A continuous slew of ever-more outlandish nail trends have been dominating the beauty industry over the past year. From reflective mirror-finishing to fur-covered stickers and even actual nail piercings, each fad seems more bizarre than the last. Thankfully, L’Oréal is bringing a bit of sanity back into the world of nail art with its newly unveiled UV Sense.

At first glance, UV Sense seems like a rather innocuous, almost unwieldy, nail accessory. But don’t let its looks fool you. This tiny 9mm-wide sticker is actually an innovative sensor that will help wearers monitor their exposure to harmful UV rays.

Built using the latest in miniature technology, UV Sense is touted as the world’s first battery-free wearable electronic sensor. The gadget can retain up to three months of data, which it transfers to the wearer’s mobile phone via Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. In common parlance, that means it can communicate with the dedicated app without requiring any Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity.

Users can then monitor how much of the harmful rays they’ve been exposed to, along with helpful tips like when to put on sun block, or which times to avoid being outdoors. All-in-all it looks to be an ideal personal UV monitor.

While it may seem strange for a beauty company to be dabbling in electronics, for L’Oréal, it’s the logical next step in its 80-year quest to promote sun safety, while remaining competitive in the market.

“Beauty trends show that adoption of wearable nail art accessories is on the rise, with an increase of over 65 percent in nail art trends over the last five years,” shares Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator, “[UV Sense] taps into this growing trend, while illustrating our deep commitment to sun-save behaviour and protection.”

With UV Sense’s global release still one full year away, only time will tell if L’Oréal’s innovative melding of technology and beauty will be a viable commercial success. But something tells us it will quickly catch on…