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Spotted: L’Oréal, through its skincare brand, La-Roche Posay, is piloting a patch-like sensor called My Skin Track pH. The tiny device reveals your skin’s health in minutes and helps identify suitable skincare products. Cosmetics companies have long touted “pH balanced” products, but until now measuring your skin’s pH level required lots of sweat to sample or uncomfortable electronic devices.

This simple thin patch sticks on your inner arm. It measures trace amounts of sweat from skin pores. If the pH levels are out of whack – affected by age, eating habits, skin products and the air around us – it can lead to skin problems such as eczema and acne. Data from the sensor is uploaded to an app, which matches it to suitable products (presumably from the La-Roche Posay range).

The company created the product with Epicore Biosystems. My Skin Track pH will be launched in 2019 through select La Roche-Posay dermatologists in the US, according to the company.