Rather than going to beauty salons, many Asian women are opting to invest in their own skin care devices in the quest for easier regimes or a technology that works with a cosmetic product to achieve professional results.
Massage has been traditionally deep rooted in beauty routines in Asia, so it's no surprise that the region is expected to show high growth rates in the next five years in the context of the global market.
Multinationals have been particularly successful in the likes of China and South Korea, where brands such as Refa (MTG), Clarisonic from L’Oreal, and Clinique from Estee Lauder are carving out significant shares of the market - giving Chanel, Dior and La Mer, food for thought in developing for local markets.
Likewise, there has also been a significant division in the adoption of different types of devices worldwide, with consumers in Asia and Europe opting for cleansing functions, whereas in the US and to a lesser extent in Europe, anti-ageing has proved more popular.
LED innovation
LED light masks are also starting to make their mark in the beauty world and analysts at market researcher Kline Group believe this could be the start of a new trend.
Take for example, La Lumière; launched under the IlluMask name as a wearable LED light mask. According to Kline, it comes in anti-ageing and anti-acne varieties and priced at US$29.95, it is well placed to gain traction in the mass market, worldwide.
Meanwhile, Sony launched the first ever digital camera in image sensoring that measures the texture, blotches, pores and colour of the skin in 2015.
The technology has been created for customer service purposes at beauty-treatment clinics and cosmetics manufacturers.
Its features include a 'Skin View Camera' for checking the skin, a cloud server using Sony’s analysis algorithm, a 'Skin Analyzer' application software, which runs on a dedicated tablet computer and a 'Skin Viewer' smartphone application.
The state of the skin is analyzed by applying LED lights with different wavelengths (such as visible light, which is reflected on skin surface, and near-infrared light, which comes back after passing through the inside of the skin) to measure reflected lights with the CMOS sensor.
Sony has also started to research applying the new technology to analysing the scalp.