Revea is setting a new standard in the skincare industry with the debut of its mobile experience.
As AfroTech previously told you, the San Francisco-based company was looking to create a precise mobile experience that integrates Hyperspectral Imaging and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology will create refined diagnostics to generate skincare solutions for users. Already, 3,000 skin profiles have been created.
The idea was conjured three years ago by Revea Founder Chaz Giles. After his experience of leading innovation at Estée Lauder, he recognized faults in the skincare industry.
“The industry wasn’t built for where the world is today. So, the world will look more like you and me over time, less like the historical definition of beauty, which is this kind of upper east side white woman. Now, it’s changing and that diversity is coming in,” Giles told AfroTech.
He continued: “What we saw was a failure in terms of beauty recognizing true diversity in the world, but then we saw the problem was much greater than age, race, or ethnicity. The challenges that people had were very individual because our skin is driven by our biology. I can’t group all Black women and say, ‘Here are the skin concerns you have.’ That’s ridiculous to think about. And just like if a friend that might be another Black woman recommends a product to you, it may or may not work for you because your needs might be different. Or even if your needs are the same, the way that your skin breaks down and the way that you process ingredients are very different too. So, what we saw was a moment to use technology and a cutting edge kind of AI and machine learning to be able to solve the problem that every consumer is after, which is to help me understand what’s going on with my skin.”
Revea has been avidly working to bring its technology to the market. Plus, its efforts were recently accelerated by a $6 million funding round to support the launch of its mobile experience available to users today.
AfroTech exclusively tested out the full product to see how the mobile app will leverage technology to detect your skin needs and connect users with the right ingredients for their biology.
To begin, users should opt for a clean face and stand in a well-lit area for optimal results.
Artificial intelligence is then used to scan data points as it accesses three different quadrants of the face. The scan will capture nearly 30 images and measure six layers of the skin as this will be helpful to extract information for deep biological data.
Following this step, the application shifts into a series of questions about lifestyle, sleeping patterns, skin conditions, and menstrual cycles, among others.
Once complete, your skin health will be analyzed to generate a hypergraph. This process will require patience as will take up to three minutes. Once available, the hypergraph will reveal your radiance level and 40 skin characteristics under six skin parameters.
Parameters include melanin distribution, your skin’s microenvironment, skin water content, and collagen elastin matrix, among others.
What’s more, all users can learn about their skin breakdown using Revea’s technology, free of charge. This was important for Giles as he wants users to be well informed about their skin without creating barriers to access the knowledge.
“It was really important for us to take what is today’s super inaccessible science and make that accessible for people. For example, maybe you can’t step into the products right away but that platform, data, report on the skin, and the things that are happening with your skin, we offer that for free. That’s just a digital product that can inform, educate, and help you understand what things are driving the redness, the inflammation, or the dry skin to inform choices. It was about how do we build both a business and move the industry forward at the same time.”
Users will then have the choice to activate their membership-based model with Revea so they can access their customized formulation. Users will then receive an AM Serum and PM Serum, both made exactly to measure, coupled with a moisturizer available for purchase. The order will then be sent out in roughly 48 hours.
The process won’t stop there.
Revea will continue to track users’ skin profiles over a three-month period as they recognize the skin is easily influenced. Collecting a baseline measure is a start to understanding the natural variations of the skin as they formulate more products in the future for current and onboarding users.
“We use that data and then all the measurements that you would take over the next 90 days. We use that to help understand how your skin’s moving, how it’s improving, and then what other things might be affecting it to make your next formulation smarter. Also, all of that measurement and data also goes back into making the community better, because then the next person that comes in [who] has similar attributes to some of those profiles, we learn from how you’ve interacted and your skin is interacted to help improve the next formulation,” Giles said.
