Ever find yourself standing at a beauty counter, feeling intimidated and confused – which product does what, exactly? And what works best for your skin? There’s a solution: smartphone apps that help you navigate the
wide array of skincare in the market.
These diagnose your skin issues, educate you on ingredients that may work for your skin, recommend products, and dole out advice. The newest one is Picky, designed to simplify skincare science so it’s easier to understand. Developed by a Singapore-South Korean pair of skincare enthusiasts in the land of K-beauty, it started when co-founders Rachel Lee and Lee Jihong wanted to make K-skincare more accessible to an international audience.
“There was a lack of information about these products…and there was no go-to platform for comprehensive ingredient information in English,” says Rachel Lee, Picky’s Singapore half.
“We live in a world where we get an influx of marketing messages, endorsements and advertisements every day. So it becomes increasingly difficult for even savvy skincare enthusiasts to navigate through the noise and to evaluate products based on their core functions – ingredient formulae.”
Picky, which was launched in March 2020, allows users to check a product’s compatibility with their skin type, using an ingredient- based evaluation of the formula – so far, it’s garnered 5,000 downloads and 3,300 registered users. Picky isn’t the only skincare app; there are others, although they’re not available to Singapore users.
What’s accessible – and useful – are other apps like Trove and Ingred. The former analyses your selfie to give you a lowdown on the state of your skin, so you can zoom in on your main concerns and track your skin’s progress when you use new products. Ingred gives you information about ingredients (in both cosmetics and food products) so you can understand what’s going onto your skin and into your body.
