Recently we had an opportunity to speak with Robert Gavelin, the Project Manager at Dynamo Digital Ventures about Oriflame Makeup Wizard

Please share with us the backstory of what motivated you to create this app.

Last spring, one of our developers experimented with a face tracking SDK and created a prototype app for virtual try-on of makeup products. We showed the concept for Oriflame Cosmetics who liked the idea and decided to build this app.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

More types of products, push notifications when new products or looks are available, better support for social media sharing.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the creation of this app?

We have been learning advanced usages of the OpenGL image processing library to create realistic overlays.

How did you decide which platforms to release your app on and do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms?

Android is the most common platform for Oriflame's target markets, and they also wanted an iOS version. No other platforms are planned at the moment.

How is your app different than the rest of the market? Which unique need does it fill?

The state-of-the-art SDK from Visage Technologies makes the face tracking responsive and accurate. We also collaborated with color experts from Oriflame to make sure that the makeup looks more realistic than the other virtual makeup apps out there. Our app also has a very intuitive interface for purchasing the products after trying them.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

The Liquid Metal eye shadow and Color Unlimited lip gloss look really realistic. Try it out!

What surprised you most in your journey to create this app?

It was surprisingly hard to adapt the performance of the face tracking algorithm to many different devices, CPUs, GPUs, etc. But in the end we found a sweet spot which we are happy with.

Which other mobile apps or technology have inspired you?

YouCam Makeup - of course.

Do you have any recommendations or advice for others wanting to create a mobile app?

Build a quick prototype and pitch it to customers so you can get the feedback you need before you start building the real app.

You can view Oriflame Makeup Wizard here