One of the key power players in the beauty industry, L’Oréal, just announced some BIG news: It’s acquiring ModiFace, the leading tech company behind many beloved “try before you buy” beauty apps, which will significantly propel the company’s digital strategy and open new doors to the world of augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
This means L’Oréal’s 34 brands—including heavy hitters like Maybelline, Urban Decay, Lancôme, Kérastase, NYX Cosmetics, Garnier and essie—will have access to some of the most innovative technologies being developed in the beauty space right now.
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If you’ve ever used an app that lets you digitally apply makeup or change your hairstyle—or give yourself a makeover of sorts—you were probably using ModiFace technology. In 2017, the company partnered with Clinique, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown and Smashbox Cosmetics, among others, to make the digital “try on” experience a reality for their customers.
Earlier this year, L’Oréal Professionnel launched a 3-D hair color app with ModiFace called Style My Hair, which allows users to see themselves in real time with different hair colors before they book a salon appointment for the real thing. Benefit Cosmetics joined in on the fun, too, with its Brow Try-On app, which lets users experiment with different brow shapes to see what looks best on their face.
The technology can also be used for virtual skin consultations, so L’Oréal’s roster of skin care brands, which includes Kiehl’s, Vichy, SkinCeuticals and La Roche-Posay, among others, will also benefit.
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“With its world-class team, technologies and sustained track record in terms of beauty tech innovations, ModiFace will support the reinvention of the beauty experience around innovative services to help our customers discover, try and chose products and brands,” said Lubomira Rochet, chief digital officer at L’Oréal, in a press release. “We at L’Oréal and ModiFace want to pioneer this new page of the beauty industry.”
Rochet told Reuters that L’Oréal has acquired the stock of inventions ModiFace has already created, which poses the question: Will the non-L’Oréal brands using ModiFace technology have to give it up? We reached out to L’Oréal and received this reply: “All commitments with existing customers of ModiFace will be fulfilled.”
Stay tuned to NewBeauty for updates!
