With YouCam Tutorial, a groundbreaking AR-powered makeup learning platform, consumers access personalized, guided makeup tutorials. The steps of each look are mapped out on a customer’s face in real-time through a brush stroke overlay animation. Each highly realistic and inclusive virtual makeup tutorial is like a personal virtual makeup coach, allowing customers to visualize the step-by-step makeup application process on their own faces.
With these tools, customers can not only try-on and discover the best products, they can also access in-depth product education that empowers them to create the best beauty results. This type of personalized consultation and education was once only available to consumers when visiting a store, but it is now available digitally through the power of beauty tech.
Providing Touchless Beauty Tech as the World Emerges for the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has likely spelled the end for shared makeup samples. Allure puts it this way: “The last time you dabbed a free spooley into a tube of tester mascara may have been the last time. … But even before the storefronts shuttered,
A fully immersive makeup video tutorial experience – AR-enabled YouCam Tutorial service.
Beauty Tech can bring awareness, provide education, show hyper-realistic results, and help users make better, more confident purchasing decisions.
For the user, beauty tech and virtual try-on can simplify the beauty shopping experience and help customers find the perfect products.
Providing Touchless Beauty Tech as the World Emerges for the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has likely spelled the end for shared makeup samples. Allure puts it this way: “The last time you dabbed a free spooley into a tube of tester mascara may have been the last time. … But even before the storefronts shuttered, augmented reality technology was on the rise in beauty. AR allows for virtual try-on, in which a customer can swipe on a new lipstick shade, hair color, or brow shape via a desktop browser or mobile app.”
Benefit’s instant virtual brow experience.
AR-powered virtual try-ons eliminate the concern of contaminated samplers—or even needing to venture out of the house to visit a store. As consumers become more conscious about health, virtual try-on has emerged as a hygienic and safe alternative to traditional beauty product testing experiences.
“We feel we are in a powerful position because we already have a touch-free way for our customers to explore our products,” says Emily Dybwad, Director, Global Digital Marketing at Benefit Cosmetics. “Even before COVID-19, customers were reluctant to use samplers. We are now in an environment when consumers will likely be even more vigilant. All of this makes our Brow Try-On an even more welcoming experience for our customers.”
During the pandemic, Perfect Corp. further optimized its’ technologies to meet the needs of post-Covid beauty consumers. In order to create a safe virtual try-on experience for consumers, Perfect Corp. introduced gesture control and voice activation for in-store virtual try-on integrations. With gesture control, customers can use hand gestures to navigate the virtual try-on experience without ever touching the screen. With voice activation, customers can select different products or categories by saying corresponding words and numbers. Perfect Corp. also introduced a virtual lipstick arm swatch feature which allows consumers to try on multiple lipstick shades and textures with a digital swatch display on their forearm, all while safely wearing a face mask.
In addition to these optimizations, face mask detection has also been added to in-store virtual try-on experiences to comply with face mask requirements. With this enhancement, the AR virtual makeup try-on technology can accurately detect whether consumers are wearing masks and apply virtual makeup and looks around the mask area.
Creating Sustainable Beauty Shopping Experiences
AR and AI-powered virtual try-on technology is also driving sustainability in the beauty industry by creating a fully digital product try-on experience for makeup and beauty brands. In the past, a customer who was interested in buying a new beauty product would have visited a store, opened up a product tester, and tested the shade on their skin. With the beauty industry being one of the biggest contributors to plastic and packaging waste, this traditional product testing environment is not eco-friendly. With Perfect Corp.’s virtual try-on technology, beauty brands can create a fully digital product testing environment. With this technology, consumers can digitally explore products and try-on hundreds of shades virtually without ever touching or opening a physical product. Whether in store via a smart mirror or on a brand website, this technology can seamlessly be integrated across the omni-channel shopping journey to minimize product waste and provide an engaging product try-on experience. These virtual try-on technologies help brands reduce their carbon footprint and prioritize their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) -focused strategies by reimagining the consumer experience through a more sustainable and ethically-conscious lens.