Cosmetic and beauty retailer, Sephora, set to open its first Australian store in Sydney’s Pitt St Mall in December, has launched a mirror that simulates makeup on a shopper’s face.

The augmented reality (AR) mirror, currently only in the brand’s Milan, Italy store, is a partnership between Sephora and ModiFace, and takes video footage of the face in front of it to allows shoppers to select eyeshadow shades to try virtually.

The technology maps the face and places the selected eyeshadow on the face on screen in 3D and real time, even allowing the user to move their face and have it mirrored in front of them.

The patented technology tracks the precise location of a user’s facial features and applies eye shadow colors directly on the video feed from a camera.

Shoppers can preview textures of eye shadow including glittery, sparkly, and shiny, and view all eye shadows from different angles as they turn their face from side to side.

Colours can be swapped and changed by tapping a new colour on the wheel of the touchscreen.

The mirror takes AR technology one step further, and allows make up shoppers to trial colours and textures without the mess of removal afterwards.

It also saves the retailer costs on providing test products.

It follows on from technology that has been used in Australian for more than three years which allows shoppers of glasses to try on frames via a video enacted screen.

The ModiFace application is expected to be rolled out to further stores.

“We believe ModiFace’s 3D augmented reality mirror will be a breakthrough technology for our customers as they virtually try out different eye shadow shades quickly and easily,” said Antonio Ferreira de Almeida, GM, Sephora Italy.