Cyber Week Sale:

Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.

SUBSCRIBE

Sephora is betting big on augmented reality for beauty

Bridget Dolan and her team at Sephora’s Innovation Lab, based in San Francisco, were a year into developing a new virtual reality tool for the retailer’s mobile app when the technology used to power the experience saw a breakthrough.

“When it comes to augmented and virtual reality, it can only be successful if it’s truly useful,” said Dolan, Sephora’s head of innovation. “We weren’t interested in just buzzy. A lot of things like technical accuracy and timing had to come together, and there was a time last year when, during testing, we hit a tipping point.”

Sephora’s team and its technology provider, augmented reality platform ModiFace, had pushed facial recognition technology to a new point of sophistication. After months of development, the technology can break down one virtual makeup application into a step-by-step layering process, while maintaining critical accuracy and reaching mass scale.

More in Marketing

U.K. retailer Boots leads brand efforts to invest in ad creative’s data layer

For media dollars to make an impact, brands need ad creative that actually hits. More CMOs are investing in pre- and post-flight measurement.

‘AI is permeating everything we do’: How Guitar Center developed 2 AI tools this year

This summer, the company launched a chatbot called Rig Advisor to help customers find the right instruments and products.

Behind the rise of the chief productivity officer and what it means for companies and employees

The CPO is envisioned as the leader who orchestrates people and technology together to drive business outcomes.