Beauty brands are lab testing products for their selfie capabilities. If they don’t look good on smart phone, they might not see the light of day. Welcome to the new world of “the iPhone test”.
News flash: the selfie is going absolutely no where. In fact it’s so much a part of the modern day lexicon, cosmetic scientists are putting products through their paces before they even leave the lab. The “iPhone test”that ensures products deliver good-looking selfies. Yep, you better believe it.
If you haven’t ever taken a selfie, you may well be one of a dying breed. In a recent report by Mintel, it was discovered that one quarter of social media users have posted a picture of themselves online. That equates to s a whopping two-fifths of women between the ages of 16 to 24. And with beauty brands now creating selfie-tested makeup that delivers the look of airbrushed skin (key in creating the perfect selfie), that number is set to rise.
“Following the rise of social media networks, posting pictures online has become a common occurrence,” says Mintel analyst Charlotte Libby. “Many consumers are openly interacting with beauty brands online in this way.”
Who would have guessed, when Kim Kardashian started snapping away all those months ago or when Cara Delevingne took the world’s first runway selfie at a Giles Deacon show last year, that the selfie would so quickly morph into an important measure for cosmetic testing. The way makeup appears when uploaded onto social media is so important for a cosmetic product’s sales that a recent article in The New York Times revealed Covergirl has added another check-box products must pass – the iPhone test.
“We’ve got one type of consumer who is constantly taking pictures, and what really matters to her and her social group is how she looks in a selfie,” Covergirl’s principal scientist Sarah Vickery told the title. “It’s something we really have to pay attention to.”
Luminising foundation (if you haven’t read about strobing, click here) is the crucial makeup element if you want more than your best pals liking, so it makes sense that Outlast Stay Luminous Foundation is Covergirl’s first product to be given the iPhone test on both the iPhone 5 and 6.
The iPhone Test is admittedly only vaguely scientific. According to The New York Times, the research staff actually used their own phones for what Sarah Vickery called a “quick and dirty test”. But don’t think this is a marketing gimmick; Sarah and her team spent nearly two years testing 43 incarnations of the foundation before coming up with the final version.
Covergirl isn’t alone either. Avon and Smashbox are also getting into smart phone testing on new products. Smashbox is testing on iPhone 5, 6 and a Samsung Galaxy to get their products selfie-ready, while Avon’s vice president Lisa Lamberty says: “We don’t see this as just a passing fad.”
Just ask Kim and Cara.
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Kim Kardashian knows the importance of good makeup. Image source: gannett-cdn.com
Have your say: Do you think the selfie will keep going from strength to strength?