L’Oreal says this shade of green is perfect for your outfit today
In the 42nd Street subway station at Bryant Park in New York City, L’Oreal PARIS has installed a three-screen Beauty Booth to sell passerby the perfect shade of lipstick or nail polish as they rush to their next meeting. Genius.
Jonathan Spooner at The Control Group spotted the kiosk and explains, “the user walks up to screen number one which is a mirror outfitted with a Primesense (Kinect) camera and a rear screen projector. The onscreen (‘on mirror’) instructions ask you to stand in front as the camera takes your picture and determines your color palette based on your skin tone and clothing.”
“Once your colors have been boiled down to three major colors,” Spooner adds, “you are directed to the next screen where you select whether you want to “match” or “clash” with your colors. Then the system selects a grouping of lip color, nail color, blush and eye color all based on your colors. You are presented with the option to purchase any of the four items by adding them to your cart.”
Spooner points out that users cannot select other colors or items beyond the four recommendations generated based on whether you wanted to “match” or “clash” your current colors (both of which are legitimate beauty concepts, of course). Users can then swipe their credit card affixed to the wall and like a soda machine, their product is dispensed. To get a receipt, the user simply enters their email address, and in under five minutes, Spooner had a glorious bottle of green polish (image provided below), which his coworkers affirmed matched his outfit for that day:
The future is here
Spooner witnessed one subway contractor on the way to work stop to try to buy a lipstick to match her work outfit, but the color was out of stock and she was told to contact customer service. The upside is that someone tried to use it, but as with any store, it’s not a perfect system. “This installation shows the innovative thinking within some of the world’s biggest brands when it comes to public retail interactions,” Spooner concludes.
Look for more creative digital displays to pop up in large markets that offer a truly interactive experience with consumers as the retail industry graduates from entertaining people with creative concepts to actually converting sales.
