Notes

Plain answers about virtual makeup try-on, shade matching, undertones and personal colour, written by the team building Looksmith.

Looks, taken apart

• ABG makeup, taken apartABG makeup is a specific, nameable set of choices, and the aegyo-sal highlight under the eye is the one detail most write-ups get wrong.
• Clean girl makeup, taken apartClean girl makeup is a set of specific decisions across eight of Looksmith's twelve regions, not an absence of makeup.
• Goth makeup: the anatomy of the lookGoth makeup is four distinct styles built on black eyeliner and dark lips, and Looksmith's Goth look renders five regions plus a contact-lens iris effect.
• Halloween makeup ideas you can try on firstHalloween looks such as graphic liner, blood and bruise work, a doll face or a skeleton are makeup, not a mask, and Looksmith can render one on you first.
• Latte makeup, taken apartLatte makeup is a set of specific decisions across six of Looksmith's twelve regions, not a change to colour anywhere on the face.

Your face, your photographs

• AI photo app privacy law: BIPA, CUBI, GDPR and the EU AI ActIllinois, Texas, Washington, the GDPR and the EU AI Act each set a different rule for an app that touches your face, with different stakes for breaking it.
• How to tell if a beauty app is safe with your photosA beauty app is safe with your photographs when five checks, done in about ten minutes, turn up clear answers instead of silence.
• Is Looksmith free?The first six looks are free at onboarding. After that Looksmith runs on credits bought in packs, and there is no subscription.
• Is Looksmith legit? What it is, who builds it, what it costsMirable Labs, Inc. builds Looksmith, an unreleased iOS app that renders a makeup look onto a photograph of your face. No App Store listing, and six free looks.
• What happens to your selfie in an AI makeup appYour selfie usually leaves your phone, and whether that is safe comes down to four questions most privacy policies never answer.
• Will an AI try-on change my face?The five edits a beauty camera makes to a face, a four-point test that catches them in one photograph, and the list of what Looksmith will not touch.

The words, explained

• Generative AI try-on vs an AR filter: what is the difference?An AR filter paints colour onto live video in real time. Generative try-on repaints a still photograph, and each one answers a different question.
• Am I cool or warm toned? How to tell, in five testsFive tests in daylight, run in order, settle whether you are cool, warm or neutral, and three of the five cannot report neutral even when it is the right answer.
• Foundation coverage levels explainedSheer, light, medium and full describe how much skin shows through the base, and the labels are not standardised, so one brand's medium is another's full.
• Makeup finishes explained: matte, satin, dewy, glass and velvetFinish decides how much light a makeup formula sends back at the camera, and it changes the read of a colour more than the shade itself does.
• The twelve regions a makeup look is built fromLooksmith renders a look across twelve face regions, not the eight or so categories a store shelf sells by, because a job and a shelf are not the same thing.
• What is a full face of makeup?A full face of makeup covers every region of the face rather than one or two, and Looksmith renders a look across twelve of them.
• What is personal colour analysis?Personal colour analysis sorts your natural colouring into a named season, then hands you a palette built for it.
• What is skin undertone, and how do you find yours?Undertone is the hue under your skin's surface: cool, warm, neutral or olive. A white cloth against a cream one, in daylight, finds yours.
• What is virtual makeup try-on?Three different technologies get called virtual makeup try-on, and knowing which one you are looking at tells you what its answer is worth.

Trying makeup on without buying it

• Foundation shade finder from a photo, how accurate is itA photograph narrows your foundation shade to two candidates, not one, because your camera adjusts white balance and skin tone before you see the image.
• How to find a foundation shade without going to a storeA six-step order, ending in a ten-minute wait no app replaces, finds a real foundation shade without a single store visit.
• How to try a bold makeup look without going outTesting a bold makeup look is exposure in stages, not technique: preview it, wear it alone, photograph it, show one person, then wear it out.
• How to try on makeup without buying itSeven ways to see a lipstick, a foundation or a whole look on your own face before you pay for it, and what each one actually shows you.
• How to see a whole makeup look on your face, not one productA single-product try-on can't show whether a look works, because a look is not a sum of products: it needs one undertone, one finish, one focal point.
• Why you keep buying the wrong shade, and how to stopFoundation shades go wrong for five reasons, from shop lighting to MAC's inverted cool and warm letters, and each one has a fix that costs nothing.

Would that suit me?

• How to know if a lipstick will suit meA lipstick's tube colour is its mass tone, not the finished result, because your own lip colour sits underneath and takes part in what you see.
• How would I look with blonde hair?How light you can go is set by your natural depth, and the brassiness that follows is your own pigment surfacing, which toner manages rather than cures.
• How would I look with red hair?Matching one of six red families to your own undertone matters, since red fades faster than most hair colours and often needs a lift first.
• What colour contacts would look good on me?Opaque tints paint a new colour over a dark iris, and enhancement tints only deepen a colour already there. Either kind needs a real prescription.
• What eyebrow shape suits my face?The face-shape chart is guessing, because your arch is decided by your eye and brow bone, and three landmarks on your own face place it correctly.
• What eyeshadow colour suits my eye colour?Opposite shades intensify an iris, matching shades soften it, and depth against your lid decides if either one shows at all.
• What hair colour would look good on me?Undertone decides whether a hair colour leans warm or cool, and your natural level decides how far you can move from it. Eye colour only breaks the tie.
• What lipstick colour suits my skin tone?Your undertone decides which family of reds, pinks and browns works on you. Depth decides how much pigment it takes. Finish changes the answer again.
• Would freckles suit me?Freckles suit more faces than people expect, so the real question is size, spacing, colour and which of the five methods you can wash off tonight.

How the tools differ

• Makeup try-on apps compared: what each one shows youMakeup try-on splits into five kinds of tool, and each one shows you something the others cannot.
• Perfect Corp and ModiFace: the try-on you have already usedPerfect Corp and L'Oréal-owned ModiFace built nearly every branded try-on online, so comparing two brands often means comparing the same engine twice.
• Sephora Virtual Artist review: what it shows you and what it does notSephora Virtual Artist tries on one shade from Sephora's shelves live on camera, and leaves you with nothing but a screenshot to keep.
• Brand virtual try-on limitations: why it only shows that brandA brand's virtual try-on is a sales tool built on one catalogue, so it can only ever point you back into its own range.
• Alternatives to YouCam Makeup for trying a whole lookYouCam Makeup ships face slimming and an anti-aging filter next to its lipstick try-on, so the real alternatives split by what they refuse to touch.