Japanese Women To Try Lipstick With Touch Of Button
by Staff Writers Tokyo (AFP)
Source: Agence France-Presse

A sales clerk of Tokyo's Mitsukoshi department store demonstrates a virtual make-up system which enables it sto display before and after make-up face to read radio frequency identification (RFID) tags with Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido's products during a demonstration of the "Future store project", 26 January 2007 at Tokyo's Mitsukoshi department store. Mitsukoshi, Shiseido and Japan's electronics giant Fujitsu started operation of customer service and stock control to use RFID tags and information devices. Photo courtesy AFP.

Tech-savvy but fashion-conscious Japanese women who want to try an instant makeover discreetly now have a chance to do it at the touch of a button. In a project meant to help design "the department store of the future," Japan's top cosmetics maker Shiseido on Friday launched with partners a virtual make-up simulator on a trial basis. The customer's face appears on the computer and moves in real-time as she tries on lipstick, eyeshadows or blush at the top of the screen.

"This is the first time to be able to do this with moving images instead of still images," said Shiseido spokesman Shigesato Kobayashi.

The customer touches on-screen tags that offer information about the products, including what ingredients are included or what skin type they are suited to.

The screen will also show the before and after results of the makeover, "so women can apply and reapply different kinds of color without having to use make-up remover and compare the results instantly," Kobayashi said.

The technology, developed by high-tech giant Fujitsu and supported by the government, will be offered on a trial basis until mid-February at Mitsukoshi department stores in Tokyo's ritzy Ginza area and the central city of Nagoya.

The technology also assists companies by showing them the popularity of products.

But Shiseido acknowledged that technology will never replace human counseling.

"This is simply an addition to make-up counseling," Kobayashi said.

"Of course we need real cosmeticians to tell which color works best with a person's skin color and how to put on make-up correctly," he chuckled.