Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the prettiest of them all?
Once upon a time, the idea of Augmented Reality was reserved for video games, sports, and space. Nowadays, it’s closely entwined with the beauty sphere (source: instyle). Over the past year, the beauty industry has gone through a major digital transformation, influenced largely by a growing demand for brands to provide personalized immersive digital experiences to consumers. Augmented Reality has been at the forefront of this digital transformation and in this blog we like to zoom in a bit more on these digital developments and their significance for the future of the beauty industry.
As demonstrated by popular beauty brands, Augmented Reality is quickly gaining traction in the beauty industry. While many beauty companies adopted AR during the pandemic, many others are likely to continue experimenting with this technology when things return to normal (source: poplar studio).
75 of the top 100 beauty brands are now using AR globally to change how products are marketed to and tried on by consumers.
Source: Lenslist
One of the most popular use cases of AR in the cosmetics industry is the virtual makeup try-on. This type of AR lets users apply lipstick, eyeshadow, and other sorts of makeup products onto their own skin in real-time, without having to go to a physical store (source: poplar studio). Check out the work that we did together with DRUM for Lancome.
The beauty industry is not only experimenting with virtual makeup, but also with virtual hairstyles. Dying your hair can be a real struggle, it is hard to visualize how a new hair color looks on you and whether it lives up to your expectations. 👀 Thanks to AR, you won’t be walking around with the wrong hair color anytime soon!
And the best thing about it? Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook ánd TikTok offer this functionality. So hair brands, make sure to hit us up with your color codes. 😉 Just like we did for Kevin Murphy.
Augmented reality apps also step outside the realm of makeup and cosmetics, assisting with critical skincare as well. Today's AR technology is also used for skincare recommendations and analyses. Consumers see this as their own dermatologist at home, because they can open the app whenever they want and wherever they are. This marketing strategy offers a lot of value for beauty brands.
An example of a brand that uses this is L'Oreal. With its SkinConsult AI, L'Oreal provides advice for skin care with a focus on anti-aging. Who wouldn't want advice on how to maintain young, healthy skin?
Tarte cosmetics saw a 200% increase in sales after launching a virtual try-on feature that allows consumers to experiment with different makeup shades (Front Row, 2022). In addition, Aveda's, a cosmetic company, saw a dramatic increase in website traffic to the brand's salon locator with a spike of 112%. All this by implementing an AR hair color try-on tool on their website (Front Row, 2022).
It is also expected that the applications in augmented reality of cosmetics and beauty markets will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5% from 2022 to 2027. The brands have never positioned themselves better by using AR applications and because of this, meeting the needs of their customers (Rock Paper Reality, 2023).
Although, we cannot fully predict the future, we dare to say the beauty industry will continue to digitize. The future of the beauty shopping isn’t so much about going to a store, but more about getting a personalized quality experience from the comfort of your own home. So, while the need for digital beauty has increased during the pandemic, it seems the role of AR is here to stay. With more and more brands getting involved, will these new immersive digital beauty experiences champion over traditional ones? Curious to see in which industries AR is making a change? Read our article about shopping in retail here!
The best time to hop on board to take your brand to the next level is now. Are you ready to explore the possibilities of creating an AR beauty experience for your brand?Inspired? Let us know your crazy ideas. 🔥
.svg)
