Ever wanted a personalized makeup dispenser? Karin Layton, co-founder and CTO of Boldhue, has created just that: a device that aims to be the “Keurig for makeup.”
Baldhue's device essentially scans your face and then applies a customized foundation formula that matches your skin tone. The beauty tech startup announced Tuesday that it had raised $3.37 million in funding led by Lucas Venture Group and with participation from Mark Cuban and others.
The idea came to Leighton, a former aerospace engineer for Raytheon, when she was getting ready for work one day and noticed that a bottle of a new, expensive foundation didn't match her skin tone. Leighton, who painted in her spare time, decided to combine her knowledge of engineering and color theory to create the first of many prototypes.
The countertop-sized device, which will be priced at $295 at launch, works using a “wand” that is placed on different parts of the face to detect skin tone. The device uses a proprietary skin type classification algorithm to analyze your skin type and create the appropriate foundation shade using five pigments — blue, black, red, yellow, and white — before printing out a week's supply of foundation.
“On the back end, [data] “Then you take a bunch of white drops, a bunch of red drops, a bunch of yellow drops,” co-founder and CEO Rachel Wilson told TechCrunch. “Every single drop is calculated for your skin, so it's really customized for you.”
The new funding will be used to ship Boldhue's first batch of devices and to support recruiting and marketing efforts. Over the next few months, 10,000 units will be sent to a waiting list of 40,000 people (the majority of whom watched Boldhue's TikTok videos) before being sold to the public. Boldhue also plans to hold a national roadshow, with team members visiting major cities to promote the product.
The device hasn't shipped yet, so we haven't been able to test it. But if it's accurate, it could be a promising tool for many. Despite the existence of online foundation-finding quizzes and mobile apps that use a photo of your face to match your skin tone, many people struggle to find their perfect shade. This could be because skin tone fluctuates due to medical conditions or sun exposure. Additionally, makeup brands have historically ignored color diversity in their products, and many big companies have been criticized for a lack of dark shades.
“Consumers have a growing need for inclusivity, and brands are starting to cater to that need,” Wilson said. “Online color quizzes are great, but they force consumers into a lot of guesswork. And by the time your order arrives in the mail, the color may not match, or one day the sun will change your skin tone and now your skin tone is different… [Then] “You can get your colour matched in store, but it's very time-consuming and has limitations,” she added.
These types of machines aren't new: At the 2020 CES tech conference, L'Oreal unveiled Perso, which dispenses individual doses of lipstick and foundation to match your skin tone with the help of an AI-powered mobile app, and YSL also sells a custom lipstick creator for $350.
But Boldhue aims to be a more advanced option: Unlike L'Oreal's single-dose machines, it will also dispense a week's worth of product.
BoldHue's starter kit comes with a set of cartridges containing your first month's worth of foundation, as well as additional accessories like a jar and spatula. Additionally, the accompanying app will notify you when you're low on pigment and allow you to purchase refills for around $15 to $20 each. The startup also plans to release premium packaging to allow makeup artists to purchase cartridges in bulk.
“On average, you'll be replacing one cartridge a month, so it's not too expensive and it doesn't force you to buy all the cartridges all the time,” Wilson said.
In the long term, Boldhue plans to introduce a virtual try-on app that offers more personalization options. The app allows users to adjust the amount of pigment to suit their preferences. Additionally, Boldhue hopes to explore partnerships and expand into other makeup categories.
“We're looking at how we can address other pain points in the market with our technology deliverables, whether that's us creating a formula or partnering with people who create a formula that can be on our device,” Wilson said. “Again, I talk about Keurig because it's similar. They launched with their own coffee pods and now we have Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. We envision something similar with foundation. You can do anything with color, so maybe we'll get into other categories,” she added.
Other investors in the recent seed round included Backstage Capital, Capital Eleven and Tacoma Ventures. Boldhue initially raised $2 million from friends and family, bringing its total funding to date to about $5 million.