Photo 3/10
Sephora Virtual Artist (Sephora)
Ease of use: A virtual cakewalk
Features: Integrated within the Sephora app is this virtual makeover experience, which lets you try on thousands of lipstick shades available at Sephora as well as a variety of faux-eyelash styles. A bonus makeup tutorials feature gives you step-by-step instructions for creating a variety of eye makeup looks -- winged, smoky and natural. Like MakeupGenius, Sephora Virtual Artist lets you test the shades live on your phone cam.
Final verdict: Using the "Surprise Me" button, I found a must-have lipstick shade in less than 10 seconds -- an orange-y red from Bite Beauty that I never would have picked off a store shelf. And buying the products you like is a breeze. The app is so easy, technologically impressive and fun to play with that I couldn't stop creating ridiculous makeup combos and mugging for the cam. It's just a shame there isn't a try-on feature for eye makeup or blush.
Rating: 4.5/5
Photo 4/10
Vice Lipstick (Urban Decay)
Ease of use: Very easy, although the photo upload feature is frustratingly glitchy
Features: Like Tinder for makeup lovers, the Vice Lipstick app lets you virtually try on all 100 shades of Urban Decay's Vice Lipstick, one by one. If you dig the color, swipe right and the app will save your chosen shade and corresponding photo in My Selects; if you hate it, well ... you know what to do. Afterward, you can share photos of the shades you loved.
Final verdict: Getting started with this makeover app takes mere seconds, and swiping through all the lipstick looks is addictive. But there's no way to fast-forward through shades or color families you'd never wear, so zeroing in on a favorite new lipstick may take awhile. And, strangely, there's no way to buy products through the app.
Rating: 3.5/5
Photo 5/10
YouCam Makeup (Perfect Corp.)
Ease of use: Not bad, but the interface is a little cluttered, and the navigation isn't intuitive
Features: YouCam Makeup gives you the ability to live-test a dizzying array of virtual makeup colors for lips, lashes, brows, cheeks and face, based on real products from brands like Elizabeth Arden, Lancôme and E.L.F. You can also perform some basic photo retouching tricks, and try on different hairstyles, accessories and Paul Mitchell hair colors for a total makeover experience.
Final verdict: The range of makeup and hair colors you can add to your image is seriously impressive. Unfortunately, there's a very narrow selection of makeup brands and shades available to try on, and you can't make in-app purchases for products you like.
Rating: 4/5
Photo 6/10
Hairstyles (Modiface)
Ease of use: So-so; it's easy to use but cluttered with ads and enticements to purchase upgrades
Features: Love Miley Cyrus' pixie cut, but not sure whether you can pull it off? Hairstyles answers that question -- or tries to, at least. Pick from a range of celebrity hairstyles, like Dianna Agron's tousled finger waves and Bella Thorne's topknot, and adjust the 'do to fit your photo. Then you can tweak the hair color to your desired shade and even add an accessory.
Final verdict: My hair 'makeovers' were hilariously bad. I've always envied Lucy Hale's brunette waves, but after seeing them on my face, she can keep 'em. Lorde's cascading curls make me look like Steven Tyler's long-lost twin. Every hairstyle and accessory I tried looked pasted-on and ridiculous, as if I was the world's saddest paper doll. Download this app only if you're desperately bored.
Rating: 1/5
Photo 7/10
Style My Hair (L'Oréal Professionel)
Ease of use: It's simple to use, but it takes a couple minutes to get familiar with the array of makeover customizations.
Features: Style My Hair gives you the ability to test-drive new haircuts, styles and colors with a few waves of your fingers. See how you look in a range of on-trend haircuts and styles, like a tousled lob, boxer braids or an Ariana Grande-inspired high ponytail. Then, test-drive a new hair color (in the blond, warm brown, cool brown, red, copper or black families), and choose different "effects" to see how you'd look with all-over color, sombré, highlights or shadowed roots.
Final verdict: This was definitely the most helpful makeover app I tried for scouting a new haircut and color. With a few taps, I visualized myself with platinum sombré (amazing), then checked out what I'd look like as a strawberry blond with grown-out roots (not so amazing). Although Style My Hair's technology is similar to that of competing apps, it offers a level of customization that gives lifelike results to each virtual makeover.
Rating: 5/5
Sure, the arrival of the new year presents a great excuse for making self-improvements. But if you don't want to spend more time at the gym, do a juice cleanse or buy new mascara, these free smartphone apps are a pretty cool shortcut to your new year makeover (or, at the very least, a bangin' Facebook profile pic). We tried four beauty apps on our road to selfie-made perfection -- and took photos along the way. Here's how they fared.
