AI picks your 'perfect' makeup shade without seeing your face

Finding a decent foundation is the Holy Grail of beauty that many makeup-wearers can only dream of. Even if you find something that just kind-of-works for you, chances are you'll stick with it instead of risking spending more on something that won't. But now, tech-focused cosmetics brand IL MAKIAGE says it's developed a shade-matching algorithm that's so effective it can find your perfect tone without even seeing your face.

The company has combined hundreds of thousands of data points and information on more than 700 skin tones to create PowerMatch, a platform that uses machine learning to correctly predict a wearer's perfect shade of IL MAKIAGE's Woke Up Like This foundation, based only on their answers to a simple quiz. The brand says the algorithm has a 90 percent accuracy rate and is so confident it'll get it right that customers can try before they buy. They'll only pay an upfront cost of $5 for shipping, followed by $44 for the foundation if they decide to keep it after the two-week trial period.

I've spent years trying to find a decent foundation for my disaster-prone complexion. My oily face is somehow a variety of tones, so I'm a dab hand at identifying which shades are likely to work. I took a look through IL MAKIAGE's line-up of 50 shades and picked out the one I'd otherwise go for, and the quiz recommended the same. As I'm outside the US, though, shipping jumps up to $20, so I'll probably stick with my existing foundation for now.

Nonetheless, personalized beauty and more inclusive product ranges are hot topics for the industry right now, and the PowerMatch system ticks both those boxes. Companies in this area are increasingly leveraging technology to improve their offerings, so make-up lovers can sit tight knowing that the days of ill-fitting foundation are nearly over.