“Revolutionizing the Future of Beauty ”

As a beauty lover and innovator, Alice Chang identified a need and use for augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the beauty arena as a way to improve the consumer shopping and product trial experience. She recognized how AR and AI technologies could be used to curb consumer pain points eliminating messy and unhygienic product swatching and replacing them with hyper-realistic virtual try-on experiences that rivaled the physical try-on. She also saw a place for beauty technology to integrate across all touchpoints including mobile, online, and in-store. The emergence of a future “Beauty Tech” category motivated her to be one of the first to launch into the space. Her goal was to develop and provide digital-first solutions to enhance the beauty shopping experience for beauty brands, retailers, and consumers alike. She founded Perfect Corp., the leading beauty tech solutions provider and developer of the award-winning YouCam suite of apps, on the basis of innovation and the intersection technology and beauty. With over 280 brand partners around the globe and 850 million app downloads, it is safe to say that was a game-changing and trailblazing vision.

"Perfect Corp.’s innovative beauty tech solutions combine AR + AI technologies to re-imagine the consumer beauty shopping journey through experiential virtual try-ons that drive conversion."

As the CEO and founder of Perfect Corp., Alice is an innovator who leads by example. As consumer shopping behavior shifts to contactless, virtual try-on and beauty tech solutions are not only proving a fun and convenient way to shop for beauty, but are now essential to the success of businesses online and offline. Consumers have become accustomed to the convenience of try-before-they-buy shopping experiences, yet as global health concerns spike surrounding COVID-19, physical sampling is quickly being replaced by virtual try-ons. Digital try-on technology has become so accurate that consumers now rely on beauty tech as a way of making the most confident purchase decision possible.

Alice’s ‘Beauty 3.0’ vision is at the root of the unique brand and retail business solutions transforming the consumer beauty shopping experience through experiential product trials that drive conversion. Beauty 3.0 is the supercharged combination of hyper-realistic augmented reality (AR) and machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The combination of AI + AR unlock a whole new realm of personalized, beauty experiences, that not only show you true-to-life digital beauty trials, but also recommend specific products and styles based on your personal preferences and facial attributes. It’s this unique combination that elevates beauty tech from reactive to proactive. “This powerful technology is at the root of our Skincare Diagnostic which delivers an instant skincare analysis and products recommendations based on your skin health; as well as more integrated services like online Beauty Advisor 1-on-1, which re-imagines the beauty counter experience through an on-demand virtual beauty consultation through your mobile phone,” says Alice. “It’s also the tech that drives our AI foundation shaded finder technology, matching users with their best foundation shade match, and the soon to launch AI Beauty Assistant which helps to recommend styles based on your preferences and attributes.” This powerful beauty tech continues to transform the way consumers shop for beauty, creating more personalized and fulfilling experiences online and offline.

For instance, Neutrogena—a renowned American brand of skin care, hair care and cosmetics—have pioneered the skin tech category with the relaunch of their Skin360 app (powered by YouCam skin tech). The technology eliminated the barrier to entry posed by the need for secondary devices required by their first iteration. This newly relaunched experience delivers a seamless mobile skin analysis for a personalized branded skincare diagnostic directly through a user’s phone.

For the days to come, Skin Tech is a top priority for Alice’s next phase of development. With advancements in AI technologies and mobile camera lens tech, she is just breaking the surface of how technology can be used to benefit the consumer skin health journey. “We have recently expanded our skin health tracking metrics to include 8 common skin conditions including spots, wrinkles, texture, dark circles, hydration, oiliness, redness, and acne,” adds Alice. “With continued advancements in skin health and skin condition tracking, technology can help to match us with personalized skin regimens based on our individual skincare needs and preferences, further building on the personalized, consumer-centric journey across this new AI-powered category.” IE