Being able to 3D print your own, top-notch, quality make up just by using your home computer has just become reality, thanks to the genius invention by a recent Harvard Business School grad, Grace Choi.
Ms Choi has developed a prototype for the so-called “Mink”, a 3D printer that will allow you to choose any colour you want and then print out make-up in that exact hue.
This amazing product has the potential to revolutionise the $55 million make-up industry, reports the Business Insider.
“The makeup industry makes a whole lot of money on a whole lot of bulls,” Grace Choi told an eager crowd at TechCrunch Disrupt last week.
“They do this by charging a huge premium on one thing that technology provides for free, and that one thing is colour.”
Using an FDA-compliant cosmetic-grade dye, the 3D printer will allow girls and women to print their own make-up just like they would print out a regular paper document. The process is very easy and the results are just incredible. The printed make-up is a powder substrate that is the raw material of regular make-up.
“It comes from the same sources as those products that you see on store shelves,” Choi told Taylor.
According to an article on Time, users can pull the hex code of any colour found on a website — including Pinterest boards and YouTube makeup tutorials — or smart-phone photos, plug it into Photoshop or Paint and press the print button.
“We’re going to live in a world where you can take a picture of your friend’s lipstick and print it out,” Choi said.
The Mink is the answer for women who are creative and exotic, and want to try out different things or apply colours that can’t be found in cosmetic stores. Ms Choi faced these issues herself and admits feeling out of place.
“If they didn’t have a green- or black-coloured lipstick that made me think that there was something weird about the way I was thinking,” Choi said.
The product is to be the size of a Mac Mini and will initially retail for less than $300. The company is targeting the younger, 13–21 demographic who are less devout to cosmetic brands. According to Ms Choi, the Mink is to be launched later in the year and as far as the reactions to her product go, she says they have been amazing.
“I’m really grateful. I’m really overwhelmed. I’m really excited about all of this,” Choi says. “I’m speechless.”
