New York – L’Oréal has launched a new brand offering a personalised at-home hair colour experience.

Color&Co allows consumers to co-create their own custom hair dye based on hair type and colour goals. The on-demand, direct-to-consumer service starts with either a live video consultation with a professional colourist or an in-depth online questionnaire. Once a customer’s unique hair colour is determined, the brand then delivers specially-mixed products in personalised packaging within days, keeping details of each formulation on file for easy re-ordering or subscriptions.

‘Beauty consumers are asking us for increasingly personalised experiences, and we saw a real opportunity to innovate in this cornerstone of our business,’ says Guive Balooch, vice president of L'Oréal Technology Incubator. ‘Hair colour results depend on a variety of factors, so it was important to develop highly accurate new technology that could deliver unprecedented at-home shade precision.’

As we explore in our Colour Refresh microtrend, brands are upgrading at-home hair colour with salon-quality dies and precision application tools.

Tilburg – A new public transport hub in the Dutch city of Tilburg uses 250m² of solar panels to produce its own energy.

Its lighting, digital information signs, heated waiting benches, service point and the station's staff canteen are all powered by solar panels installed on top of its expansive awning. The energy-neutral bus station was designed by Dutch architecture firm Cepezed, with a structure divided into three sections. It is shaped as a minimalist, triangular circuit, with bus stops positioned around the outside.

In addition, the awning incorporates self-cleaning ethylene tetra fluoro ethylene (ETFE) foil, which is unaffected by atmospheric pollution and other forms of environmental weathering, thus requiring little maintenance. Designed for accessibility, the station uses ramps throughout to allow wheelchair users to reach its elevated terrace, while handrails between the terrace and the platform bear braille signage.

By considering inclusivity, practical maintenance and renewable energy, the station’s design demonstrates a positive future for cities, something examined in more detail in our dedicated Opinion piece.

We can achieve a better quality of life through music, according to a new study by Sonos of 12,000 people in 12 countries. Some 74% of participants in the The Science of Listening study said listening to music helped to reduce their stress levels, while 40% admit that music has made them cry unexpectedly. The report also found that music helps us form new bonds with people – 70% said that people with good music taste are more attractive.

‘Many people probably aren’t aware of how much they rely on music to regulate their moods throughout the day,’ says Daniel Müllensiefen, a professor of music psychology at Goldsmiths University in London, in relation to the study. ‘We take it for granted because music is so much more available than it used to be. You can virtually listen to anything at any point in time these days.’

As our relationship with wellness and self-care fluctuates, music is being used as an accessible tool to regulate our emotions on a day-to-day basis.