Applications that let your digitally try on makeup are not new, but L'Oreal hopes to bring these types of applications to a wider audience by integrating ModiFace, it is an Artificial Intelligence powered augmented reality platform, with Amazon's ever-growing product catalog. Starting this week, Amazon shoppers on mobile will be able to try out different shades of lipstick from L'Oreal on live pics and videos of themselves.
This project came a year after L'Oreal teamed up with Facebook to let the users try on virtual makeup samples through the social media platform.
"We are excited to team up with ModiFace to make shopping for cosmetics online even easier by offering customers the ability to virtually try-on before they buy. With this new AI-powered virtual experience, Amazon customers can now ... purchase with greater confidence - wherever they are, whenever they want, with products delivered right to their doorstep," said the head of Amazon Beauty Nicolas Le Bourgeois. "This launch is another important milestone in our vision to be the best possible place for customers to discover and buy beauty products online."
Shoppers will be able to try out products virtually through the select beauty listings and through their phone's front-facing camera or check out those items on model photos. It is all powered by ModiFace's AR simulation, which analyses the data provided by makeup brands along with product image and descriptions from social media.
For Amazon, it is another step towards an AR-powered fashion future. Amazon recently unveiled a collection of makeup products under Echo Look, a connected camera that combines human and machine intelligence to recommend color-filter clothes, styles, compare two different outfits and keep track of a person's wardrobe.
A survey published in 2016 revealed that 69% of American women who shop online for beauty products start their searches at Amazon, thus accumulating $950 million in sales for beauty products alone.
"We are delighted to team up with Amazon to provide its customers an AR makeup try-on that offers highly realistic results and makes online shopping even more comfortable," said ModiFace CEO Parham Aarabi. "Thanks to a precise color rendering, enabled by our unique AI-powered technology, shoppers can easily try on thousands of lipsticks available on Amazon and purchase the shades that fit them best."
In 2018 L'Oreal bought ModiFace, a Toronto-based AR beauty application that is partnered with Sephora, Estee Lauder and 80 other beauty and fashion companies. Prior to the purchase, ModiFace collaborated with L'Oreal on the launch of their Style My Hair mobile application, which lets users see different hairstyles so that they will know what suits them.
