YouCam's augmented reality function — which allows users to insert their own avatar into a digital interface a la Snapchat filters — is increasingly becoming mainstream technology in the beauty industry. As users catch on, the company is finding ways to move its tech forward.

The nature of podcasts, which typically involve hosts speaking casually among themselves and to the listeners, creates an immediate intimacy with the audience. For advertisers, podcasts offer a built-in, loyal audience similar to the access an influencer can provide. Where a promoted social media post may appear in an Instagram...

As beauty brands look to meet customers where they are, their focus is turning to Instagram Stories, which, they've found, facilitates storytelling and product purchasing better than posts in the feed.

In the early 2010s, the “Uber for” model expanded to include beauty services. Ever since, consumers have been using apps to book at-home appointments with makeup artists, hair stylists, and even masseuses and airbrush-tanning technicians. But salons aren't doomed, despite clients' shifting habits.

Beauty brands have always dealt with fake products and scam sellers. As the internet makes falsified goods more readily available, companies including E-Enforce and Oris Intelligence have been founded as watchdogs to locate and suppress counterfeiters and unauthorized retailers.

It's 4/20 for the beauty industry. Cannabis culture is expanding fast. Look no farther than the new arrival of cannabis oil–infused body lotions and "kush" mascara.

Today, sources of product reviews are nearly as infinite as beauty retailers. Shoppers can turn to Amazon, Sephora, a brand’s website, an influencer’s Instagram post, a vlogger’s “first impressions” video, Reddit and other sites to see users’ satisfaction with a product before making a purchase. But as more brands and...

Beauty brands are finding ways to make tech devices, which already drive buzz due to their novelty, further work to their advantage. A common theme is informing customers of features that need perfecting, and serving them up a personalized problem-solving product.