Las Vegas is extremely dry. The arid winter air had me waking up on the third day of CES 2025 with a bleeding nose, chapped lips, and ashen legs. This despite the fact that I slathered myself in two pumps of fermented bean essence, eye cream, moisturizer and lip mask. Looking at my face in the hotel mirror, I wondered if any of these products were doing what they were supposed to do – and if maybe, I should try something different.
That’s why I was so excited to try L’Oréal Cell BioPrint.
For anyone with complexion issues, the Cell BioPrint looks like a holy grail gadget. The device is a mini-lab setup that analyzes a skin sample to generate a report on the current condition of your skin. It will also “rate” your skin for oiliness, wrinkles, skin barrier function, pore size and uneven skin tone. Depending on the proteins in your skin, you’ll also see if you’re more likely to be susceptible to these issues in the long term, even if they no longer are now. The test also determines whether you react to retinol, a popular and well-studied skin care ingredient that nevertheless causes a lot of confusion online.
In my demo, using Cell BioPrint was simple. Mainly because I had nothing to do. If L’Oréal hopes to one day make Cell BioPrint an at-home device, it will first target retailers, dermatology offices and skin care clinics. As time goes on, the test itself will be carried out by a professional to ensure its accuracy. A L’Oréal employee took a sample from both of my cheeks using a special type of sticker. I then saw him dissolve it in a buffer liquid, place the resulting solution in a cartridge and introduce this cartridge into a machine. I also had my cheeks and forehead scanned with an imaging wand before answering two questions about my age and demographics.
After a few minutes, I could see my results. Apparently I’m doing something right because the report said my chronological and biological ages were aligned. But he also says that while my skin barrier function is currently good, I’m biologically prone to having problems with it as I age. My report also stated that I don’t need to worry about pore size either now or in the future, and that I’m very sensitive to retinol, which means my skin is likely to tolerate it well .
There are several other ideas that I won’t bore you with, but after reviewing my results, I have a better idea of what I should focus on. For example, I should continue to use moisturizers containing ceramides, strengthen my sun protection habits outside of sunscreen, add vitamin C to improve my complexion, and add retinol. I also know what I don’t do it that I need or can remove from my routine. For example, I don’t need to buy products intended to shrink pores.
Most of these events were not surprising. My results align with the concerns I’ve noticed and tend to focus my skincare routine on. For example, the few times I’ve tried retinol, I’ve never had a clue about the sensitivities other people seem to experience.
Of course, this type of personalized recommendation is only as good as the science behind it. After all, many health and beauty tech companies promise the moon, but are intentionally coy when it comes to explaining why you should trust them. Barring regulatory certification (which is generally not required for wellness and beauty technologies), it is up to the individual to try to discern whether an explanation passes the smell test.
With this in mind, I asked L’Oréal to take a deep dive into the science – which Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oréal’s technology incubator, happily agreed.
Balooch says the company had 800 biologists working (and publishing clinical studies) to find out if there are specific proteins expressed in skin cells that could determine your risk factors for certain skin conditions. The challenge, he says, is that the body produces a lot of protein. Finding the few out of thousands that can yield actionable skincare insights is like finding a handful of needles in a giant haystack. It was necessary for L’Oréal researchers to sequence them all and SO find the relevant biomarkers.
According to Balooch, this particular branch of research is called proteomics – or the study of how proteins are expressed in the body. “It’s about understanding that our cells make proteins every day. Depending on our lifestyle, our geography and our genes, they will produce these proteins to a greater or lesser extent. It changes over time and habits can change it too.
Balooch says L’Oréal tested 4,000 people over 10 years in the United States, Europe, South America and Asia and discovered five proteins linked to skin health, including two linked to how skin A person’s skin will respond to retinol. And while Cell BioPrint can currently only analyze retinol reactivity, other ingredients like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid are also in the works.
“In a way, it’s about telling people what not buy. »
Cynically speaking, a device like this could also be seen as a pseudo-scientific way to sell more products to a group of people already inclined to reach for their wallets. But Balooch says Cell BioPrint isn’t meant to encourage people to buy more.
“In a way, it’s about telling people what not buy,” he said. “Of course we would like to sell more products, but not through overconsumption. It’s not really good for your skin. It’s about helping people find the right products based on science.
To that end, Balooch is right. The skincare market is currently full of misinformation and influencers pushing expensive 10-step routines that sometimes do more harm than good. I know better, and yet I’m as guilty as the next skincare nerd. (I’m still haunted by the bottle full of snail mucin that influencers said would solve all my problems. It broke me instead.) Even now, I know I’ll probably be influenced again. The difference is that at least I can choose to indulge in a retinol cream or vitamin C serum – products that are more likely to help me – rather than throwing my money away.
