The science behind L’Oréals new skincare gadget

Las Vegas is punishingly dry. The dry winter air meant I woke up on Day 3 of CES 2025 with a runny nose, chapped lips, and ashy feet. This is despite the fact that I slathered myself with two pumps of fermented nut essence, eye cream, moisturizer, and lip mask. Looking at my face in the hotel mirror, I wondered if there was a product that did what it was supposed to do – and if it did, I should try something different. This is why I was so eager to try L’Oréal’s Cell BioPrint. For anyone struggling with their skin, Cell BioPrint feels like a holy grail gadget. The device is a mini-lab setup that analyzes skin samples to generate a report on the current condition of the skin. It will also “grade” the skin in regards to oiness, wrinkles, skin barrier function, pore size, and uneven skin tone. Based on the proteins in your skin, you will also see if you are more prone to these problems – even if they are not a problem now. The test also determines whether you are responsive to retinol, a popular and well-researched skin care ingredient that has caused confusion online. My result. I like to say my skin’s biological and chronological age are in sync. Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge In my demo, using Cell BioPrint was really easy. Mainly because I don’t have to do anything. While L’Oréal hopes to make Cell BioPrint an at-home device, it will be aimed at retail stores, dermatology offices, and skin care clinics. As in, actual testing will be done by professionals to ensure accuracy. The L’Oréal staff collected a sample from my cheek with a special sticker. I watched as he then dissolved in the buffer liquid, placed the resulting solution into the cartridge, and fed the cartridges into the machine. I also read the cheeks and forehead with an imaging wand before answering two questions about age and demographic data. After a few minutes, I should see the results. Apparently, I did something right because the report said that my chronological and biological ages were in sync. But it also says that while the skin’s barrier function is good now, it’s biologically more prone to problems as we age. My report also says that I don’t have to worry about pore size – now or in the future, and that I am very responsive to retinol, which means my skin tolerates it well. There are some other insights that I won’t bore you with, but after reviewing the results, I have a better sense of what to focus on. For example, I should continue to use moisturizers with ceramides, button up sun care habits outside of sunscreen, add vitamin C to help with skin color, and add retinol. I also know what is unnecessary or can be removed from the routine. For example, I don’t need to buy products targeted at shrinking pores. Most of this is not surprising. My results are in line with the concerns I see and where I tend to concentrate my skin care routine. For example, the few times I’ve tried retinol, I’ve never noticed the sensitivity that other people experience. Of course, this particular recommendation is only as good as the science behind it. After all, many health and beauty tech companies promise the moon, but they deliberately don’t know why you should believe them. In the absence of regulatory certification (which is generally not required for health and beauty technologies), it is the individual’s responsibility to try to find out if the explanation passes the smell test. With that in mind, I asked L’Oréal to save the science – which Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator, happily obliged. whether there are specific proteins expressed in skin cells that can determine risk factors for certain skin conditions. The challenge, he says, is that many proteins are produced by the body. Finding a few out of thousands that can give you actionable skin care insights is like finding a few needles in a giant haystack. This required L’Oréal researchers to sort through everything and then find the appropriate biomarkers. This particular branch of research, Balooch said, is called proteomics — or the study of how proteins are expressed in the body. “It is understood that our cells make proteins every day. Depending on our lifestyle, our geography, and our genes, they will make more or less of these proteins. It changes over time and habits can also change. Balooch said that L’Oréal tested 4,000 people over 10 years in the US, Europe, South America and Asia, and found five proteins related to skin health, including two related to how the skin responds to retinol. And while Cell BioPrint can only analyze responsiveness to retinol, other ingredients like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid are also at work. “In some ways, it’s meant to tell people what not to buy.” Cynically, this kind of device can also be seen as a pseudoscientific way to sell more products to a group of people has been easy on the wallet. But Balooch says Cell BioPrint isn’t meant to encourage people to buy more. “In some ways, it’s meant to tell people what not to buy,” he said. “Of course, we like to sell more products, but not with excessive consumption. That’s actually not good for your skin. It’s about helping people find the right products based on science. To that end, Balooch has a point. Today’s skin care market is full of information that’s wrong and the influencers are pushing expensive 10 step routines that sometimes do more harm than good. I know more, but I’m as guilty as the next skincare nerd broke me instead.) Even now, I know that I will probably get influenced again. The difference is that I can choose to be influenced by retinol cream or vitamin C serum – that has a better chance of helping me – than spending money on the wind.

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