Taylorian national finalist for L'Oreal Brandstorm competition

Seow Huei Hwang from Taylor’s University and his team mates, Ernest Ngu Jun Hong and Edward Soon Riong Wei from Sunway University and Universiti Sains Malaysia respectively, advanced into the national round of the annual renowned L’Oreal Brandstorm competition.

Team S.E.E will be competing with over 65 teams for this year’s challenge this upcoming May.

L’Oreal Brandstorm is an annual international competition spanning over 65 countries that provides a platform for students to express and showcase their innovations through creativity and entrepreneur skills.

Each year poses a new challenge and for 2021, it is the year of beauty and retail.

(Source: Huei Hwang)

From left: Edward, Ernest & Huei Hwang

“Imagine three guys joining a beauty competition!” said Ngu.

It was very shocking news when we found out we got into the finals but we knew we would give it our best despite anything else as we believe we were chosen for a reason.”

The on-going pandemic has shown that there is little to no chance of going about our daily routines, making it difficult for customers to purchase their products and services.

There have been difficulties faced through online shopping of beauty products such as unsuitable products for the skin or the wrong shade of makeup.

Hence to help customers, L’Oreal Brandstorm 2021 aims to award the team that will successfully invent the Beauty Shopping Experience through the worlds of retail and e-commerce while being mentored by L’Oreal’s very own digital experts.

“Our service for Kiehl’s is named MyKiehl’s. It’s a hyper-personalised skincare solution, revolutionised by Artificial Intelligence (AI) with features such as facial recognition, voice assistance and education to fully integrate into the blockchain network,” said Soon.

MyKiehl’s will also include an AI facial scanning to alert the user’s skin conditions while tailoring a personalised skincare routine based on the weather of the day.

The trio came a long way from their first few stages of the competition and gained a deeper understanding into the beauty industry.

“Our mentor truly helped shape us into thinking more rationally when it comes down to making business decisions and the importance of understanding a brand’s identity,” said the trio collectively.

Nonetheless, Team S.E.E possesses a positive and optimistic mindset to continue in their journey towards the international round where they would then compete with teams all around the world.

“With the university’s emphasis on cultivating innovative and driven students, I’m very sure that Taylor’s University will always have candidates competing at the top level and that candidate might be you!” says Seow.