Right now, the most high-tech piece of your hygiene routine might be your toothbrush. But just as those dental devices are getting Bluetooth connections and apps, so are beauty masks. Mapo, from Wired Beauty, isn’t anything like a yogurt-and-honey concoction, though. It’s made of medical-grade silicone and is filled with sensors.
The sensors take the skin’s temperature and measure its moisture level using something called a corneometer. You strap on the mask (which looks something straight out of the Eyes Wide Shut costume department), leave it on for a minute, and it will gather relevant data and send it via Bluetooth to your phone. The accompanying app uses that information to track your skin’s health and give recommendations about your beauty routine, such as when you should be cleansing and what type of products work best for you.
To customize the device specifically for you, you take a bunch of pictures of your face that the company will use to reconstruct a 3D image and create the mask. The mask has a second function as a “booster.” You put on moisturizer, put the mask back on, and it warms up, supposedly helping the lotion penetrate better. Your chin and nose are out of luck, though, because of the way the mask is shaped. (Wired Beauty says these areas need less moisture anyway.) Dermatologist Rebecca Kazin tells Allure she’s skeptical that heat will actually make moisturizer more effective, though.
The Mapo is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. It starts at about $217 for early birds, though you can try one out for six months with a $108 pledge. The mask will ship in June 2016, though usual Kickstarters beware rules apply. The company will be showing off the mask at CES, so we’ll definitely keep you updated if we can get one on our faces.
