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Humanity has sequenced the genome and built artificial intelligence, and yet it’s still shockingly hard to find the right foundation shade. I’ve spent hours at Sephora searching for a shade that doesn’t make my skin look ashy or unnatural. Then, when I finally do find a match, my skin gets darker after a day in the sun, and the color no longer works. I’m not alone in my frustration. Last year, makeup brands sold $8.4 billion of foundation around the world, but you can still find social media brimming with people complaining about how hard it is to find the right shade. A new brand, Boldhue, wants to solve this problem forever. The company has created a machine that scans your face in three places, then instantly dispenses a customized foundation shade. Using a system similar to Keurig pods, the machine comes with five color cartridges that mix to create the right color; once they run out, you order more. Boldhue Co-Founder and CEO Rachel Wilson and Artistic Director Sir John [Photo: Boldhue] The product could revolutionize the way that everyday consumers do their makeup at homeand also make it far easier for professional makeup artists to create the right shade for their clients. Fueled by $3.37 million in venture funding from Mark Cuban’s Lucas Venture Group, BoldHue believes it can bring this technology to all kinds of other cosmetic products. The Quest To Find Your Shade Karin Layton, BoldHue’s co-founder and CTO, was an aerospace engineer who worked at Raytheon. Five years ago, she realized that her high-end foundation didn’t accurately match her skin. As a hobby, Layton dabbled in painting and had a fascination with color theory. So she began tinkering with building a machine that would produce a person’s exact skin shade. During the pandemic, after Layton decided to turn her idea into real company, she brought her childhood friend and serial entrepreneur, Rachel Wilson, as her business partner. I really resonated with the pain points she was trying to solve because I am half Argentinian, says Wilson, who is now CEO. And while I present as white, I have undertones that make it complicated for me to find the right shade. I always look like a pumpkin or a ghost when I wear foundation. [Photo: Boldhue] Women of color, in particular, have trouble finding the right shade. For years, the makeup industry focused on creating products for caucasian women, leaving Black and brown women to come up with their own solutions. This only began to change a decade ago. In 2015, I wrote about a chemist at L’Oreal, Balanda Atis, went on a personal quest to develop a darker foundation that wouldn’t make her skin look too red or black. L’Oreal eventually commercialized the product she created and promoted Atis to become the head of the Women of Color lab, which focuses on creating products for women of color. Danessa Myricks, a self-taught makeup artist, spent years mixing her own foundation using dark pigments she found at costume makeup stores and mixed them with drugstore foundations. In 2015, she launched her own beauty brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty, and four years ago, Sephora began to carry it. [Photo: Boldhue] Today, there are more options for women of color, but many women still struggle to find the right shade. BoldHue believes the solution lies in technology. Color matching technology already exists, but it is not particularly convenient for consumers. Lancome has a machine that color matches, but it’s only available in certain stores. Sephora has ColorIQ, which scans your face and matches you to different brands. But part of the problem is that your skin tone isn’t static; it is constantly changing based on how much sun exposure you have, especially if you are have a lot of melanin. If you order a shade online, your complexion may have changed by the time you receive it seven days later, says Wilson. Color-Matching At Home Wilson and Layton believe that having an affordable, at-home solution to color matching could be game-changing. The machine comes with a wand. When you want to create a new foundation shade, you scan your skin on your forehead, your cheek, and your neck. Then the machine instantly dispenses about a week’s worth of that shade into a little container. The machine can store that shade for you to use in the future. But having the machine in your house means that you can easily re-scan your face after a day at the beach to get a more accurate shade. If there are multiple people in a household (or say, a sorority house) who wear foundation, they can each scan their faces to produce the perfect shade. And it could transform the work of makeup artists who typically mix their own shades for their clients throughout the day. They’re lugging around pounds of products to set and are forced to play chemist all day long, says Wilson. If we can shade match for them in one minute, they can focus on the artistry part of their job,and they’re wildly excited about that. It also means they can book more clients in a day, because they have more time. While on the surface, BoldHue’s technology seems to disrupt to the foundation industry, Wilson believes it could actually empower other makeup brands. Each makeup brand has its own formula that influences the creaminess and coverage of their foundations. BoldHue could create a brand’s formula in the machine, but have the added benefit of highly specific color matches. BoldHue is already in talks to partner with brands to create customized foundations for them, much the way that Keurig partners with brands like Peet’s and Illy to create pods for the coffee machines. But ultimately, the possibilities go beyond foundation. With this technology BoldHue could create other color cosmetics, from concealer to lipstick to eyeshadow. We think of ourselves as a technology company with a beauty deliverable, Wilson says.
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E-Commerce
For years, the creator economy has become increasingly accepted as the future of media. These days, makeup tutorials on TikTok could have the same impact for a brand as a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, and a progressive Twitch streamer can reach a comparable, if not bigger audience, as MSNBC. But like digital media before it, the creator economy now faces a multifaceted conundrum that could determine its long term fate: shifting priorities from Meta and X, the potential TikTok ban (which, thanks to an executive order from the Trump administration, has at least a stay of execution), industry consolidation, and AI-enabled content overload. Taken together, these issues could spell the end of the influencer and creator economy as it exists in its current form, according to nearly a dozen industry experts interviewed by Fast Company. The appeal of influencers has historically laid with their supposed authenticity. They’re pushing products they believe in or sharing news commentary from an unfiltered perspective, which resonated with consumers. Increasingly, there is a sentiment that this authenticity is fading. And that could spell big long-term changes. AI: Friend of Foe? AI tools have made it easier for influencers to break into the marketplace like using ChatGPT to write articles, or Adobes text to image maker to make pictures, and Canvas AI video generator to make clips. By doing so, these products have made it easier to get content out in the world without developing the skills needed to make higher quality programming. That low barrier to entryand the general proliferation of AI-fueled content across the webalso means it can be difficult for creators to stand out. At the same time, the ubiquity of AI has for many consumers inserted a skepticism around authenticity. Amazon Web Services researchers believe 57% of online content is already made by AI programs or translated via AI programs. Yet, per a recent Deloitte study, seven out of 10 consumers reportedly think generative AI is ruining the user experience. Thats already having an impact on how consumers interact with creators and influencers. Forty-five percent of 13 to 22 year olds say that influencers dont have as much sway as they used to, according to a YPulse study. Meanwhile, a survey by EnTribe found 51% of consumers scrolled right past an influencer post that appeared in their feed. In terms of actually using AI as the way to generate ideas to create content, I think were just going to get a lot of quantity and not quality, says Ivy Yang, founder of Wavelet Strategy, a New York-based communications consultancy. Sure enough, brands have started to catch on to consumer sentiment. A plethora of brands have asked their ad agencies to not use AI in their strategies. Dove notably said it would not use AI-generated content at all. Are Brand Partnerships Really Helping? A staggering 61% of 13 to 39-year-olds believe the more ads influencers do, the less they trust them, according to a YPulse survey. As soon as the audience starts to feel like this person isnt authentic or interesting, they just jump to another person who is seen as more authentic and interesting, says James Nord, founder and CEO of the influencer marketing company Fohr. That authenticity problem is already impacting brands who rely on influencers to push their products. An EnTribe study found that 42% of people who purchased something recommended by influencers regretted that decision which is fueling a credibility crisis. “Inauthenticity can trigger swift backlash, and evolving regulations add complexity. As digital trends shift rapidly, sustainable success demands agility and foresight,” says Lizi Sprague, a cofounder of Songue PR. Brands are progressively spending less on social media marketing all together. A survey of 292 CMOs showed a 23% decline in 2023 and another 11% decline in 2024. Brands are finding more success with more niche nano-influencers but that means spreading a wider net and dishing out smaller payouts. Misinformation Crisis Influencers played an outsize role in the 2024 presidential election. Both candidates relied heavily on podcast appearances, but ultimately President Donald Trumps strategy was to tap into the so-called “manosphere,” which ultimately led to his success by helping him court the Gen Z male vote by double-digit margins. Now, concerns about the surge in misinformation on platforms like X and TikTok are starting to drive news consumers away. Indeed, a 2023 Gartner survey suggests that influencers being on equal footing with established press may be a short-lived phenomenon. The study found that more than half of consumers plan to pull away from social media as soon as this year, citing the spread of misinformation as one of the top reasonsa big concern with a president now in office known for lying on a regular basis. And per a 2024 study from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 62% of creaors admittedly do not verify information before spreading it online. Talking to students about their interactions with social media platforms [. . . ] they kind of feel bad about how much time to spend with these platforms, says Jacob Nelson, a journalism professor at the University of Utah. Nelson, who has written about shifts in social media audiences for Harvards Nieman Lab, says this is the first time his students arent optimistic about the future of social media and are in fact pulling away. No one among the audience seems all that thrilled with the amount of time that they are investing, he tells Fast Company. Will the Creator Economy Survive? As a cautionary tale, the creator economy ought to look at the digital media sector. In the early 2010s, publishers like Vice and Vox seemed almost invincible. But they were ultimately dependent on the whim of tech giants for their own successparticularly Facebook (which was behind the infamous “pivot to video” trend) and Google. Eventually these Silicon Valley power players shifted their strategyand proved disastrous for publishers who relied on them. Websites like BuzzFeed, Gawker, and Mic suddenly faced a massive shift in their own manifest destiny (i.e., a cascade of layoffs and consolidations) often under the control of private equity. Ultimately, these changes left many outlets as husks of their former selves. In 2012 the digital media industry seemed unstoppable; in 2018 alone, it laid off over 15,000 workers, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The platforms frankly are always going to be optimizing for their own business interests, says Sterling Proffer, former head of growth for Vice Media. Fast forward to today: X, Linkedin, and Meta platforms have all shifted key parts of their business model several times in the last couple years and TikTok is still on the chopping block. Thats why those who dont have the skills to scale their creator offerings outside of one specific platform may not surviveat least if they want to make creating content a full-time job.I think that the folks who have been building on that are coming to recognize this element that theyre building on rented land, and there is a need for content creators who can diversify their offerings across platforms and even in real life, Brett Dashevsky, founder of Creator Economy NYC and the head of Content Creators at Kickstarter, tells Fast Company.Creators who have a specific skill or insightsay, a chef sharing unique culinary knowledgewill stand the test of time. They can upscale their projects to include in-person events like cooking classes, exclusive dinners, cookbooks, and meal kits. But for those who rose to fame thanks just to brand deals and dance videos, the future may not look so sunny after all.
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E-Commerce
NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is most well known for the National Weather Service, providing forecasting that underpins local meteorological reports and major sites like AccuWeather. But the data that NOAA collects is also crucial for private-sector industries, from airlines to insurance. The Trump administration is threatening this agency, and began slashing jobs there on Thursday. That means those other industries are also at risk. When it comes to insurance, climate change already causes billions of dollars in losses globally. Here in the U.S. people who live in areas especially prone to climate risks are seeing their rates skyrocket, or theyre seeing insurance carriers withdraw coverage in high-risk states. Without NOAA data, these trends could worsen, and leave even more Americans with higher insurance premiumsor without coverage at all. Financial services, including home insurance providers, consistently rely on [NOAA] to comprehend the influence of climate and weather on the economy and to facilitate transactions, says Manogna Vangari, an insurance analyst at GlobalData. Specifically, insurance providers get data from NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which recently revealed that in 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 individual weather and climate disasters causing at least $1 billion in damages each. In total, 2024 saw more than $192 billion in disaster costs, and more than 560 direct or indirect fatalities. NCEI data helps insurers assess risks, and determine premiums. Insurers use this data to develop their catastrophe models, which estimate the economic losses from extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods; that then underpins premiums, underwriting, claims, and more. Insurers also look at data sets on storm report categories by state, as well as databases on specific disaster types such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Losing that data, Vangari says, would complicate the way home insurance companies price climate-related risks. It also would hinder their ability to accurately model out the risk of extreme weather events, like wildfires and hurricanes, “and to price climate risk with greater precision. Without knowing those climate risks, insurance companies themselves risk more financial losses. To make up for that uncertainty, they’ll need to raise premiums even more, or they might just choose to pull out of particularly risky areas. The cost of losing that accurate, reliable data would then fall on consumers. Insurance companies also use NOAA retrospective analysis of weather effects to verify claimslike how bad a hailstorm really was, says Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator from 2021 until January of this year. The insurance industry, as well as the reinsurance industry (which provides insurance for other insurance companies) has had an informal partnership with NOAA for 20 years. Spinrad formalized that partnership with a 2024 memorandum of understanding with the Reinsurance Association of America, an agreement meant to improve risk communication. NOAA has also worked with the insurance industry through its Industry Proving Ground, an initiative to test tailored services for the private sector, and to make sure the agency provides the best data for businesses to be most effective. Because NOAA is a government service funded by taxpayers, its data is free. That means everyone has access to crucial weather forecasts. Project 2025, the conservative playbook that the Trump administration is following, advocates privatizing this service. But experts have said that even private weather companies wouldnt want that, because then theyd have to bear the cost of collecting the data that the government currently provides. If, instead, this data were accessible only to those who could afford it, that would particularly impact homeowners in vulnerable communities, Vangari says. Insurers might be hesitant to pay a fee and rely on some other alternative source without access to reliable data, she adds. This would lead to a disproportionate increase in insurance premiums. Additionally, insurers may refuse to provide coverage in high-risk areas. That doesn’t just impact people who may lose their homes and need to rebuild. Broadly, the stakes of losing this data are serious: In places that are susceptible to climate impacts like tornadoes or floods or tsunamis along the coast, timely access to weather data can be a matter of life and death. Not having the data doesn’t stop climate impacts from happening, multiple experts have notedit just makes us less prepared. Some private companies are starting to invest in their own weather satellites. But completely replicating NOAAs instrumental fleet and weather coveragewhich includes operating 18 satellites, launching weather balloons from nearly 100 locations twice every day, and deploying more than 1,300 buoyswould require an enormous amount of money. What NOAA is able to provide for free, Vangari says, is a public good. . . . Its services offer safety and security universally, not merely to those who can afford them.
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E-Commerce
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