Many spas across the country remain closed. Salons too. And when it comes to buying makeup? Trying on new products while wearing a mask is dicey and honestly, will we ever look at those open beauty supply store samples the same again?
Chances are you have picked up your phone and played around with filters or virtually placed a flower crown on your head, but thanks to cutting edge technology, you don’t even have to jump out of bed and put on makeup for your zoom calls anymore. Just as people are getting accustomed to dressing from the waist up for work, now you can apply makeup, reduce wrinkles, change your hair color and even get skin consultations and product suggestions with the click of a button. Smooth your skin, blur your background, hide the bags under your eyes and just like that… you’re ready to go.
Need to switch up your foundation? Try on and purchase the perfect shade without ever leaving the house.
It’s all possible with Perfect Corp’s award-winning You Cam app, which includes YouCam Makeup, YouCam Perfect, YouCam Nails and YouCam Fun. Thanks to advanced augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) you can feel confident that whatever you try on virtually – including make up colors – will realistically translate to real life.
“The accuracy of the technology is incredible,” says Adam Gam, US CMO of Perfect Corp. “Consumers can get personalized recommendations, diagnose skin conditions and virtually try on products while trusting that the software is taking factors such as underlying skin tone, lighting and facial tracking into account. It is a completely accurate virtual makeup experience.”
The approximately 900 million downloads shows you just how much this technology is being embraced by consumers. In addition to that, the software is also helping brands enhance their direct-to-consumer engagements online through store kiosks and on tablets.
“We’ve had brands that enabled the software on their platforms report a 20% increase in add to cart and a 100% increase in time on site,” says Gam. “People are more apt to want to engage with something when there is an experience.”
Consumers, especially during the pandemic, are using their phones and computers for everything and beauty is no exception. “Not that this means we’re forever replacing human beings,” says Gam.
“These practices that we’re doing at home now are not going to replace what normally happens in retail, they’re just going to make the in person and online shopping experience better,” he says, adding, “Shortly after the Pandemic hit in March, we saw a 32% spike in the number of people using virtual try on through our app. With the integration of things like live stream and video calling the technology has been really important, but even when everything opens back up, you’re going to see a rise of QR codes and people using their mobile devices to try on the products they’re seeing.”
And if you’re using the technology in a store while masked up? Gam says, they’ve thought of that. “If you are wearing a mask, the brand can enable it so the makeup doesn’t apply on the mask, just around it. For lipstick, you can put your hand up to the screen and it will put a swatch on your arm so you can ensure the color is complementary to your skin. Additionally, for someone who doesn’t want to touch a kiosk screen, there is the ability for it to be activated with your voice and hand gestures.”
YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect are available for free download on Google Play and The App Store.
