YouCam features runway beauty trends via AI, AR tech

Dive Brief:

Perfect Corp., the beauty technology company behind the YouCam Makeup and the YouCam Perfect apps, announced a partnership with on-demand beauty service provider PRIV to feature PRIV's Runway Trends Collection in an interactive Fashion Week beauty showcase.
With the YouCam Makeup app, users could virtually try on looks that were on-trend during Fashion Week, including glittering shadows, neon liner, and blue accents, according to a press release. Users could also add exclusive Fashion Week stickers, frames and effects in the YouCam Perfect photo editing toolkit, the company noted.
As part of the partnership, consumers could try on the Fashion Week makeup trends virtually before PRIV provided the looks in real life as well as walk users through how to experiment with and execute the collection looks on their own, the company stated in its press release.

Dive Insight:

The PRIV collaboration comes after Perfect Corp. has developed and introduced new technologies to lure beauty buyers. Last March, the company grew its YouCam app lineup to provide beauty buyers with a chance to try on makeup. The company also introduced in YouCam for Web in July to let consumers test cosmetics via augmented reality tools.

The partnership with PRIV is the latest effort the beauty tech company has made to court beauty brands and retailers. Back in September, the company teamed up with Alibaba Group to implement its YouCam augmented reality software to Tmall and Taobao.

"The 2020 beauty landscape is all about hyper personalization, self-expression and tech-enabled beauty experiences," James Bradicich, vice president of marketing and business development at Priv, said in a statement.

Other retailers and beauty brands have been experimenting with augmented reality tools. Walmart last year tested out Garnier's Virtual Shade Selector, which uses L'Oreal's 3D tech to help consumers test hair colors. Sally Beauty also rolled out its ColorView AI technology to let shoppers virtually try on hair color and other products before buying them. And Ulta updated its app with GLAMLab, an AR feature that lets users visualize cosmetics before they buy them.