When evaluating the effectiveness of Beauty Tech platforms, some useful yardsticks include:
Facial Tracking
A fully immersive AR experience depends upon faultless facial tracking. Users don’t sit still when working with a virtual try-on. They want to move their head about, just as they would in front of a mirror. The lack of faultless facial tracking can mean that lipstick lags behind when moving from side to side, or that a new hair color gets stuck on the wall when the user moves to see how a new hair color will look from a different angle. An enormous amount of technology goes into real-time facial tracking. Without this technology, makeup can take on a clownish appearance, and the session, while perhaps a bit amusing, won’t satisfy nor bring users back. Perfect Corp.’s patented AgileFace® tracking technology accurately detects all facial features and overlays virtual makeup on them with the utmost precision, even aligning virtual makeup with facial movement. This new technology properly identifies all variations of facial features, resulting in the most inclusive virtual try-on experience yet.
Precision virtual try-on for all categories
The value of a virtual try-on experience—for the customer as well as the seller—is to provide an authentic presentation of how a product will actually look on the customer. This can be especially challenging with hair color, as the color applied will differ according to the customer’s natural hair color. “Lashes are extremely hard to capture in AR,” says American International Industries’ Marwan Zreik. “They can look pasted on. And the same is true for hair, which is also a major technical challenge to precisely render. We were all blown away by the accuracy of Perfect Corp’s AI and AR. The color went onto the hair in a completely natural way. It actually works with the tone of your natural hair color, which means that each of our Punky colors looks different on every person depending on their base hair color.”
Exacting Lip and Eyeliner Colors
As with hair color, the value of a virtual try-on experience is completely dependent upon the ability to render in AR exactly how a product will look on the user. For lipstick, this means not only rendering colors precisely but also capturing the texture. If lipstick is glossy, or metallic, shimmers, or has other unique features, precision AR is required to enable the user to see exactly how it will look on their own lips. Failure at this results in unhappy customers and can have devastating effects on social media. Stella Cosmetics partnered with Perfect Corp. to offer precisely this kind of hyper-realistic virtual try-on experience on its website. Customers can instantly try on dozens of popular makeup products, including lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, highlighter, and more. The digital effects of a virtual makeup try-on so closely mimic those of a physical try-on that consumers can be confident they are making the right purchase decision.
High-Definition Brows
Hair is generally considered one of the greatest challenges for AR because it needs to be rendered strand by strand. The challenge is even greater when working with brows. Without precise definition, the virtual try-on will be unsatisfactory. Again, facial tracking is important, too. If a user arches a brow, that brow must arch.
Foundation is often puzzling for users
Just which foundation is right? Finding the perfect foundation shade can be a challenging process for many consumers, but AI beauty tech can simplify the process. For example, Estée Lauder’s latest in-store beauty app combines precision foundation shade detection with a virtual try-on-color match experience. With iMatch™ Virtual Shade Expert, Perfect Corp.’s AI deep learning for real-time skin-tone detection uses its knowledge base of 89,969 skin tones to help customers find their preferred foundation shade in Estée Lauder’s number one foundation, Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup, and see it virtually applied in real-time. “We found a customer’s perfect foundation shade match is not always her preferred shade,” says Gen Obata, Vice President Global Retail Experience at Estée Lauder. “So iMatch™ Virtual Shade Expert answers this need. It finds her perfect shade and then provides options that are lighter, darker, cooler, or warmer so she can choose the shade she thinks suits her best.” This kind of personalization creates a strong customer bond.
Unique Virtual Manicure
Finding that perfect nail polish shade can be a daunting task, considering how challenging it can be to try nail products at the store and especially online. Perfect Corp.’s AI-powered AR virtual try-on for nails greatly simplifies this undertaking by delivering a real-time ultra-realistic 3D live preview of the nail products directly on consumers’ hands, without messy clean ups and time-consuming application.
Innovative Approach to Men’s Grooming
Beauty Tech can be beneficial for men as well. Latest AI & AR developments have made it easy for men to virtually experiment with different beard styles and colors, with no need to shave or commit to a new look. Perfect Corp.’s AI Beard technology allows users to virtually experience beard dye products and try different beard styles using any device with a camera before committing to a certain look. The advanced AI technology can also simulate beard removal, allowing men’s grooming customers to visualize how they would look clean-shaven.
Powerful AI
AI has been mentioned throughout as it provides foundational support to great AR. In addition to its role in facial detection and tracking, and its powerful mining of Big Data, AI can power personalization that creates tight customer bonds. Jon Roman, Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Online at Estée Lauder puts it this way: “The combination of precision shade matching with personalization not only increases conversions, but you are also delighting the customer because she’s really getting something that’s personalized for her. This kind of personalization really builds customer loyalty.” AI can also be used for ‘look transfer’ in which a user can capture the essence of a favorite celebrity or influencer, and map that look to their own face.
Delta E Precision
We have spoken repeatedly about the need to precisely match colors displayed in a virtual try-on experience with those found in real life. And we’ve spoken of the variability of colors when applied to someone’s unique hair or their own unique skin texture and color. While this may sound subjective, color variations can be measured down to the point of imperceptibility through the use of Delta E metrics. Delta E is a metric for calibrating how the human eye perceives color differences. The term delta comes from mathematics, meaning change in a variable or function. The suffix E references the German word Empfindung, which broadly means sensation. Generally, a Delta E value of 3 or less means that color differentiation can only be detected by careful study. A value of 2 or less is considered to be imperceptible to the human eye. With our Perfect Corp. technology, the Delta E value is often below 1.5—making for a seamless experience when moving from AR virtual try-on colors to real-world products, and helping every consumer find their perfect product match.
Multi-Product Capability
Finally, a Beauty Tech platform should provide multi-product and multi-vendor capability. Don’t expect that consumers will download a separate app for each product they like. We all suffer from app overload, and it disrupts the AR experience to have to move from one company’s lip app to another company’s eye app to a hair color app. That’s where Perfect Corp.’s AR and AI technology comes in to provide a unified and fun shopping experience. With this technology, users can create complete looks and then make their purchases accordingly. Ekta Chopra, VP of Digital, at e.l.f., speaks of the joy of product discovery. “Looking at the full consumer journey, discovery is a huge element,” Chopra says. “You want to create a digital environment where they can discover new products, try them on, and make the purchase. Perfect Corp gives us the augmented reality technology to provide our consumers with an amazing, personalized, discovery experience.”
How Beauty Tech Drives Social Commerce Success
Virtual try-on has proven to be so popular with users, and such a powerful sales tool, that it is only natural that AR has been embraced by the giants of social media, including YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Here’s a quick look at the different ways in which social media is integrating AR into their platforms:
Google Search Virtual Try-On & YouTube Beauty Try-On. Google is incorporating AR try-on—in both Google Search and YouTube. For its well-known search engine, Google has partnered with Perfect Corp. and launched an AR try-on experience using YouCam Makeup’s AR virtual try-on technology, together with beauty brands like Estee Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, and others, allowing consumers to try on makeup SKUs (through Google Search) on themselves using the front-facing camera on mobile devices.
YouTube is incorporating AR. Giving its 2 billion global viewers an entirely new way of experimenting with their favorite beauty products. Google/YouTube has entered into a strategic partnership with Perfect Corp. to integrate Perfect Corp.’s AR technology into YouTube’s InStream video ads—enabling brands to run augmented reality try-on over YouTube. This lets viewers, for example, virtually try on makeup in real-time as they watch their favorite MUA artists on YouTube’s platform. A great example is found with e.l.f. Cosmetics’ newest SRSLY Satin Lipstick Virtual Try-On InStream video ad on YouTube, featuring Internet-celebrity Jasmine Brown. As Jasmine tries out the different shades of e.l.f. lipsticks, the viewer can simply hit the “try on” button and experiment with the exact shades—or any others that catch their eye, from the YouCam Makeup app just below the video. Users can also shop for whatever they see, right from the app.
Natural beauty brand Jane Iredale also integrated Perfect Corp.’s AR virtual try-on technology into their YouTube True View ad units, creating a fun experience and allowing viewers to try-on makeup shades in real-time as they viewed. Ross Miller, VP of Digital at Jane Iredale Cosmetics noted the success of the ads, “The ad had a 51% view rate which was almost double what we expected to see. We were also excited to see that 11% of those who viewed the ad actually joined the fun by activating their own VTO experience to go along with the video. That’s a big number because viewer click-through for ads in general is usually less than 1%.”
Snapchat’s AR Makeup — Bridging the Online and Offline Worlds. Snapchat, the pioneering social media app that lets everybody tell their story, has become one of the leading companies powering the AR revolution. Snapchat is a natural place for AR because of its large audience share for Generation Z and millennial users—who are known to be big spenders, representing a staggering $143 billion in purchasing power and representing the largest group of consumers in the United States. The power of AR is demonstrated with Snapchat’s successful collaboration with Perfect Corp. – considering its AR expertise, beauty brands can use Perfect Corp,’s virtual SKU platform (Perfect Console) to bring the AR experience to the Snapchat platform quickly and effortlessly.
According to Snap Inc., campaigns that include shoppable AR Lenses see 2.4x higher action intent lift (compared to 2020 Q3 average). Together, Snapchat and Perfect Corp. are helping beauty brands reach the next generation of beauty consumers with technology that reinvents the beauty shopping journey. This technology creates fun, entertaining experience and vehicle for beauty discovery on a platform where users are excited to interact with AR.
Seamless Virtual Beauty Experience on Instagram. Meta’s Instagram is not trailing behind when it comes to interactive virtual beauty experiences. Considering the importance of social commerce for product discovery and experimentation, Instagram integrated AR shopping experiences powered by Perfect Corp. technology in different spaces, including Stories, Ads, Posts, and more. With AR shoppable posts, Instagram users can virtually try on and purchase beauty products directly from their feeds. This experience brings many significant benefits to beauty brands, including increased social commerce sales and better engagement with consumers.
The Top Beauty Tech Trends – A Look into the Future
As the beauty industry continues its’ digital transformation, beauty tech will evolve to play a bigger role in omnichannel shopping experiences. Here’s a glimpse into current and upcoming trends:
Beauty Tech as a Key Driver of Customer Engagement. Beauty tech has become fundamental for a successful direct-to-consumer strategy. Advanced beauty technology is the key to helping brands understand, engage, and connect with their consumers better—especially during the rise of digital shopping experiences versus in-person.
The Rise of Beauty GAN and Livestream Technologies. While AR and AI have become beauty tech staples, the next generation facial simulations and interactive technologies will be the advancements re-shaping the future consumer experience.
The Generation of AI Skin Tech. Skin tech is on the rise as the most requested new service category. This spotlights the growing importance of AI innovation necessary to deliver personalized skin analysis and product recommendations.
360 Digital Solutions for the Omnichannel Shopping Journey. A successful direct-to-consumer strategy must digitalize product try-on, engage consumers with personalized experiences, and enable cohesive digital inter-activities across all consumer touchpoints including retail, web, in-app, and across social. Perfect Corp. is the only beauty tech provider that offers 360 digital solutions across the omni-channel shopping journey. Perfect Corp.’s advanced AR and AI technologies allow brands to provide superior shopping experiences and personalized product recommendations to each customer. Perfect Corp.’s technologies are also compatible and easily integrated into a wide variety of social platforms and eCommerce tools, making it the most seamless and dynamic solution to enhance the omnichannel shopping journey.
Technology for Sustainability. The beauty industry is one of the biggest contributors of product waste. Beauty tech is at the core of sustainability in the beauty industry. By going virtual, beauty brands and retailers can lower their eco-footprint by minimizing product waste and production of unnecessary samples, as well as reduce overconsumption by offering tailored shopping experiences.
Expansion into New Beauty Categories: As beauty technology continues to evolve, it will continue to expand to new spaces in the beauty industry. With expansion to nail color and men’s grooming, beauty tech is quickly becoming a must-have component of the beauty shopping journey across categories.
Digital transformation is hardly a new concept for beauty brands. Possessing enough knowledge about Beauty Tech and fully understanding its immense capabilities is the key factor to driving business success in this highly-digitized world. As Beauty Tech is a fast-growing segment, it is crucial for beauty brands and retailers to keep up with the latest trends and developments. Furthermore, as readers have learned from this article, Beauty Tech is an indispensable resource for solving consumer pain points, creating a better beauty shopping experience, and ultimately accelerating business growth.