Whether you’re experienced with makeup or a beginner, finding the best products and techniques to use to enhance your look or try a new one can be hard. Florence Fadipe found a way to use AI to make this easier by creating Glamir AI, an AI-powered makeup consultant.
Fadipe is a nursing student in her last semester here at UT. She came up with the idea at Sephora when interacting with a device that scans your face and tells you what products to use based on your complexion. She wanted to make something similar that was more accessible and inclusive.
“What are the odds that we do that?” Fadipe asked her friends that day in Sephora. “But it’s just an app on your cell phone.”
Fadipe’s idea became a reality when three of her friends offered to help with the project. Fadipe is the CEO of Glamir and her team consists of the Chief Technology Officer and UT engineering grad, Ayo Kuye, the Chief Marketing Officer and UT business grad, Victor King, and the app developer and marketer, Ahizechukwu Njaka.
One of the main reasons Fadipe wanted to create a tool like this was because, as a Nigerian woman, she doesn’t see a lot of people who look like her in the makeup industry.
“I am trying to make something where people who look like me and people that sound like me are able to use that and are able to get as much feedback,” Fadipe said.
Though programs like this have been made before, Fadipe said marginalized communities haven’t been prioritized in app creation.
“I realized that there were people that have done something like this before, but not for women and not for the LGBTQ+ community,” Fadipe said.
Young beginners are the main demographic of the app. Fadipe said she wants Glamir to encourage and help newcomers learn more about their personal makeup style.
“It’s a guide for adolescents going into college, who are interested in beauty and glam, (to help them) get into it, because I didn’t really have that (growing up),” Fadipe said.
The app took around three months to make and was recently released on the App Store in September. The app is free to download and has a two-week free trial. Once the trial is up, the app costs $2.99 a month. The team is still working to get it available on the Google Play Store.
The app has three features, the first one is a makeup analysis. You take a picture of yourself with your own makeup on and receive a score for how good your makeup looks, along with personalized recommendations based on your facial features. The product recommendations range from expensive brands to drugstore brands.
Florence said she wanted the app to give people a makeup score as a way to empower new users who may need extra encouragement.
“I really want to emphasize the fact that I put that score there because I have a 13-year-old sister and that was the first thing she told me. Whenever she tried it she said, ‘Oh, I’m not that bad. It gave me an 85,”’ Fadipe said. “It’s something to help boost confidence.”
The second feature allows you to try a new look based on the specific occasion you’re getting ready for. You submit a picture of yourself, choose the occasion your look is for, then you choose a makeup category. After that, AI recommends tutorials and products that would help you recreate that look. I chose the formal occasion option along with the soft glam category and received recommendations on what YouTuber I should watch for a tutorial and what product and shades I should wear. Categories range from glam to vintage looks.
The last feature lets you upload a photo of yourself and a photo of a specific look you want to recreate. It then recommends tutorials and products that you should use for that look. I chose a bold purple look and the app recommended colors and products I should use to achieve it.
Fadipe and her team recently got their first grant from the Launchpad Innovation Grant here at UT. They’re currently working on getting more funding and adding more tools to the app.
“We’re trying to add more stuff to the app where it would give you direct links to the product recommendations that we (give) to you,” Fadipe said.
Fadipe said she hopes the app will make makeup more accessible and fun for people who are new to it. She wants the app to be a quick and easy way to get product recommendations and feedback in the moment.
“Besides the fact that it’s tailoring the product recommendations to you, based on what you are as a person, I want it to be something that’s pleasurable and not super serious,” Fadipe said. “Something that’s really convenient, just through the tap of your phone.”
