gives you customized brow looks in seconds.

Guive Balooch, the lead innovator and head of L’Oréal’s technology incubator, told Mashable at CES 2023 that the HAPTA machine is comparable to the spoons that help people with limited mobility eat on their own.

“People that could never eat on their own, could eat on their own,” Balooch said. “And their community [wanted] something similar to use for makeup. A lot of times in my career, I’ve done things that push, but this one was really pull.” 

HAPTA is a handheld smart makeup applicator that offers people who live with limited fine motor skills the ability to steadily apply lipstick at home by using technology created by Verily Life Sciences. It works by combining motion controls and customizable attachments to stabilize and level the lipstick itself as the user brings it closer to their mouth. HAPTA — which was piloted with L’Oréal-owned Lancôme — comes with a magnetic attachment, a built-in battery, and the ability for the user to rotate the lipstick 360 degrees.

“For L’Oréal, the future of beauty is inclusive. And this future will be made more accessible by technology,” Nicolas Hieronimus, the CEO of the L’Oréal Groupe, said in a press release. “The two consumer technologies we are unveiling this year at CES represent the true purpose of our company: to create the beauty that moves the world.”

Temporary tattoos, but for your eyebrows.
Credit: L’Oréal

L’Oréal also introduced Brow Magic at CES 2023, a beautiful and innovative product that involves quite a different set of technology than the HAPTA. Brow Magic, developed by L’Oréal and Prinker, is a handheld device that uses AI to give you the perfect brow. You use it by scanning your face on the L’Oréal Brow Magic app, choosing the shape, thickness, and effect of the brow you’d like, brushing L’Oréal Brow Magic primer over your eyebrows, moving the device across your skin, and then applying a top coat to finish it all off. It has two conical elements — one you hold and the other you press to your face — which use 2,400 tiny nozzles to print eyebrows onto you in a matter of seconds. They’re essentially non-permanent tattoos that you can remove after a day or two with makeup remover. 

Both HAPTA and Brow Magic are expected to launch in 2023.