Meitu, a beauty application provider, is letting consumers virtually try on makeup through its app before purchasing with the help of celebrity beauty blogger Lisa Eldridge.

Ms. Eldridge will be designing new looks which will be featured on the app. Customers can use the app’s virtual try on feature to see what each product would hypothetically look like when applied to their skin.

“Lisa is a global icon with modern makeup styles catering to all women around the world,” said Liz Goodno, senior global marketing communication at Meitu. “We are so excited to feature one of Lisa’s beautiful makeup looks on MakeupPlus, and to inspire our global user base to bring this look to the real world using Lisa’s famously easy-to-follow tutorials.”

MakeupPlus
Meitu’s MakeupPlus app lmakes use of augmented reality and facial recognition, similar to the kind employed by Snapchat with their face filters, to recognize a user’s face and digitally project certain colors and products onto their skin, to help them make smarter decisions about what they are going to purchase.

To promote this app and its AR features, Meitu is teaming up with beauty blogger and designer Lisa Eldridge for an exclusive line of looks that will be available for virtual try on and purchase through the app.

Ms. Eldridge was one of the first makeup artists to make use of online blogging and consequently has a huge following now. She is also one of the first professionals in the beauty world to produce and create her own YouTube videos.

Meitu is capitalizing on her prominence in the beauty world to boost visibility on their app, bringing in Ms. Eldridge’s fans, which she has built up over the years, boasting a large new audience to the app.

Those fans will now have the option to try on the products she uses and recommends through their mobile devices through augmented reality.

Augmented reality
Augmented reality has begun to prove itself as an effective tool for cosmetics brands. Makeup, as a rule, is something that must be tried on to truly know how it will look, but is difficult to get a sense of from small sample sizes given in stores – hence the popularity of makeup sample packs and video tutorials.

With this new tool however, customers can get a sense of what a makeup product will look like on them without having to take a risk and buy it or do extensive research first.

Sephora has had similar success with its augmented reality offerings, letting customers hold their camera up to a magazine advertisement while a Sephora app tries to guess the correct color and product being used (see story). Those products can then be purchased through the app.

Rimmel has also had success with its “virtual mirror” app that also lets consumers try on different make up products before they buy (see story).

“The first time I saw MakeupPlus I was blown away by the accuracy and precision of the technology and recreated looks,” said Lisa Eldridge. “The ability to be able to instantly try on a new makeup look is revolutionary. It really brings the fun and experimental quality of makeup to life, you can lose yourself in this app and emerge feeling inspired to try new makeup ideas.”