Kirei Skin AI, Kao’s Unique Skin Evaluation AI Technology that Has Learned Human Sensibility – It Can Sense and See a Diverse Range of Makeup Finishes

People instantly sense slight differences in skin color or texture and perceive impressions given by the face or skin. So when developing makeup products that make skin look beautiful and attractive, establishing ways to objectively evaluate impressions created by the skin’s appearance is important.
At Kao, we have previously used various kinds of measuring equipment and analytical methods to evaluate skin impressions. However, it has been difficult to evaluate differences in diverse and delicate skin impressions with the same sensibility as human eyes or to measure such differences because special equipment was necessary.

To help solve this problem, Kao developed Kirei Skin AI, a technology that evaluates diverse and delicate impressions created by the skin’s appearance like we humans do, by using deep learning.
Kirei Skin AI learnt skin images of Japanese women in a wide range of age groups collected by Kao on our own. This is in addition to information on skin attributes for bare skin and made-up skin, as well as visual evaluations by Kao’s group of expert judges skilled in visually evaluating skin to assess makeup textures, skin age, transparency, and other impressions of skin. The technology is designed to closely analyze the texture of skin in an area that is as small as about 2 cm square, and can show skin analysis results for different sites, such as the forehead and cheeks, as images.

Kirei Skin AI can clearly distinguish made-up skin finished with a beautiful luster from made-up skin that is oily and shiny due to makeup smudge. This has been difficult to do with measurement by conventional optical equipment.
In addition, the technology can now provide objective evaluations of makeup quality, such as a smooth makeup finish and a natural makeup finish that takes advantage of the bare skin. Previously, judging has only been possible by human eyes, so the new technology will enable us to further pursue better makeup finishes and longer-lasting effects.

We will apply the Kirei Skin AI technology to develop makeup products that produce more beautiful finishes and last longer at the same time.