Beauty giant L'Oréal has officially launched its first ever wearable sensor that you place onto your skin like a plaster and is able to detect UV rays.
It's being sold through the beauty giant's skincare brand La Roche-Posay and has called on the engineering help of PCH, a company that worked on the Ringly smart ring. The aim here is simple, to help create better awareness about skin protection and the dangers of staying out too long in the sun.
The heart-shaped stretchable sensor is one square inch in area and measures in at 50 micrometers thick making it thinner than a strand of hair. You can wear it anywhere on the body, but you're probably going to wear it on your hand or wrist. It can be worn in the shower or while swimming and can stay on the skin for five days before you need to get rid.
Essential reading: How UV detecting wearables can protect you in the sun
It works through a series of photosensitive dyes that changes colour when it's exposed to UV rays. Using the camera on your smartphone, you can take a picture of the patch and upload it to the My UV Patch iOS or Android app. That picture can then be analysed to detect UV levels.
Detecting UV rays is not something new to wearables, the Microsoft Band 2 includes a UV sensor as well as Huawei's Honor Band A1 fitness tracker. This is arguably the most discreet we've seen it being done by a wearable so far.
You can pick up a My UV Patch now for free when you purchase sunscreen from the La Roche-Posay website. Unfortunately, it's just one patch per order but that should be good enough for a week away in the sun.
Expect more from L'Oréal as well as the company has already confirmed that it's planning to launch 10 more wearables, so it's far from done with bringing beauty and tech industries much closer together.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.