Oh, patents! @ CES 2021 – YSL’s smart lipstick powered by L’Oréal Perso

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Yves Saint Laurent’s (YSL) Rouge sur mesure powered by Perso, L’Oréal’s dispensing system, was one of the highlights of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2021). A trade show held yearly, since 1998 in Las Vegas, that usually attracts thousands of people. No less a hit in this pandemic year, CES 2021 went virtual.  Advertised as “a no in-person attendance event", the event still showcased some dazzling technology, while offering a virtual podium to some of the leading industry officials (Goode, 2020).

YSL’s Rouge sur mesure powered by Perso is smart lipstick, dispensed by a Bluetooth®-connected device that custom-blends three different liquid lipstick cartridges to your exact specification via an app. Indeed, the app allows you to select a shade on a color wheel. Alternatively, the app enables you to match the color of your outfit, using a dropper tool, or to obtain expert recommendations, based on the specifics of your facial features. The mixture extrudes to the top of the device, for immediate application from a small shallow receptacle. The top of the device also doubles as a lip brush holder and cap, which twists off, letting you take with you, for touch-ups or re-application, the day’s custom-color shade that you have designed. At the end of the day, begone drawers full of once-used, or once-tried, lipsticks! You can have any shade that you design, in very small quantities, on any given day of the year.

Perhaps best of all, the L’Oréal Perso, short for “personal”, is a patented invention, masterminded by a team of researchers at L'Oréal's own smart cosmetics Technology Incubator. The Perso device invention, powering custom-color lipstick that you can personally blend and design every day, is recited in the 177-page, US utility, patent, US2020315319A1, titled System for dispensing a cosmetic product. An invention with a scope unlimited to lipstick, since liquid foundation, skincare or sun-protection products, even perfume, might also be blended, and customized, via a L’Oréal Perso dispensing device, together with Bluetooth®-connected app. In fact, the foundation, skincare and lipstick prototypes of the L'Oréal Perso were all three unveiled at CES 2020. Whereas this year, a ready-for-market YSL Rouge sur measure powered by Perso (lipstick-only) product was showcased. (The fashion designer brand, YSL, is L'Oréal-owned.)

The patent recites a blender device, suited to work with dense particles, for the purposes of designing compositions that might enhance or conceal the appearance of skin, particularly facial appearance. Specifically, the device is designed to address two issues: 1> the issue of variability in skin tone, which not only differs from one person to another, but also from one area of the skin to another, and 2> the issue of suitability, whether for contrasting or matching a particular complexion, when seeking to enhance the appearance of skin, using make-up on eyelids, lips and cheeks. In response to this twofold problematic situation, users might buy a lot of different products, which is costly. Users might test different products in-store, which is not always satisfactory, since the test occurs in a single location, under specific lighting and clothing conditions. Or, users might create their own products, which is not always practical in terms of design speed, replicability of the composition, or reliability of the design conditions.

Consequently, the invention explores uncharted territory, offering to support the design of individual compositions, in view of addressing all the aforementioned identified issues of skin variability, suitability, and test driving of products found in retail, while also resolving the issue of production speed, replicability of custom compositions and reliability of the design conditions. Finally, the invention also addresses the issue of quantity, since the prior art of custom design usually produces no less than 100 gr (approx. 4 oz) of the custom product, whereas individual users often need no more than 10 mg (0.04 oz) of a product to touch up, or apply on, a small area of skin.  

To support customization of cosmetic compositions, the patent recites the chemical, mechanical and electronic components of the system. Chemical aspects of the invention comprise, for example, research-driven issues of formulation, such as choice of materials, quantities, particle size, combination and processes. Mechanical aspects of the invention comprise, for example, the dispensing means under user control, designed to pressurize the compositions placed in separate compartments, using volumetric metering devices, motors, and endless screws, driving pistons in each compartment. Electronic means  of the invention comprise, for example, a user-controlled interface, positioned on the dispensing device, or via an app, connected to the device with Bluetooth® link. An interface designed to drive the mechanical aspects of dispensing a product, occurring in one of two modes: single dose or continuous.

The abstract of the invention is included below, together with Figure 4, extracted from the patent, depicting an exploded view of the Perso dispensing device. An image of the marketed YSL Rouge sur mesure powered by Perso, is also included. The image of the marketed device is from the underside, with the liquid lipstick cartridges showing.

The patent Figure 4 depicts an exploded view of the dispensing system 10, comprising the cartridges 30, a locking ring 43, sleeve 41 and support piece 40, serving to secure the cartridges 30 inside the housing of the dispensing system 10, so that they do not move once inserted. The battery cells 89 are also indexed in continuation of the motors 70. Inside the body 31 of the cartridges 30, a piston 32 (hidden from view) can move on the longitudinal axis of the cartridge 30, in view of reducing the volume of a reservoir 33, containing a base product for extrusion, via a rod 34, to a nozzle 37 (hidden), open to the outside, via a dispensing orifice 53  on top of the device, hidden, in a view from below.  

The invention relates to a system (10) for dispensing a product, comprising a dispenser that can house at least two cartridges, each of which includes a reservoir containing a base product, a first base product comprising at least 0.1 wt.-% particles having a density differential relative to the medium containing same, preferably of at least 0.5 g/cm3, in particular particles having a density greater than or equal to 2 g/cm3, and a thickening agent. The dispenser allows at least two base products to be dispensed in adjustable proportions, the viscosity of the first base product being preferably greater than 2 Pa·s and more preferably greater than or equal to 4 Pa·s. [Abstract S2020315319A1]

References 

Carman, A.  ( Jan 11, 2021) YSL’s lipstick pod gadget will create whatever shade you want. https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/11/22218777/ysl-beaute-rouge-sur-mesure-perso-ces-gadget-2021

CES 2021 https://digital.ces.tech/home

Goode, L. (Jan 15, 2021) Virtual CES was as surreal as we all suspected it would be. https://www.wired.com/story/virtual-ces-2021-was-strange/

Mitroff, S.  (Jan.12, 2021) CES 2021: Custom mix your own lipstick with this gadget.   https://www.cnet.com/health/ces-2021-custom-mix-your-own-lipstick-with-this-gadget/ 

L'Oréal https://www.lorealparisusa.com/

L'Oréal (Staff) YSL Rouge sur measure: A beauty tech powered by Perso.   https://www.loreal.com/en/articles/science-and-technology/2021/01/08/17/37/ysl-perso/

L’Oréal (Staff) (Jan. 5, 2020) L'Oréal takes another step into beauty tech at CES 2020 with introduction of Perso: A first-of-its-kind, 3-in-1 device for personalized at-home skincare and cosmetics.   https://tinyurl.com/yy4nwpjs 

L'Oréal Technology Incubator https://www.lorealtechincubator.com/