By Egor Rubtsov
Egor Rubtsov is the founder and CEO of CM Mentalgrowth, a company creating lifestyle and wellness apps since 2016. Its core products include Mimika (facial fitness and skincare), Youth (fitness and body transformation) and Patronus (mental balance and habit-building). The company has reached over 17M users across web and mobile. Egor combines a background in crisis management with 10+ years in tech and product strategy to build UX-driven tools for long-term behavioral change.
Since generative AI entered the mainstream in the early 2020s, its influence on lifestyle and wellness products has grown ever deeper. From the early days of personalised wellness with real-time data and product recommendations to AI-powered insights, enhanced input methods, precise measurements and trustworthy data capture have redefined the wellness landscape and made these tools accessible to the masses.
AI personalisation and mature models made AI in 2024/25 the reliable standard for accurate, convenient and trustworthy recommendations. AI-supported features improve user engagement and cost-efficiency, yet wellness apps still require robust analytics to thrive in an already saturated market.
In a wellness market flooded with vague claims and overhyped apps, AI is often treated more as a marketing checkbox than a meaningful feature. From nutrition assistants that parrot generic advice to fitness apps that need a tripod and perfect lighting to function, “AI” is frequently sold as innovation, yet rarely delivers measurable impact.
But some tools are starting to change that narrative.
Face yoga, once the niche domain of YouTube videos and self-help books, is quietly becoming one of the first areas in wellness where AI is truly reshaping the user experience. It’s not just about smoother brows or lifted cheekbones anymore. Through AI, face yoga is evolving into a data-informed, personalised wellness practice that crosses over into dermatology, skincare and even mental wellbeing.
From Trend To Tool: Why Face Yoga Is Ripe For AI
Unlike more abstract forms of self-care, face yoga lends itself naturally to visual data analysis. There’s a clear before-and-after. There’s muscle activation. There are measurable micro-changes over time. In short: there’s data to work with.
Startups like Mimika, an AI-enhanced face yoga and skincare app, are using this to their advantage. Mimika leverages on-device facial scanning to create real-time training feedback and progress tracking. No cloud uploads, no external sensors, just a user, a phone and an interface trained to notice subtle, meaningful shifts in facial tone and skin condition.
More importantly, it’s not just tracking. It’s connecting the dots between exercises, skincare product ingredients, skin type and lifestyle. Through a combination of AI-driven product scanning and hyper-personalised skincare matching, Mimika moves past “beauty advice” and into precision wellness.
Skincare Scanners, Ingredient Intelligence And The End Of Marketing Hype
One of Mimika’s standout features is its AI-powered product scanner. Unlike apps that only offer generic ingredient warnings, Mimika’s system analyses skincare products based on how individual ingredients interact with the user’s unique skin profile, down to variables like pregnancy status or ingredient sensitivities.
Users can photograph a shelf of products in-store and receive instant breakdowns of which items align with their needs and why. It’s ingredient-level AI that speaks in plain language, turning chemical formulations into actionable insight.
Under the hood is a custom-built neural network trained on over 500 skincare products and a proprietary model that cross-references ingredient data with user parameters in real time. It’s a level of infrastructure investment most wellness startups haven’t made and that’s what makes the system functional rather than decorative.
The result? A retention rate nearing 80% on features that actually depend on AI.
AI That Does Less Talking And More Work
Many consumer wellness products still treat AI as a content engine writing generic fitness tips or motivational blurbs. Mimika uses generative AI not to face the user, but to scale operations internally.
Its content engine generates short, educational product blurbs, auto-tags skincare functions and creates interactive, emotion-driven content that mimics expert tone while saving on human resourcing.
This is where AI in wellness may be heading: less flash, more infrastructure. Tools that don’t just sound smart they do smart work in the background, creating a seamless experience the user doesn’t need to think about.
And when it comes to actual facial exercises? Those remain human-created, certified and vetted. AI supports the ecosystem but doesn’t overstep.
What This Means For The Future Of AI In Wellness
If face yoga is the test case, the lesson is simple: AI doesn’t need to dazzle. It needs to deliver. The next generation of wellness tools won’t rely on users buying the hype. They’ll win by solving actual user needs: clarity, accuracy, privacy, personalisation, trust.
There is a real risk that “AI” becomes mere gimmickry, with rudimentary models feigning functionality instead of delivering true value. Many so-called “AI-powered” fitness apps are impractical day to day and demand extras like special mounts, whereas with Mimika, simply holding your smartphone up to your face suffices.
While other providers use the AI label as pure marketing, Mimika employs AI deliberately to genuinely support and enhance users’ wellness journeys.
Upcoming features from Mimika suggest where the sector is going. Its AI assistant, trained on verified expert content, will act as a personalised guide for everything from daily skincare to nutrition, sexual wellbeing and beyond. A planned image-based recommendation engine will let users upload selfies and receive full skincare or routine plans in return.
This isn’t just about looking younger. It’s about changing how users interact with wellness tools, shifting from passive consumption to intelligent, responsive guidance.
