When you hear “beauty filters,” you probably think of the typical TikTok and Instagram filters that add makeup and sometimes alter your facial features, all in the pursuit of a prescribed beauty standard. Grace Choi’s beauty filters don’t do that — instead, these filters aim to simply help you learn how to apply real-life makeup.
If you’re on beauty TikTok, you’ve probably come across the Contour, Eyebrows, or Eyeliner filters on your For You Page. They’re AR filters that place a grid on top of your face. And depending on what makeup you’re trying to apply, these filters also have extra, colored lines that serve as handy little guides on where to draw certain makeup techniques.
The Eyebrow filter in action.
Credit: Screenshot: TikTok/Grace Choi
The Contour filter in action.
Credit: Screenshot: TikTok/Grace Choi
Choi married her personal love of makeup with her professional career by inventing Mink, the world’s first 3D makeup printer, in 2014. “Throughout my 10 years or so in beauty technology, I’ve always felt that beauty moments and experiences, including tutorials, could be a lot more personalized and immersive and effective by using AR,” Choi told Mashable.
And yet, Choi never felt like there was a social platform that could properly house this immersive tutorial experience — that is, until TikTok launched an open AR platform called Effect House. Choi joined Effect House, and has since been honing her filter design skills while helping others learn how to apply makeup in a way that’s accessible and personalized to each face. She’s even expanded beyond makeup filters to experiment with color palette analyzers, personality quizzes, and workout aides.
We put the most popular beauty filters to the test. In this episode of Beauty, Hacked, Jennimai tries out the Contour, Eyebrows, and Eyeliner filters as guides for one one side of her face, and then compares it to her usual makeup techniques on the other. Which side looks better? Tune in to find out, and see whether Jennimai prefers the tech upgrade to her tried-and-true makeup routine.
