On October 6, 2026, Pinterest launched Beauty Guides, a new AI-powered feature. It turns users' saved beauty Pins into practical salon plans: saving a hair or nail photo is no longer the final step — the feature shows a request to tell your stylist, the appointment length, and an estimated price based on that image. According to the company's official announcement, the technology relies on the Pinterest Intelligence system, which combines visual understanding and generative AI models.
In its statement, the company describes beauty inspiration as more than a screenshot you hope to find before your next appointment. Pinterest emphasizes that people often know exactly what they want the moment they see it — even when they can't describe it in words. Beauty Guides closes this gap: by understanding the image itself, it turns visual inspiration into practical action. The company notes that such journeys don't always start with words — often the trigger is an image, a feeling, or a striking detail.
How the Feature Works
A user opens a hair or nail Pin up close and taps the «Get the Guide» button. Visual-understanding technology then analyzes the look in the image: hairstyle, hair color, nail shape, and coating are identified. This analysis is combined with a large language model (LLM) to become a guide for real life — a request to tell your stylist, the procedures to expect during the appointment, similar looks, relevant products, and step-by-step instructions. The guide can be saved for the next appointment or used to recreate the look at home.
Pinterest explains the approach with a short formula: instead of stopping at «I liked it», the platform helps people reach the point of «I know what to do next».
The guide is built on a two-stage analysis: first, visual-understanding technology extracts the details of the look inside the Pin, then the large language model turns those details into practical text. As a result, the user gets both a technical description of the look from a single image and a way to achieve it.
Coverage and Professional Terminology
At launch, Beauty Guides covers four areas: hairstyles, hair color, nail shape, and nail coating. The guides translate looks from Pins into the professional terminology used by stylists and nail technicians — for example, terms like «balayage», «root melt», or «almond nails». Each guide shows estimated time, price range, and maintenance requirements. The terms come from the everyday vocabulary of stylists and nail technicians — creating a common language between the image on a client's phone and a professional's language.
The feature is currently available to iOS users in the United States. Pinterest plans to expand it to more people and regions later, and to release guides for other product categories as well.
«People come to Pinterest with a point of view — even when they don't know how to describe it in words. Beauty Guides, powered by our visual-understanding technology and artificial intelligence, helps people go from simply seeing a look they like to knowing how to make it their own: that can mean knowing what to say to a stylist, finding the right products, or recreating the look at home», said Matt Madrigal, Pinterest's chief product and technology officer.
Under the Hood: Pinterest Intelligence
Pinterest Intelligence is a system that combines the company's first-party signals, visual-understanding technology, and purpose-built AI models. According to the company, it exists to make experiences on the platform more personalized and practical. Beauty Guides is presented as one practical example of the system: visual understanding recognizes the details inside the image, and generative AI turns them into real-life instructions.
Beauty Discovery in Numbers
Pinterest describes itself as a visual search and shopping platform where people decide what to try, buy, or do next. According to the company, more than 85% of weekly users who make beauty purchases first discover new beauty trends and ideas on Pinterest. Compared with competitors' averages, users are 79% more likely to say beauty content on Pinterest is highly relevant to them — including ideas that match their skin tone and hair type. Nearly nine in ten users trust buying beauty products they discovered on the platform. TechCrunch also covered the news in detail.
