When I was a kid thinking about the future, I subscribed to a very Jetsons- and Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century-style viewpoint. Everyone would be wearing sleek silver, we’d be flying around instead of driving, and we’d have robots living in our houses. I was not thinking about skin care.
Zenon and Judy Jetson weren’t worried about fine lines, sun damage, and sagging skin, but now that I’m firmly in the “late 30s” box, I certainly am. We may not live on a space station or have talking dogs, but the future is here—and it’s going to tell us exactly how “old” our skin is.
L’Oréal’s new Cell BioPrint device, which the beauty company unveiled at the 2025 CES tech show in Las Vegas earlier this week, is taking beauty tech to the next level with ultra-personalized insights based on specific protein levels in your skin. It aims to give people an up-close and personal look at their skin health: its past, its present, and yep, its future. Oh, and it takes just five minutes.
The device, made in partnership with the Korean biotech company NanoEnTek, is supposed to help you take a proactive approach to your skin versus a reactive one—instead of treating a sunspot or dryness after you notice it, for example, you could start using vitamin C or ceramides preventatively. Your data reading includes insight into both your skin’s “age” and how fast your skin is aging; which active ingredients are best for your skin and which you might as well skip; it even predicts potential issues such as dark spots, so in theory, you could essentially stop a problem before it even begins.
The device itself is a tabletop setup with a main machine resembling a small printer; insights are revealed on a tablet. First, a user puts something called a “facial tape strip” on their cheek—it feels like a piece of Scotch tape—then places that tape into a buffer solution. The solution is then loaded into a cartridge and inserted into the machine. As it processes the sample, the device takes photos of the user’s face, then the user answers a few questions about their skin health and concerns.
