3D Printer for Making Custom Color Cosmetics
I don't know about you, but I love it when technology and art collide. The newest idea to shake up the beauty industry— Mink, a 3D printing device. Billed as the worlds first 3D makeup printer, Mink made it's debut at the TechCrunch Disrupt event held in New York May 5-7, 2014. Mink is the brainchild of Grace Choi, a self proclaimed serial inventor who came up with the idea while at Harvard Business School. Mink is such a strikingly clever yet simple idea, just like the greatest products-- something that seems so simple that you wonder why you didn’t come up with it yourself.
Choi created Mink as a way to print color cosmetic products from any color found on the web or in the real world using already-existing computer software. According to Choi, it can be used to print beauty products including eye shadow, blush, lip color, foundation and more, and it is based on using substrates that can then have basically any color integrated into them via the Mink printer.
Choi notes in her video presentation that users can simply choose a color on a website or snap one with a phone in the real world, use any color picker to locate the hex code of the color, put that hex code into any program like Photoshop or Paint, and then simply press print.
Choi also says in the video that she is targeting Mink at a younger, 13-21 demographic, as she seems them as used to the computer programs needed to 3D print makeup, as well as that they less ingrained in their habits with certain brands and retailers. She also shares that Mink costs less than $200, and she has plans to launch it later in 2014.
If you're having as much trouble wrapping your mind around this as I was, watch her do a demo of her 3-D makeup printer, as well as hear questions from TechCrunch Disrupt attendees.
Amazed by Grace Choi's Mink printer? How quickly do you want to get your hands on this thing—or do you think you'll prefer to buy your makeup vs printing it?
