This Photo App Could Custom-Blend Shiseido Makeup for Your Skin Tone

This new app promises custom looks. (Photo: Getty Images)
This new app promises custom looks. (Photo: Getty Images)

An old-school cosmetics company and new-school makeup app are combining forces to bring customized makeup to everyone. On Wednesday, Shiseido Americas Corporation announced that it is acquiring MatchCo, a California company that sells custom-blended foundation using a photo app.

MatchCo gained all sorts of attention when it launched last November for its promising use of technology to achieve the holy grail of makeup: a perfect skin-tone match. With the free app (available only on iPhone for now), a user takes extremely close-up photos of his or her inner and outer wrists, left and right cheeks, and forehead. Within 48 hours, MatchCo technicians mix up 1 ounce of foundation — a cruelty-free, hydrating, medium coverage foundation with antioxidants — and label it exclusively for the user. One ounce costs $49 and should last for 6-12 weeks, according to the website. The blend is so specific, the company recommends using the app 2-4 times a year to accommodate the way skin tones change with the seasons.

We don’t yet know exactly how Shiseido, which was founded in Japan in 1872, plans to use MatchCo’s technology for its own lines of makeup, but hopefully this will lead to custom blends for all.

“We are exploring the best way to leverage this amazing technology across our global brand portfolio,” Jill Scalamandre, president of the Makeup Center of Excellence at Shiseido, told Yahoo Beauty via email, adding that some of that exploration includes “other categories” beyond foundation.

For the time being, the current MatchCo product will continue to be offered, she said.

“MatchCo is a truly unique company with a transformational technology platform, go-to-market strategy and approach to engaging with consumers,” Shiseido Americas Corporation CEO Marc Rey said in a press release. “We are very excited to leverage their technology and tools across Shiseido’s brand portfolio and continue to build on their innovation.”

In the same release, MatchCo founder and CEO Dave Gross said the acquisition would allow his company to “increase our product offering and expand our technology.”

It’s too early to say, according to Scalamandre, whether that means offering MatchCo makeup at Shiseido counters.

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