When you're a beauty lover, the struggle can be real. Even for a lipstick queen like myself, finding the perfect lip color can be a challenge (at best) and a complete pain in the ass (at worst). If you've ever wished that there was a magical fairy that could show you what you'd look like in every shade on the planet, congratulations: technology has finally caught up with your dreams.
Welcome to Sephora's new Virtual Artist app, available on your phone and the desktop site. Upload a selfie or snap a quick picture, then try on every shade of lipstick the store carries.
I already know firsthand that Sephora's Color IQ foundation and concealer matching service is so, so legit — so when I heard about this, I immediately told my editor to hold my purse because I was taking a long lunch.
My expectations were high, and even so, I was surprised. This app is fun, cool, useful, and really good, guys. Here's how the magic happens.
To begin, simply download the Sephora to Go app and scroll to "Try on lipstick." You don't have to sign up for a Beauty Insider account just to use it, although if you want the app to remember your favorite lip colors, you will.
Open the app, look into your front-facing camera, and watch as your lips change color. It works like a mirror, with the "lipstick" following your mouth in real time, no matter how you turn your head. It's like a Snapchat video filter, but with less rainbow vomiting.
You can filter the lipsticks by finish (bold matte is, I think, the default), shade, and brand. I first tried on a deep berry, which looked pretty baller on me.
Then I tried on a hot pink, which is MY PERSONAL BRAND.
I also tried on a bright red, and made this face, just to show you guys how perfectly this superimposed lipstick followed the lines of my mouth.
I found that the better lit I was, the more exact the "lipstick" got. I also found that bright or dark shades looked the most realistic, with light and nude colors looking a little unsuccessful.
But a sample size of one does not a successful trial make. I enlisted some of my fellow Revelists to help me put this app through its paces.
Our fearless leader, April, tried on a blue-toned mulberry, because "I don't ever wear this color, and I wanted to see what I looked like." Mischief managed.
Our fearless intern, Brittany, tested out a vampy dark purple.
Melissa — who is more a stain person than a straight-up color girl — tried out a neon red with awesome results.
And Jessica wanted to try black, "like my heart."
And just when I thought this couldn't get cooler, it did: you can also take a selfie, select four lip colors, and then compare how they look on you, Warhol-style. You can also shake your phone to get four surprise shades superimposed over your kisser, which I'm very into.
The general consensus? The colors are accurate (I have a few of the lipsticks IRL that I tried online) but look a little more sheer than they are in real life. We also found that the people will fuller lips seemed to get better results with the lipstick overlays than those with narrower mouths.
The app is also better than the desktop version, which never really understood where my lips were in relation to my face. Sorry, laptop. Mobile is the future.
