L’Oréal and Amazon combine artificial intelligence and beauty

05-Jun-2019 - Last updated on 05-Jun-2019 at 11:55 GMT

L’Oréal’s Modiface has announced that it will provide its AI-powered technology to enable the first virtual try-ons for cosmetics on Amazon, bringing together the e-retail giant and the rising potential of AI for beauty.

ModiFace’s proprietary technology allows retailers to seamlessly incorporate virtual try-on experiences for an unlimited amount of products.

Amazon customers will be able to use the front-facing camera on their mobile phone to digitally try on different shades of lipstick in a live video of themselves or on a selfie.

Nicolas Le Bourgeois, head of Amazon Beauty, has said: “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.”

He continued: “This launch is another important milestone in our vision to be the best possible place for customers to discover and buy beauty products online.”

ModiFace rolled out the technology on Amazon mid 2019 for customers in the US and Japan.

How does it work?

The ModiFace technology is run on Amazon Web Services, and offers photo-realistic results and automatic, AI-enabled shade calibration.

The AR simulation of each shade is done automatically, based on AI-powered analysis of

information provided by makeup brands, but also images and descriptions of the product available on social media.

The technology is able to analyze textual and visual information related to a particular

makeup shade and to realistically reproduce it via Augmented Reality, according to Modiface. The company was acquired by L’Oreal last year.

A fruitful partnership

Parham Aarabi, CEO of ModiFace, said: “We are delighted to team up with Amazon to provide its customers an Augmented Reality makeup try-on that offers highly realistic results and makes online shopping even more comfortable.

“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.”

Le Bourgeois, of Amazon Beauty, continued: “With this new AI-powered virtual experience, Amazon customers can now conveniently try-on thousands of lipstick products, save photos on their devices to share with friends and ultimately purchase with greater confidence –wherever they are, whenever they want, with products delivered right to their doorstep.”