WEBVTT

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A beauty retailer is making room for a wearable.

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A professional skin care brand is taking its home
device beyond the face.

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And ingredient suppliers are working on the parts of
beauty you actually feel.

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This week the interesting question is what happens
around the product?

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Before you choose it, while you use it and between
visits.

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I'm Mike and this is Beauty Tech Weekly.

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Today, WHOOP and Ulta, a new Dermalux device,

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Clariant's approach to sunscreen formulation,
Meiyume's upcoming beauty showcase,

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and Dow's work on textures.

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Let's look at what was announced, what still needs
to be demonstrated,

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and what these stories could mean for a beauty
business.

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WHOOP and Ulta Beauty announced a partnership on
November 3rd.

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WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG are planned for Ulta's
website and selected US stores from March 2027.

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These are existing devices entering a new retail
channel.

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So the news is the partnership and its future
rollout,

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rather than a new wearable launching this week.

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What interests me is the shopping context.

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Someone entering a beauty store may now encounter a
product built around daily habits.

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Alongside the products they already associate with
appearance and self-care.

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I see that as a useful signal about how retailers
want to broaden the conversation.

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It gives a beauty business another reason to think
about the customer's routine

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beyond the moment of purchase.

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There is a practical challenge here.

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A device can require setup, learning, and an ongoing
reason to use it.

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Putting it on a shelf is only the beginning.

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If I were planning a launch like this,

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I would want the customer journey to explain the
first week clearly.

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What happens after purchase, where help comes from,

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and how the customer knows whether the product fits
their routine.

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For salons, my takeaway is about service design.

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What does a client need to understand after leaving
the building?

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Which questions are likely to appear at home?

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Those are useful questions even if your business
never sells a wearable.

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We will have to wait for the retail rollout to see
how this particular partnership

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handles that experience.

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For now, it is a distribution announcement with an
interesting direction.

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Dermalux has announced a home LED device for the
neck and upper chest.

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The official release appeared on November 6th,

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following trade coverage earlier in the week.

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The company describes a 10 minute treatment using
red and near-infrared light.

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This extends its home range to another area of the
body,

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with a design intended to keep a controlled distance
between the lights and the skin.

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In the official product images, you can see the
device worn around the neck and upper chest,

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with a separate controller.

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The second image shows its illuminated inner
surface.

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These pictures help explain the shape and placement,

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they do not demonstrate a treatment result.

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Claims about skin improvement still need to be
assessed against the evidence for the specific
device,

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its instructions and the person using it.

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For a salon owner, the bigger question is how home
care fits into the relationship.

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A client leaves with a product or a device,

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but may still need help understanding the routine,

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knowing whom to contact or arranging the next
conversation.

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I think that makes the period between visits part of
the service itself.

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The experience continues after the appointment has
finished.

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That's also what we're working on at AI Beauty Bot,

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helping salons use AI to stay in touch with clients
between visits.

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A question can come up long before the next
appointment,

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and the salon can remain part of that conversation.

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With home care becoming part of the story, I think
continuity matters.

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Clients should know how to reach their salon when
they need it.

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My practical takeaway would be to look at the
follow-up experience around any home care
recommendation.

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Is the next step clear?

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Can the client easily ask a question?

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Is there a sensible route back to the professional
when individual guidance is needed?

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That is where I would start.

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The technology in a device is one part of the
experience.

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The communication around it deserves just as much
thought.

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Clariant's November 3rd announcement focuses on a
hybrid sunscreen ingredient system called

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Eclipsogen CAP Duo Z.

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The company describes a prepared dispersion that
combines organic UV filters with zinc oxide

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and can be processed without heating.

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This is an input for formulators.

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It is not a finished sunscreen that a customer can
buy,

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and it does not give every resulting product the
same protection or feel.

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The interesting part for me is the work behind a
formula.

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A product brief might ask for a particular texture,
appearance and application experience,

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but somebody has to make those requirements work
together.

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A prepared ingredient system is one way a supplier
tries to reduce that development work.

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The relevant business question is whether it helps a
team make a better product reliably,

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in its own formulation and process.

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Clariant reports test results for its system,

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but those results come with specific formulations
and test conditions.

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I would keep that distinction visible.

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If I were evaluating a finished product built with a
new ingredient,

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I would ask for evidence on that finished formula.

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A supplier's technical result is a starting point
for a conversation,

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not a shortcut around checking the product that
eventually reaches the customer.

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For beauty businesses, this is a reminder to ask
more than which fashionable ingredient is inside.

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What does the finished formula do?

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How does it apply?

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How does it fit the intended use?

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Those questions give a purchasing or development
team something concrete to assess.

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My interest in this announcement is the attempt to
make formulation work simpler,

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while the final product still has to earn its own
claims.

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Meiyume announced BEACON ahead of Cosmopack Asia,

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which is scheduled for November 10th to 12th in Hong
Kong.

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Its presentation connects beauty trend intelligence
with formulation, packaging and manufacturing.

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The company's beauty intelligence platform already
existed before this week.

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The fresh news is the upcoming showcase,

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and how Meiyume plans to bring those capabilities
together.

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At our editorial cut-off, the event has not happened
yet.

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What I would want to see is the path from an
interesting trend to an actual development decision.

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Which customer is the product for?

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Which problem does it solve?

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Why this formula and this pack?

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A convincing demonstration should make those
decisions easier to follow.

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A dashboard full of signals can be useful,

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but the value becomes much clearer when a team can
explain what it changed because of them.

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So I am treating this as a preview to watch,

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rather than a claim that AI has already transformed
the process.

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The useful follow-up would be a concrete example,

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with enough detail to understand the decisions and
the limits.

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For a brand owner, that is a good standard to bring
to any technology presentation.

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Show how the information changes the work.

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Dow's November announcement brings together four
functional ingredients

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and four formulation concepts for in-cosmetics Asia.

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The lineup includes an elastomer blend, an oil
gellant and two emollients.

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One detail matters for the timeline.

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The oil gellant, DOWSIL 8190, was already documented
earlier this year.

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We are covering the November presentation and its
formulation ideas

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without treating every ingredient as a first ever
launch.

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The ingredient names can sound abstract, so here is
the practical connection.

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DOW describes tools for shaping texture, structuring
oils,

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and changing how a formula spreads and feels.

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Think about the questions a development team might
ask.

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Does it hold the intended form?

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Does it move easily during application?

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And what remains afterwards?

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Our graphic is an editorial explanation of those
questions,

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not footage of a product test.

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I would want to compare prototypes in a defined use
case.

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What changed in the formula?

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What trade-offs came with that change?

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And how does the team judge the experience?

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A phrase like silky or lightweight is a useful
ambition,

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but it is also something people may interpret
differently.

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Giving a development team a clear comparison

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is more useful than asking it to deliver a list of
attractive adjectives.

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This is why ingredient stories belong in a beauty
technology conversation.

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Some of the most relevant work happens in the feel
of a product,

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even when there is no screen or app involved.

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For a salon choosing retail products,

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my takeaway is to ask suppliers to explain the
practical difference

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in the finished formula, and make that difference
understandable

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to the person who will use it at home.

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Across these five stories, I see a common question.

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How does the technology fit into someone's actual
experience?

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Ulta and WHOOP will need to explain a new retail
journey.

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Home devices raise questions about support between
visits.

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Ingredient systems still need to become good
finished products.

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And AI tools need to connect information with
decisions.

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That is the level where I would judge the value.

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What becomes clearer, easier, or more useful?

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Which of these would make the biggest difference in
your business?

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A new retail category, a better home care
conversation,

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or a better product formula?

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Let me know.

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I'm Mike and this was Beauty Tech Weekly.

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See you in the next episode.