L’ORÉAL | MAKEUP GENIUS | 2015
The Day Makeup Actually Stuck to the Face in the Mirror / L'ORÉAL "MAKEUP GENIUS"
Point your phone's camera at your face, and the lipstick doesn't slide off even when you blink or smile. This is about an app from 2015.
The problem
L'Oréal Paris was losing ground to the professional image of specialist brands like MAC and MAKE UP FOREVER. On top of that, since you can't actually try on makeup at mass-market stores, young women in particular were hesitant to pick up new products.
The insight
The goal, according to someone on the L'Oréal Paris team, was to bring the kind of service you'd get at a store counter to anywhere at all. The thinking was simple: if people could just try it, they'd buy it — which meant the inability to try it was actually the biggest obstacle.
The idea
They built a "virtual mirror" using facial recognition technology that scans your face and keeps the makeup tracking perfectly even as you move or change expressions. You could scan a magazine ad or a barcode in a store to try on a product you were curious about on the spot, with a path built right into the app to purchase it immediately. What made it new was bringing technology from Hollywood and the gaming industry into the world of beauty.
What happened
The app rolled out in more than 60 countries worldwide, racking up over 16 million downloads total, with more than 270 million products tried on. Sales of color cosmetics saw double-digit growth, and the campaign won multiple awards including a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions in 2015.
Afterthought
What's impressive is that they answered the fundamental frustration built into cosmetics as a product — "I can't buy it because I can't try it" — not with advertising, but with the product itself. It's the experience of looking in the mirror and already seeing a new version of yourself. Realizing this was done ten years ago still gives me a little chill.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2015
