Sally Hansen Sees 300% Boost in Shades Viewed and 120% Increase in Intent to Buy with Perfect Corp. AgileHand Virtual Try-On for Nail Color

Situation: Bringing Virtual Try-On to Nail Color 

Sally Hansen Inc., part of the Coty family, is an American beauty brand, first founded in 1946 by Sally Hansen herself. Hard As Nails nail strengthener was the first Sally Hansen product filed for a patent in 1957. Since then, the brand has become famous for its dedication to making innovatively formulated beauty products for real women. Beauty that really works.

Founded in Paris in 1904, Coty is one of the world’s largest beauty companies with a portfolio of iconic brands across fragrance, color cosmetics, and skin and body care categories. Coty serves consumers around the world, selling prestige and mass market products in more than 130 countries and territories. Coty and its brands empower people to express themselves freely, creating their own visions of beauty; and the company is committed to making a positive impact on the planet.

As Coty explored ways to bring the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) to its worldwide customers with engaging virtual try-on experiences, it identified a special opportunity to partner with Perfect Corp. to introduce virtual try-on across the Sally Hansen portfolio of nail color.

Great Combination. Sally Hansen deployed Perfect Corp. AgileHand^TM Technology to bring virtual try-on to its consumers.

Solution: Perfect Corp. AgileHand Technology

Sally Hansen chose Perfect Corp.’s AgileHandTM technology to allow consumers to easily experience hundreds of Sally Hansen nail color options in an augmented reality environment, available from any mobile device. Perfect Corp. combines powerful AI with its industry-leading AR to provide stunningly lifelike virtual try-on experiences.

With Perfect Corp.’s AgileHand^TM technology, consumers see their selected nail color on a live moving image of their own hand. They can easily experiment with the wide nail color shades Sally Hansen offers before purchasing. This creates a completely new shopping experience that enhances the online and in-person shopping journey and makes testing nail polish more accessible and hygienic.

“Nail polish is a highly impulsive category—consumers love to experiment with any number of shades and finishes,” says Jean-Denis Mariani, Chief Digital Officer at Coty. “Now, Sally Hansen fans can feel free to play even more with our new virtual try-on tool.”

Choosing Perfect Corp. was an easy decision.

“We did our due diligence with different players in the space, and I actually came from a tech background, so I knew the right questions to ask,” says Celia M. Tombalakian, Vice President of Global   Marketing for Sally Hansen. “When we met with Perfect Corp., all the questions we asked, they answered so well, we could see they were on top of it and ahead of the curve.”

Beautiful Nails. Sally Hansen offers more than 500 shades.

The company was impressed by the Perfect Corp. technology, as well as by its vision.

“We could see right away that their technology was much more advanced—and that the vision and road map was much more advanced—than other key players who seemed to be trying to play catch-up,” Tombalakian says. “Perfect Corp. is truly a leader.”

Coty entered into a strategic, multi-channel agreement with Perfect Corp. to embed a suite of best-in-class augmented reality and artificial intelligence experiences into the digital marketing toolkits of its beauty brands. The Sally Hansen virtual try-on tool is the first technology solution applied since the partnership formed, with plans for additional activations to come, including virtual try-on, online skin diagnostics and data-driven personalization across Coty’s broad portfolio of cosmetics, skin, and fragrance brands.

Shanna Weinblatt, Senior Director, Innovation & Beauty Tech, at Coty, notes that the AgileHand^TM virtual try-on experience for Sally Hansen nails was first rolled out in the United States, and will extend to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in the coming weeks.

“We began with 200 of our most popular colors, and will soon provide virtual try-on for our full palette of more than 500 colors, as well as all of our finishes,” Weinblatt says.

Perfect Corp.’s technology has worked so well for Sally Hansen, that Weinblatt says Coty will soon expand its use of Perfect Corp.’s technology across many of Coty’s brands, including makeup, foundation finder, and skin diagnostics.

Benefits of AI + AR Beauty Tech for Sally Hansen Nails

Sally Hansen has enjoyed several benefits since deploying its Perfect Corp. AI+AR-powered AgileHand^TM virtual try-on, including:

• 100% increase in time spent on product display pages
• 300% increase in number of shades viewed
• 120% increase in intent to purchase
• Rich omni-channel experience, whether shopping at home or in-store
• Hygienic and accessible try-on method for nail polish
• Ability to save looks

Digital Engagement: 100% Increase in Time Spent on Product Display Pages

After deploying Perfect Corp.’s AgileHand^TM virtual try-on for its mobile app, Sally Hansen saw more than a 100% increase in the time customers spent on its nail color product display pages.

“People want to play in this category because it is fun and because the VTO technology is so advanced,” says Weinblatt. “The minute you realize you can try on all these different shades virtually, it's hard to stop. This  element makes our virtual try-on very interactive and engaging.”

“Nail color is the gateway into cosmetics,” says Tombalakian. “The Perfect Corp. technology is mind-blowing. People can see the different colors on their own hands, which is vital because everyone has different hands, different skin tones, different nails. This lets people really evaluate colors, looking back and forth, in a different light, and while moving their fingers around just like in real life.”

Play and Product Discovery: Virtual try-on engages customers to explore the world of color that Sally Hansen provides.

Digital Engagement: 300% Increase in Number of Nail Color Shades Viewed

Giving Sally Hansen customers the chance to try on colors virtually more than tripled the number of shades viewed.

“We saw the number of shades viewed go from an average of 3.5 before virtual try-on to an average of 12 with virtual try-on,” says Weinblatt. “This shows the power of the AgileHand^TM virtual try-on for nails.”

“This aligns perfectly with equity of Sally Hansen as the color authority,” Tombalakian says. “Our virtual try-on engages consumers to become more familiar and intimate with the breadth and depth of our color range. Our virtual try-on creates an opportunity for people to feel inspired and play and have fun as they find that perfect look and personalize their color selections.”

Salon Quality. Sally Hansen built its reputation on offering salon-quality from home.

Beauty Sales: 120% Increase in ‘Shop Now’ Intent to Buy

Sally Hansen credits AgileHand^TM virtual try-on technology with giving its customers the confidence to go from browsing to buying. After deploying virtual try-on, the company found more than a 120% increase in intent to buy—as consumers clicked the Shop Now button.

“The AgileHand^TM technology gives the consumer the confidence they need to make a purchase,” Tombalakian says. “The AR is so good that they can see exactly how a color will look on their very own nails. The fact that the AR experience allows them to move their hands around makes it even more realistic. The experience is fun and true to life, all of which makes it easier to decide to make the purchase.”

Supporting the Sally Hansen Tradition of Providing Salon Results from Home

Sally Hansen prides itself in becoming the world leading nail color brand through its dedication to providing salon-quality results for anyone and everyone—from the home.

“The AgileHand^TM technology is a perfect extension of our dedication to giving consumers salon-quality results from home because they can access our full repertoire of colors and enjoy very predictable results as they will have tried it on beforehand through our virtual try-on,” Tombalakian says. “This technology is a huge facilitator because there's only so much you can take in when you're standing before a wall [of nail polish]. This gives people a way to play with color, without having a tester, and without having to use remover.”

The realism of the augmented reality plays a big role. “Consumers can see how colors look on their own nails, their own hands,” Tombalakian says. They see exactly how things will look on themselves.”

Virtual try-on opens the door for consumers to explore colors they might have not otherwise considered.

“With virtual try-on you don't have to buy 15 bottles and try them all on and take them all off and decide this which is the right for you,” Tombalakian says. “It opens up the opportunity to explore. You might not think a specific color would look good on your actual skin tone, until you see it. This unlocks many different opportunities for consumers to explore and make purchases versus being afraid to try.”

Sharing Looks on Social Media

The fun of exploring different nail looks can be shared with others.

“When a consumer goes through the virtual try-on experience, they can take a picture and download it for their own use, and to share with others,” Weinblatt says. “They can share their look on social media and say things like: ‘Here are two looks, which one do you like best?’”

About Perfect Corp

Perfect Corp. is the leading SaaS AI and AR beauty and fashion tech solutions provider, dedicated to transforming shopping experiences through empowering brands to embrace the digital-first world.

By partnering with the largest names in the industry, Perfect Corp.’s suite of enterprise solutions delivers synergistic, technology-driven experiences that facilitate sustainable, ultra-personalized, and engaging shopping journeys, as well as equipping brands with next generation of consumer goods.

Perfect Corp. offers a complementary suite of mobile apps, including YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect, to provide a consumer platform to virtually try-on new products, perform skin diagnoses, edit photos, and share experiences with the YouCam Community.

To learn more, please visit PerfectCorp.com