App allows users to try on thousands of lip colors in an instant.
Specialty beauty retailer Sephora has launched a new mobile feature on its Sephora To Go consumer mobile application that helps customers choose just the right shade. Users can now instantly try on thousands of lip colors, anywhere at any time to select their favorite. The app is the latest in a series of digital innovations introduced by the Sephora Innovation Lab designed to customize the beauty retail experience.
Innovation has always been in our DNA," said Calvin McDonald, President and CEO for SEPHORA Americas, said in a statement about the opening of the Innovation Lab. "We disrupted beauty by being the first to offer clients access to premium beauty out from behind the department store make-up counters, and we want to keep that spirit and bold tenacity alive. The new Lab will tap the collective creativity of our 14,000 employees nationwide, grow the next generation of leaders, and elevate Sephora's digital future."
The new Sephora Visual Artist utilizes a smartphone’s camera to map the user’s lip location and shape via technology designed by facial visualization provider ModiFace. Using a 3D live view that moves with them like a mirror, users access the various colors through an interactive digital overlay on their own lips.
The mobile color library includes all of Sephora’s lip products, and can also be filtered by skin tone using the in-store Sephora/Pantone Color IQ foundation, concealer, and lip color matching technology. Other special mobile features include Compare Me, which allows customers to see up to four different shades on one screen simultaneously, and Shake It Up, which selects four new shades at random each time the user shakes her phone.
Images can also be shared on social media to request feedback or can be emailed with product links for future reference. And a “My Favorites” list allows users to save particular products .
“We know our clients wish they could try on every lipstick in our store. Now they can - instantly and effortlessly,” said Bridget Dolan, VP of Sephora’s Innovation Lab. “Our focus is always to launch technology that provides a true benefit to our clients. With Sephora Virtual Artist, our clients can have friends vote on which shades look best on them from wherever they are. We want to make buying lipstick more fun than ever, and maybe a little addictive.”
A 2D multi-platform version for mobile, tablet and desktop web is also available at here.
