As consumer habits change and personalized services become more common, businesses need to find new ways to connect with their consumers. For the Beauty industry, Beauty Tech is clearly a differentiating factor when looking to improve the customer's purchasing journey.

Companies that quickly adopted Beauty Tech solutions have seen their sales accelerate. Others are still looking for Beauty Tech solutions that would allow them to improve their return on investment (ROI). This complete Beauty Tech 2021 guide will present you with concrete and factual examples of brands that have used Beauty Tech solutions successfully. In this guide, we'll share our tips for truly harnessing the potential of virtual AR trials by addressing the following points:

1. The beginnings of Beauty Tech

2. Successful brands thanks to Beauty Tech

3. Virtual tryouts help women rediscover makeup

4. Achieve the impossible thanks to Beauty Tech: test “30 colors in 30 seconds”

5. The basics of Beauty Tech

6. How YouTube and Snapchat make it easy to access the virtual trial

7. The future of Beauty Tech

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When technology meets beauty                                                                                                          The history between cosmetics and men goes back a long way. 7,000 years ago, the Egyptians already saw beauty as a sign of holiness: they used copper carbonate to create green eye shadow. For the philosopher Plato, beauty was inseparable from philosophy. In ancient China, we painted our nails. Some tribes in Africa - like many others elsewhere - used face paints and other cosmetics to signify their affiliation, roles or status. Over time, poets, painters and philosophers have played a role in the acculturation of beauty across the world. Cosmetics are virtually present and play a role all over the world in one way or another, for both men and women.

A few years ago, Romanian photographer Mihaela Noroc offered his definition of beauty for ELLE magazine in a photo essay featuring 21 portraits of beauty from around the world. For him: "beauty is everywhere ... We are all beautiful because they are different."

The logical next step was for technology to put its two cents in beauty, in particular thanks to the innovations of intelligence.

The beginnings of Beauty Tech                                                                                                          The genesis of Beauty Tech dates back to the very first mobile apps for painting and photo editing although this only really took off with the more recent advent of AI and AR.

According to a recent article published in Built In magazine: “Although beauty tech dates back to the days of boxed computer programs (Cosmopolitan magazine mentioned“ virtual makeover software ”as early as 1998), it is only recently that the big names in the sector have started to invest in it. The interest in the subject has become clearer with the technological advances made on smartphones. ” The magazine takes for example Estée Lauder whose "partnership with Perfect Corporation, at the origin of the augmented reality application YouCam Makeup, made it possible to launch virtual lipstick trials as well as AR training programs for women. beauty advisors for the brand. ” The breakthroughs, especially in AR, have been notable. Vogue magazine notes: “A few years ago, the virtual trial features made you feel like you had been made up by an undertaker, whereas today it can be very realistic.”

Beauty Tech using Personalization                                                                                                    While it is exciting to delve into the computer science and math behind AI and AR algorithms, the ultimate goal of Beauty Tech is to meet an individual need by making users feel like they are using almost magical tools whose sole purpose is personalization. OrangeTwist magazine observed that: “Today's consumers are fond of products made especially for them.” For Alice Chang, Founder and CEO of Perfect Corp, “This means that brands need to know the unique expectations of their consumers in order to do so. respond best whether online or in-store. "The article mentions that:" Me Chang's company provides beauty tech solutions that combine artificial intelligence and augmented reality. It is known for its applications to improve her selfies. The current offer includes the possibility for YouCam Makeup users to try out different hair colors and makeup looks. 

Entertainment and Beauty Tech                                                                                                         AR has, by definition, an entertaining side. This is because it combines the real with an augmented universe in which the user has a level of control that goes far beyond what is possible in the real world.

The fun side of AR literally captivated the world a few years ago with the Pokémon Go craze that allowed in-game items to be integrated into the actual environment the player was in. Suddenly, the parks were overrun with people walking around with their eyes riveted on their smartphones. They moved around delighted to find in their path a colorful figure sitting on a tree trunk. A headline from the New York Times summed it up nicely with: “Pokémon Go Brings Augmented Reality to Mass Audiences.”

Allure magazine reported on this sense of entertainment in an article on the use of Perfect Corp. technology. for the eyebrows. “Thanks to Benefit's brow technology, I will never underestimate the power of brow shaping again. This computer tool offers 15 different eyebrow shapes, 12 shades as well as the possibility to determine the thickness and arch of her eyebrow. For people who have worn out their tweezers too much or for anyone who wants to pretend they've had their eyebrows plucked in the past three months, this tool is a godsend. ”

As for Forbes magazine, it describes AR as follows: “When someone talks about AR, that person describes the technology that allows information and virtual objects to be superimposed on real world scenes in real time. It is about using the existing environment and adding information to it in order to create a new artificial environment. ” Forbes continues with the interesting example of the watchmaker Rolex: “The company has developed a virtual trial experience where potential customers can test out different styles and models.” (The author includes a video of him using the app to find the Rolex that will suit him best. The story does not say if he made a purchase…)

The use of AR technologies is already widespread within the beauty community. This allows brands and distributors to have a try before they buy. Virtual AR testing technology has seen major improvements in recent years. It now allows beauty brands to offer an interactive digital experience on wide ranges of cosmetic products such as make-up with lips, eye shadows, eyebrows, eyeliner, mascara, blush, highlighter or even background. complexion. Virtual trial technology has become so realistic that it can even touch categories like hair coloring, colored lenses and more. It completely transforms the beauty shopping experience and empowers consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Beauty Tech measurement indicators                                                                             When evaluating the relevance of a Beauty Tech platform, it is interesting to observe the following indicators:

Face tracking. An immersive AR experience is based on impeccable facial tracking. Users do not stand still during a virtual trial. They want to be able to move their head to either side as they would in front of a mirror. If you don't have flawless facial tracking, that means your lipstick may lag behind when you move your face, or your new hair color may stay on the wall if the user moves to see the render in different colors. angles. Much of the technology has come from real-time face tracking. Without this technology, the makeup would look like that of a clown and the session, while fun, would not be satisfying for the user who would likely not return. Perfect Corp.'s patented facial tracking technology. AgileFace® very finely detects all facial features. It makes it possible to superimpose virtual make-up on it in a very precise way and is able to align this virtual make-up with the movements of the face. This new technology relevantly identifies all of the facial feature variations for the most comprehensive virtual testing experience possible.

Precise hair coloring. The benefit of a virtual trial experience for the user and for the seller is to authentically show the consumer what they will look like with the product on them. This can be a real challenge for coloring as the color applied will vary depending on the user's natural color. Marwan Zreik of American International Industries explains: “False eyelashes are extremely difficult to capture in AR. They can give the impression of having been added to the screen. The same goes for hair which is also a technical challenge when it comes to achieving an accurate rendering. We were all in awe of the precision of Perfect Corp's AI and AR. The color is positioned on the hair in a very natural way. It works from your natural color which means that each color from Punky will look different depending on the base color of the client's hair. ”

Exact colors for lips and eyeliner. As with hair, the premise of the virtual trial experience relies entirely on the ability to replicate in AR exactly how a product will look on a user. For the lips, this means not only succeeding in transcribing the color but also the texture. If a lipstick is shiny or metallic, glittery or with any other characteristic, an accurate AR is required in order to allow the user to see the final result on their lips. Failure to do so results in unhappy consumers, which can be disastrous on social media. Stila Cosmetics has partnered with Perfect Corp. to offer precisely this type of hyper-realistic virtual testing experience on its website. Customers can continuously try on over a dozen popular makeup products including lipsticks, eye shadows, mascara, highlighter and more. These virtual trials, although digital, are so close to physical trials that consumers feel confident enough to make the right purchasing decision.

High Definition eyebrows. In general, hair is considered to be one of the biggest challenges in AR because it needs to be rendered strand by strand. The challenge is even greater when it comes to eyebrows. Without a precise definition, the rendering would not be satisfactory. Again, face tracking is very important. If a user arches an eyebrow, that eyebrow needs to move.

Foundation is often confusing for users. What is the right foundation? What should I do once I have found that perfect foundation? One example is Estée Lauder's latest in-store beauty app, which combines the precision of a foundation detector with the YouCam Makeup virtual trial experience. With iMatch ™ Virtual Shade Expert, AI deep learning detects 89,969 skin colors in real time to help consumers find their favorite foundation within Estée Lauder's number 1 line, Double Wear Stay-in-Place. Consumers can also see this foundation applied virtually to their face; all in real time. Gen Obata, Vice President Global Retail Experience at Estée Lauder says: “We have found that the perfect shade of foundation for the consumer is not always the one they prefer. The iMatch ™ Shade Expert addresses this need by finding the best shade and then offering lighter, darker, warmer or cooler options, allowing the client to choose what will suit her best. " This type of personalization creates a strong bond with the customer.

Powerful AI. AI was mentioned earlier because it provides fundamental support to good AR. In addition to the role it plays in facial point detection and tracking, in addition to its powerful Big Data analysis, AI can enrich personalization to help create a strong connection with the customer. Jon Roman, Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Online Marketing at Estée Lauder explains it this way: “Combining the accuracy of good detection with personalization improves the conversion rate and thrills the customer who receives something personalized. . This type of personalization really fuels customer loyalty. ” AI can also be used during a 'look transfer', i.e. when a user wishes to capture the essence of their favorite star or influencer and reproduce this look on their own face.

Delta E Accuracy. We have repeatedly addressed the need to accurately relay colors present in a virtual testing experience with those encountered in real life. We also mentioned possible color variations when applying a hair color to someone's unique hair; unique in texture or color. While this may all seem subjective, variations in color can be assessed to an imperceptible level through the use of the Delta E unit of measurement. The Delta E is a metric that is used to calibrate the way the eye human perceives color differences. The term delta comes from mathematics. It signifies the change in a variable or a function. The suffix E refers to the German word Empfindung, the broad meaning of which is sensation. In general, a Delta E of 3 or less means that color differences can only be detected by careful study. It is considered that a value less than or equal to 2 is not detectable by the human eye. With our Perfect Corp. technology, the Delta E is often less than 1.5, thus guaranteeing the match between a virtual test of a product colored in AR with its real color.

The ability to do multi-product. Finally, a Beauty Tech platform should offer multi-products as well as multiple sellers. Don't expect a customer to download a separate app for each product they like. We all suffer from too many apps on our smartphones and it breaks the AR experience of having to leave the app of a brand dedicated to lips and then go to another app dedicated to the eyes to end up on a coloring app. That's why we created YouCam Makeup as a centralized hub where users can try thousands of different products from hundreds of different brands. There is no doubt that this contributes to entertainment and by extension to sales. Users can create complete looks and shop accordingly. Ekta Chopra, VP of Digital at e.l.f., talks about the joy of discovery. “When looking at the customer's shopping journey, the discovery phase is a central element. You want to create a digital environment in which your customers can discover new products, try them out and buy them. Perfect Corp provides us with augmented reality technology to provide our consumers with a great and personalized discovery experience. ” e.l.f. Cosmetics offers a virtual trial experience on its website and on its mobile app covering a wide range of makeup products such as eye shadow palettes, lipsticks and even highlighter. Since the implementation of Perfect Corp's virtual makeup technology on its e-commerce site, e.l.f. Cosmetics reported a 200% higher conversion rate -

How YouTube and Snapchat make it easy to access the virtual trial                                      Users confirmed their interest in the virtual trial which has proven to be a powerful sales tool. It is therefore natural that the giants of social networks like YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest are interested in it.

Here's a quick update on how social media integrated AR into their platform:

Virtual beauty essays on Google search results & on YouTube. Google incorporates virtual essays in its search results and on YouTube. For its famous search engine, Google has partnered with Perfect Corp., and launched the virtual trial experience in AR with YouCam Makeup technology in partnership with beauty brands such as Estée Lauder, MAC Cosmetics ... which allows consumers to try makeup references on them (after a Google search) using their phone's camera.

YouTube also brought AR together by giving its 2 billion global users a whole new way to experience their favorite beauty products. Google / YouTube have entered into a strategic partnership with Perfect Corp. aiming to integrate the beauty app, YouCam Makeup into streaming video ads on YouTube in order to allow brands to offer augmented reality on YouTube. For example, it allows users to virtually try on makeup in real time while watching their favorite Make Up Artist on YouTube. This is the case with the e.l.f. Cosmetics whose new lipstick SRSLY Satin Lipstick can be tried on virtually in a streaming video ad on YouTube, with the participation of internet celebrity Jasmine Brown. While Jasmine tries out different colors of elf lipsticks, the consumer can simply click on the "try on" button to try out the same colors - or any other color that has captured her attention from the YouCam Makeup app just below the video. . Users can also buy anything they see right in the app.

AR makeup on Snapchat to connect Online and Offline. Snapchat, the pioneering social media app that lets everyone share their stories, has become one of the leading companies in the AR revolution. Snapchat is the perfect place for AR because its audience includes many young people of Generation Z or Millennials. This population is known to spend a lot: in the USA, their purchasing power exceeds $ 143 billion and they are the largest group of consumers. The successful collaboration between Snapchat and Perfect Corp. is proof of the power of AR. By leveraging Perfect Corp's AR expertise, beauty brands can use the credentials on the Perfect console to deliver an AR experience on the Snapchat platform quickly and effortlessly. Snap Inc. reports that campaigns that include option-to-buy AR filters have 2.4 times the action intent than the Q3 2020 average.

Together, Snapchat and Perfect Corp. help beauty brands reach a new generation of consumers with technology capable of reinventing the buying journey.

The future of Beauty Tech                                                                                                                   Alice Chang, Founder and CEO of Perfect Corp. recently kicked off the Global Beauty Tech Forum with an introductory keynote that revealed fascinating information on the biggest Beauty Tech trends to come. Here is an overview:

Beauty Tech is essential to customer engagement. Beauty tech is essential if we want an effective "direct-to-consumer" strategy. Advanced beauty technologies are the key to helping brands better understand, touch, and interact with their consumers — especially in this era where digital shopping experiences take precedence over physical ones.

We must rethink the customer experience across a digital spectrum. Brands must quickly translate and rethink their beauty services as digital experiences to be offered online to transform a passive D2C strategy into an active one.

The advent of GAN and livestreaming technologies. If AR and AI have become the pillars of tech beauty, the next generation of facial simulations and interactive technologies will be the tool to transform the future consumer experience.

AI care technologies. Skin tech is booming. It is the new category of services most in demand. This demonstrates the growing importance of AI innovations required for personalization of skin analysis and product recommendations.

The importance of a 360 approach. A profitable "direct-to-consumer" strategy must digitize product trials, reach out to consumers in all possible ways, including through personal and varied experiences. It must also allow coherent digital interactions on all points of contact of consumers, including in stores, on the Web, on mobile applications and on social networks.

Digital transformation is far from being a new concept for beauty brands. Having enough knowledge of Beauty Tech and understanding its enormous potential is a key element if you want to grow your business in this highly digitalized world. As Beauty Tech grows rapidly, it is essential for beauty brands and distributors to keep an eye on the latest trends and advancements. Additionally, readers will have learned from this article that Beauty Tech is an indispensable resource for solving consumer issues, creating a better beauty shopping experience, and ultimately accelerating business growth.

Get expert advice from Perfect Corp. and be informed of the latest beauty tech trends. Contact us for more details on the beauty tech solutions that have already conquered more than 300 brands around the world.