Up Close & Personal

The rapidly expanding world of customisable skincare offers the tantalising possibility of letting artificial intelligence and biotechnology get to know your skin better than you ever could.

- Renyi Lim

It’s a tricky business, skincare. Investing in a new face cream or serum, no matter its promises or the rarity of its premium ingredients, is always a gamble. There’s no telling how your skin will react (at worst, explosively) – so really, it’s just a guessing game. Making an informed decision has never been more relevant, and it seems odd that many of us are content to stock our grooming cabinets with the pret-a-porter, off-the-peg equivalents of skincare products.

We might agonise over the bespoke paint colour of a Rolls-Royce or don a shoe deftly shaped around a unique last, but what goes on our faces remains a well-intentioned and yet clumsy patchwork of tried-and-tested products.

Stepping into the gleaming domain of customisable skincare, however, can shake some sense of coherence into your beauty regimen, fine-tune the products you’re using and restore peace to your skin.

Perhaps the most important question is how hands-on you want to be with your skincare routine. For those who enjoy playing alchemist, you can have a selection of products that you DIY – or rather, BIY (blend-it yourself) – to your own specifications, depending on your skin’s requirements at that precise time.

It’s a concept that’s worked well for brands such as Loli Beauty (www.lolibeauty.com) and Emulsion (www.emulsion.co.uk), both of which offer a range of multitasking bases – cleansers, serums, masks and creams – into which ‘mix-ins’ or ‘add-ons’ can be incorporated.