I’m a big fan of experimenting with colour – at any age. Eyeliners are my thing – I don’t like to wear very bright lips, but will go all out on eyes with reds, purples, greens and blues. However, losing your confidence with colour is oh so easy – I’ve done it myself – and if there’s one thing that doesn’t help, it’s not being able to try products in store without an assistant at your side and the whole sales patter. You can easily end up buying something you really don’t want just to end the experience.
If you have iPhone, experimenting is about to get a whole lot easier – and much more private (nobody really wants all their make-up taking off in the middle of a department store) with the L’Oreal Make-Up Genius App which allows you upload a photograph of yourself and see what different shades and products look like. To explain, it will be like looking in a mirror at yourself so when you move, so does the make up – i.e. it’s not just plonking on some green shadow that will stay in the same place no matter how you move. It’s pretty advanced, technologically speaking – enough that you can ‘apply’ eye-liner and see it properly.
For people like me, who would secretly like to know what I look like in purple lipstick but never quite gather the confidence to actually do it, it certainly is a genius app. I’m also really eyeing this up for women who wear glasses and find it hard to know what shades will get lost behind the glass, and what will enhance your eyes. You’ll have all the time in the world to experiment and you never have to go anywhere near someone trying to sell you something. Even if you’re not App happy, this is one to look out for when it goes into full launch.
Similar to this
By Jane, aged 49
Transparency Disclosure
All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
1 comment
It’s a rare store that has the right lighting (I’m looking at YOU, Selfridges Birmingham) to judge whether it’s the right stuff even if you have the nerve to try instore.
I’m torn for the assistants who inhabit beauty counters in the UK: on the one hand, they have to deal with the English natural reserve and fear of being pressurised, running away at the *hint* of a sale; on the other – that it’s a cut throat world and much of your income is based on commission sales.
One the rare occasion I’ve been in US department stores I’ve seen one major difference between the US and the UK: In the US there are at least 2 people *on every concession*. Yes, they probably get paid what passes for minimum wage BUT they get to concentrate on their stock. They know it, they can talk about it, they can sell it, they know what they have and what would work – and they have customers prepared to ask questions or not (no shrinking violets in New York!)
Could the Brits (sellers and buyers alike) learn from the Americans? Would the app mentioned in your article work in Big City America?