Try before you buy: Google launches new AR features for hair color and foundations

Shopping for beauty products online can be tricky. How do you pick the perfect shade or find the right foundation that matches your tone without putting it on first?

Well, that's where AR comes to the rescue! Google introduced AR beauty features nearly three years ago. The aim was to help online shoppers find products that suit them by virtually trying them out on themselves in the Google app using AR technology. The result? Shoppers engage with beauty products 10 percent more when AR is involved, so AR seems to be doing it’s job well here.

Now, Google is taking it up a notch. They're bringing AR beauty features to mobile browsers, so you can virtually try on different hair colors and foundations not only from within Google search results, but also on shopping websites that have these features integrated.

Let's talk about hair color, which is a new AR beauty feature by Google. If you're thinking about changing your hair color but don't want any surprises, you can see what shades like L’Oreal might look on you, and soon, other brands such as Splat and Revlon will be available for try-ons, allowing you to experiment with various colors.

Foundation shopping is getting an upgrade too. You can still check out how a foundation shade looks on different models, but a newly launched feature is that you can also try it on yourself virtually. Just type in the foundation name, select the product you're curious about, and hit “try on”. Thats it!