Kolmar’s AI answer to slow beauty R&D, cuts full product planning to seconds

K-beauty conglomerate Kolmar Holdings is launching an AI-powered platform that reduces the cosmetics R&D process from one to three months to about 30 seconds. 

The company says the platform generates full product plans, including the product concept, its color range, formulation, and container type, based on a few simple keyword inputs.

Kolmar Holdings is launching the platform under a new affiliate, called Loud Labs, dubbing it “Korea’s first” AI-based cosmetics product planning platform.

“This service is a collaborative AI agent that provides an optimized plan for the results that users want,” a company spokesperson says.

The company says the Loud Labs platform is designed to allow individual founders to plan cosmetics products without a dedicated development team. In essence, anyone can log on and generate cosmetic product ideas. 

The platform also aims to help small and medium-sized beauty brands with their R&D processes by reducing traditional barriers to product planning, such as long development pipelines, limited access to trend data, and the high cost of specialized product planners.

“Single-person operators and small and medium-sized brands will also easily plan products through AI to lower the threshold for start-ups,” the spokesperson confirms.

The launch comes amid AI’s growing role in cosmetic development. As brands race to formulate faster and create more targeted products, AI is increasingly proving itself to be major brands’ main growth lever.

The platform uses Kolmar Korea’s R&D data to recommend optimized formulations aligned with current market trends.Half-minute products?

The platform analyzes simple keywords users enter and matches them with data on cosmetic trends and product development information. It then uses R&D data collected by Kolmar Korea to recommend optimized product formulations aligned with current market trends.

The analysis is compared with R&D data collected by Kolmar Korea to recommend optimized formulations aligned with current consumer demands and trending formats.

Kolmar Holdings explains that, for example, if a user searches for a term like “glossy tint” in the lip makeup category, the system automatically generates a product concept based on trend patterns — such as a “transparent, close-fitting, glow lip.”

After a concept is selected, the platform suggests trending color options, such as cool pink, apple red, or mauve lavender.

Beyond color and formulation options, the system also presents suitable packaging types to complete a final product planning proposal. According to the company, the flow allows users to create the complete product plan in 30 seconds.

With the completed plan, users can then collaborate with cosmetic original design manufacturers, such as Kolmar Korea, to manufacture the product, thereby shortening the overall development timeline.

Kolmar Holdings says the AI’s algorithms use product and trend data that the company has collected and digitized over several years. 

The company has reportedly registered the technology under a domestic patent titled “Device, Method, and Program for Providing Cosmetics Trend Prediction Services,” and is applying for overseas patents as well.

Loud Labs operates as a second-tier subsidiary of Planet147, a cosmetics brand incubation platform under Kolmar Holdings. The K-beauty conglomerate plans to expand its Loud Labs service so that both domestic and global customers can use the platform in the future.

(Image Credit: Kolmar Holdings)Cost of waiting

Loud Labs’ launch aligns with Atelier and Accenture’s findings that cosmetic brands are trapped in “archaic” development cycles lasting more than a year — despite a strong consumer appetite for new product launches.

Pat McGrath Labs recently emerged as a case study of how slow product development impacts businesses. The beauty unicorn, which was previously valued at over US$1 billion, filed for bankruptcy last week, and industry observers pointed to a delayed product launch as a possible drag on its performance.

The makeup label debuted its “glass skin” porcelain doll product, which went viral from the 2024 Maison Margiela runway, a year after its online momentum peaked.

Atelier and Accenture told Personal Care Insights that outdated cosmetic R&D processes are costing the industry US$86 billion in unlaunched product potential, and Kolmar Holdings’ platform launch appears to be a tentative sign of progress for an industry under pressure.