New makeup mirror: Your smartphone

Anna Lee uses the beauty app Make-Up Genius, by Loreal, on her iPhone. Photo / Nick Reed

App using facial tracking technology lets user try out hundreds of new looks

It's not your typical compact mirror, the type often found among the makeup in a handbag.

Technology that has its roots in video games and movies could enable people to sample makeup on their smartphones in 3D, making pharmacy testing stations obsolete.

Makeup simulators might not be new - it's long been possible to test new shades of blush or foundation in digitally produced static pictures of yourself - but a new app using facial-tracking technology has for the first time turned the smartphone into a virtual makeup mirror.

The app, launched this month by French company L'Oreal Paris, allows users to try on thousands of products, while being able to turn their faces and watch the makeup move with them in real time.

L'Oreal's Makeup Genius app draws on a patented tracking algorithm system that enables precise facial recognition by using a live mirror camera.

It can capture 64 facial points and up to 100 expressions while tracking head movements of up to 60 degrees.

In developing the app, L'Oreal worked with a company that created facial recognition software, initially designed for video games and films such as the Brad Pitt movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Once the technology was ready, its developers tested thousands of products to reproduce the colour, shine, material and light effects of each texture, product and makeup type.

The app has been made available in the country for free download on iPhone and selected Android devices and last night was already showing up in a list of New Zealand iTunes' top free apps.

"Without any publicity, we have more than 5,000 downloads," said L'Oreal NZ executive general manager Martin Smith.

"Our overall target is 30,000 downloads, however with such a strong start we can see this reaching 50,000 to 100,000 in the coming months."

Technology commentator Peter Griffin said the concept had its birth in the fields of security, the military and in medicine, where digital imaging had been used for purposes such as comparing changes in skin blemishes.

Now that it was entering the world of retail, companies were ushering in advances including augmented reality changing room mirrors.

Shoppers were able to stand before a screen and view themselves as they switched between a range of outfits.

"This technology is underpinned by very sophisticated algorithms - but this facial recognition stuff is even more sophisticated."

What began with basic cellphone cameras replacing the classic makeup compact mirror had now evolved to a point where advanced and increasingly popular beauty apps were poised to unlock a "huge market" for cosmetics companies and developers, he said.

Fifty shades ... no problem with this app

Anna Lee, Viva editorial assistant
I find searching for any kind of cosmetic product can be quite the task. I could try on 15 shades of lipstick from three different stores and no matter how many times the sales assistants insist that's the one, I leave disappointed and lipstick-less.

This app takes a scan of your face and relays it back to your smartphone so the makeup moves with your face like you have actually applied it.

It's free to download, super easy to use and better yet, I can try on as many different Infallible eyeshadows or Glam Shine glosses as my heart desires without the hassle of actually having to go to the store and put them on.

I could spend hours (yes, hours) getting sucked into this cosmetic black hole of endless options, trying on all the different looks. I just wish more brands had an app that worked this well.

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