What Is Vessa? The AI Skincare App That Reads Your Skin
Vessa is an iPhone app that scores your skin from one selfie, builds your morning and evening routine from what you own, and scores every product for you.
9 min read
Vessa is an iPhone app that reads your skin from one selfie and turns it into a skincare routine you can actually follow. It scores eight skin measures, builds a morning and evening routine around your goals, your budget and the products you already own, gives every product a fit score for your skin, and has an AI assistant that can change your plan when your skin changes. It is skin analysis, routine builder, product guide and skincare coach in one app.
Why we built Vessa
Before we wrote a line of code, our team tried the skincare apps people actually download — and kept running into the same wall. Scan apps give you a score and stop there. Routine trackers remember what you did, but not why. Product apps show you endless shelves, ranked for everyone at once. And none of them looked at the bottles already sitting in your bathroom.
So you end up with a number, a checklist and a shopping list that don't talk to each other. Vessa is the app we wanted instead: one place where the scan, the routine, the products and the advice all work from the same picture of your skin.
What Vessa does, in one minute
- Scans your face and scores hydration, texture, blemishes, redness, dark circles, firmness, pores and wrinkles — each from 0 to 100 — with an overall skin score, your skin type and an estimated skin age.
- Builds your routine: morning and evening steps in the right order, with the reason each product is there.
- Uses what you own: photograph a bottle and Vessa identifies it, reads its ingredients and keeps it in your routine when it fits.
- Scores every product in the Products tab from 0 to 100 for your skin, and opens with picks for what your scan found.
- Keeps you safe: retinoids and exfoliants never share a night, and pregnancy, prescriptions, allergies and your avoid list are hard rules.
- Talks to you: Vessa AI knows your scan, shelf and routine, and can change the plan — as a card you approve.
- Keeps you going: a home screen with today's UV, humidity and weather, your streaks, and reminders morning and evening.
The scan: eight scores from one selfie
Point the front camera at your face. Vessa's camera tracks your face and only takes the picture when it can see it clearly — straight on, in even light. You can also use a photo from your library.
Each scan gives you:
| What you get | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| 8 skin scores (0–100) | Hydration, texture, blemishes, redness, dark circles, firmness, pores and wrinkles — each with a one-line note on what was seen |
| Overall skin score | One number with a plain grade, from Needs Attention to Excellent |
| Skin type | Dry, normal, combination or oily |
| Estimated skin age | How old your skin looks in the photo |
| A short summary | Your skin's strongest point, and the one area most worth working on |
Because every measure is scored separately, you can see texture improve while redness stays put — and rescan whenever you like. Vessa reminds you a week after your last scan.
A routine built for you — not for everyone
After the scan, Vessa asks what a good dermatology intake would: your skin type and sensitivity, your goals (clearer skin, hydration, smoother texture, less redness, brighter under-eyes, anti-aging), your age range, pregnancy or breastfeeding, diagnosed conditions, prescription treatments, your experience with actives, how much sun you get, how many steps you want, and your budget.
From that, it builds a morning and an evening routine across eight steps — cleanse, hydrate, treat, exfoliate, retinoid, eye, moisturise and SPF — in the correct layering order, with sunscreen always last in the morning. Every step says why it's there, and your goals show as covered or not yet addressed.
Then it does what other apps don't:
- It prefers the products you already own and only replaces one with a stated reason.
- It shows the money: how many products you own, the estimated monthly cost, and what's left to buy.
- It lets you swap any step for two or three alternatives, tagged by price tier and fit.
- It adapts to where you live: lighter textures when it's humid, SPF 50+ when UV is high.
- It rebuilds itself when your shelf changes.
The Products tab: every product, scored for your skin
Most product apps rank everything for everyone. Vessa ranks for you. Every product gets a fit score from 0 to 100, weighted across:
- Safety (30%) — your allergies, avoid list, pregnancy and prescriptions
- Skin type (25%)
- Your concerns (20%) — your goals and your latest scan
- Routine fit (15%) — your experience, age and the steps you're missing
- Value (10%) — your budget
A product that breaks one of your safety rules is capped low, whatever else it does well. The tab opens with rows built from your scan — "Because you have visible pores", "Because you have dark circles" — then the steps your routine is missing, then the best fits overall. Search, sort and filter (fragrance-free, alcohol-free, price, rating), save favourites, read the ingredients with the key actives highlighted, see what a product pairs with and what not to mix it with, and compare where it costs least.
Your shelf, finally organised
Photograph a bottle — no typing, no barcode hunting — and Vessa identifies it, reads its ingredients and adds it to your shelf. Every product you own then gets a verdict: Keep, Finish First, Duplicate, Do Not Repurchase, Not Recommended, Optional or Needs Review, each with a short reason. If two products do the same job, Vessa tells you that you probably don't need both.
Safety rules that don't bend
Skincare advice goes wrong when it ignores context. Vessa's rules are not preferences:
- Retinoids run in the evening only, two nights a week if you're new to them and three if you're used to them.
- Exfoliating acids get their own nights and never share one with a retinoid.
- Pregnant or breastfeeding? Retinoids, hydroquinone and leave-on salicylic acid are removed.
- On a prescription retinoid? Vessa never adds a second one — and never tells you to stop or change a prescription.
- Allergies and your avoid list (fragrance, drying alcohols, essential oils, silicones or anything you type) are checked against every ingredient list.
- Reactive skin gets gentler picks and fewer new actives at once.
Vessa AI: an assistant that can change the plan
Vessa AI knows your profile, your latest scan, your shelf and your routine. Ask it anything — "Do my products conflict?", "How much SPF is enough?", "Make my routine cheaper" — and it answers with real products from the catalogue, never invented ones.
When the answer means changing your routine, it arrives as a card you apply: add, remove or replace a product, or move a step to different days or from morning to evening. Nothing changes until you tap Apply. It remembers what you agree — an allergy, a product that stung, the nights you want retinol — and future routines keep to it. It replies in your language, and it knows its limits: it doesn't diagnose, read moles or rashes, or advise on prescriptions or procedures, and it will point you to a dermatologist when something needs one.
Home: your skin at a glance
Every day starts with your skin score and grade, your skin type, and a one-tap AI Skin Scan. Below it:
- Today's skin needs — one line from your local UV, humidity and temperature ("High UV today. Reapply sunscreen while outdoors").
- Morning and evening routine shortcuts.
- Your consistency — a seven-day calendar, days with Vessa, routine days and your current streak.
- Your skin health — bars for the measures most worth your attention.
- Missing from your shelf — the routine products you don't own yet.
- Today's read — a short skincare guide chosen for the day.
Reminders arrive at 8:00 and 21:00, with a gentler weekend morning, so the routine actually happens.
Private by design
Your face photo, portrait and product photos are kept in private storage in Frankfurt, Germany (EU), shown only to you through short-lived links, and only your latest face photo is kept. Before your first scan, Vessa shows exactly what is sent to its AI providers and why — and they don't train on it. You can delete your account, and everything in it, from inside the app.
How Vessa compares
| Scan-only apps | Routine trackers | Product apps | Vessa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin scores from a selfie | ✓ | — | — | ✓ 8 scores + skin age |
| Routine built from your answers | — | — | — | ✓ morning + evening |
| Uses the products you own | — | Sometimes | — | ✓ scan a bottle |
| Fit score per product, for you | — | — | Ranked for everyone | ✓ 0–100 with reasons |
| Safety rules for actives, pregnancy, prescriptions | — | — | — | ✓ hard rules |
| AI that can change your plan | — | — | — | ✓ cards you approve |
| Weather-aware daily guidance | — | — | — | ✓ UV, humidity, temperature |
Who Vessa is for
- Beginners who want a routine that makes sense, without guessing what to buy.
- Skincare enthusiasts with a full shelf who want to know what to keep, what's a duplicate and what not to mix.
- Anyone with rules to respect — pregnancy, a prescription retinoid, sensitive or reactive skin, allergies.
- People who want proof: a score to watch move, not just a feeling.
How to start
- Download Vessa on iPhone and take your first face scan — the scan and its results are free.
- Answer the short questions and scan a few bottles you already own.
- Start your routine with a 3-day free trial on the monthly or annual plan, and rescan in a week or two.
Vessa is a skincare app, not medical advice. It doesn't diagnose skin conditions; anything painful, spreading or changing quickly belongs with a dermatologist.
Frequently asked questions
What is Vessa?
Vessa is an AI skincare app for iPhone. It scores your skin from a selfie across eight measures, builds a morning and evening routine from your goals, budget and the products you own, scores every product for your skin, and includes an AI assistant that can update your routine.
How does Vessa analyse my skin?
From one selfie taken with the front camera (or a photo from your library), it scores hydration, texture, blemishes, redness, dark circles, firmness, pores and wrinkles from 0 to 100, plus an overall score, your skin type and an estimated skin age.
Is Vessa free?
Your first face scan and its results are free. The routine, your shelf, the Products tab and Vessa AI need a subscription — monthly or annual, each with a 3-day free trial, billed by Apple and cancellable any time.
Does Vessa make me buy new products?
No. It prefers the products you already own when they fit, explains any replacement, shows the monthly cost and what's left to buy, and lets you swap any step for a cheaper alternative.
Is Vessa safe to use during pregnancy?
You can tell Vessa you're pregnant or breastfeeding, and it removes retinoids, hydroquinone and leave-on salicylic acid from every routine and suggestion. It's a skincare app, not medical advice — check with your doctor or midwife about any product.
Where is my data stored?
In Frankfurt, Germany (EU). Photos are kept in private storage, only your latest face photo is kept, and you can delete your account and all its data in the app.