So you want to try out some new beauty looks and don't want to buy the stuff and go through the trouble of repeatedly applying, rinse, repeat. What can you do? Well, here's some good news: try an online virtual makeup site! You may have read my much earlier post about Covergirl's Embrace Your Face feature; that isn't your only option, and if it's not to your liking, you can try one of these: Starting off, here's Taz:

Taz might be the mother of all virtual makeup sites;

it doesn't seem to be associated with any magazine, beauty brand or other beauty oriented website. Their about us states that the website is a demonstration platform for it's virtual beauty software.

You can log in and create an account, though everytime I log in I'm prompted to respond to a registration confirmation email that never appeared in my inbox.

Besides their demo program, there's a forum, you can post your beauty looks, if they get enough likes or whatever you can gain points towards charms. Charms signify the popularity of your looks and how much other players/visitors like your comments etc.

So how does the virtual makeup part work Naomi? You ask? Well, let's get started:

First off, upload a photo, use a photo you have already uploaded, or use a stock photo.

Next:

Next you'll need to trace out the border of your face and features with the dots in the above pictures. Now, this is the part that I thought didn't work as well as Covergirl's Embrace Your Face.

Here's why:

You'll note in this picture that my foundation is a bit spotty; there's too much room around my eyes and lips. I think it's because of the dot face boundary method employed by Taz isn't as good Covergirl's system. Here's some more pictures:

You see the blue dots in the lower picture? Yep, you can make adjustments in situ, though they don't seem to help. You'll also note the beauty categories that can be manipulated: face (blush, concealer, foundation); eyes (mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner); lips ( lipstick, lipgloss, lipliner), very similar to covergirl's. I was disappointed that both amount and shine of lipstick and lipgloss can be adjusted but shine does doodly; it's always matte. The makeup choices are eclectic: anything from Nyx, Chanel to Mac, Revlon and guess what? No Covergirl! The complete lines of the brands are not included, just sample selections. Here's a couple more pictures:

The products you used in getting your look together can be listed at the bottom of the page. You'll note, or at least I did, a quality difference between the end results of the two different matters. As the saying goes, the photo matters. To show what's possible, check out these charm garnerers  most popular looks:

After many run throughs, I get the feeling that some of these photos had some outside help and aren't truly representative of what can be done by the website's software. Sure, the base photo has something to do with it, but what's the point if you can't try out different things with the same photo and some of the looks are too artificial looking?

On to another website: Mary Kay. This Avon like company has a virtual makeup studio on their website:

Pretty much the same routine as Taz: you can log on, create a look, share a look, get some feedback. The difference is that Mary Kay uses a system similar to Covergirl's Embrace Your Face.

I like what they've done with foundation, though choices are restricted to Mary Kay products of course.

It's nice to see a lip glossy when it's supposed to be, too. Like the Taz site, if you want to keep your stuff private, you can do that too.

Next up is the fashion magazine Marie Claire's virtual makeup feature:

Looks like they're using a Taz like system. Boy, are there ever a lot of choices, decisions, decisions decisions! Though your choice of brand is somewhat restricted:

You'll note from the photos there are over 500 different shades of lipstick! 500 different shades! And over 100 different lipliners. Was using the program to test out some looks for a Stepford Wives piece I'm working on, don't want to give too much away right now; more about that later.

The Marie Claire app, named by the moniker Modiface, has some of the same faults as the Taz demo: namely: foundation, foundation, foundation. Plus, there's no gloss mod and every lipstick and lipgloss is very dull: always thought lipgloss was supposed to be glossy, what's up with that? Another fault in all websites so far reviewed: mascara always turns out as theses long, separate strands, not much of a choice regarding thickness. Hey, I can't knock these virtual makeup suites completely; they're free, and, they do help, just saying....

Now, on to another virtual makeup session. Here we have Seventeen magazines version:

Looks remarkably like Marie Claire's set up, now, don't it? Hmm, makes me wonder if Seventeen Magazine and Maire Claire are somehow affiliated; don't tell me! That's not what we're here for. So Seventeen magazine has the same Modiface system as Marie Claire; as far as I could tell it's a perfect match. Here's what I did on their website: (I was going for a dark look in my test)

The beginning stages, with just the mascara, look pretty good just on their lonesome, so maybe I'll try pretty much the same thing only with a lighter shade of lipstick.

One tip I've learned from all of these websites is that blasting your face with a ton of makeup can lead to haphazard results. In all of the pictures I've set everything on maximum, and it's true some of them could be improved with a little more judiciousness. It's just that if you want one of these apps to create a look that really pops, they seem to prefer overdoing it. Unfortunately, a kabukiish side effect comes into play that's not all that desirable. The Taz website has a Halloween section too, though I didn't and don't think I will try it.

So that's it for today's beauty roundup. So go on out there on the web and find the look that's right for you. Check back here again, as I might, just might, have some further updates from the fabulous world of virtual makeup.

Catchya later.

Ciao.