The Lo Down: the best beauty apps

1. GoodGuide (iOS, Android)
GoodGuide is an app that encourages you to learn more about your beauty products in terms of their ingredients, safety, and eco-friendliness. Once installed, you simply scan the barcode of the product to see how the product measures up in each of these categories. If using products that have not been tested on animals is important to you, you can personalise your account so that your future product shopping reflects what you’ve deemed most important. I have tried this app on various products and it works perfectly with the big brands (Revlon, L’Oreal, Garnier, etc.) but unfortunately doesn’t recognise any of our local brands.


2. Modiface Virtual Makeover (iOS, Android)
This app allows you to demo makeup and hairstyles on either a picture template or your own uploaded photo to use for virtual makeovers. From concealer and eye shadow options to a variety of hairstyles and colours, you can see which look suits your skin tone and face shape. The basic functionality of this app is great but for an extra R25, you can choose to upgrade and gain access to additional hairstyles, makeup options, and photo filters before saving or sharing your creations to social media platforms.


3. DressApp (iOS)
This handy app lets you browse your wardrobe (how very Cher in Clueless, right?) and plan your outfits in advance using its calendar
function. With DressApp you can take pictures of your garments and sort them by category: top, bottom, shoes, and accessories.
You can then mix-and-match outfits, make notes on when and where you plan to wear them, save pictures of completed outfits to
your photo stream, and share these outfits online. If you are #TeamAndroid, don’t fret. There is a similar app called ClosetVirtual for your device.

4. Beautylish (iOS, Android)
Beautylish is a great on-the-go app for beauty enthusiasts with product reviews, hairstyle recommendations, beauty tips, and DIY
tutorial videos to help inspire you. The step-by-step tutorials are particularly helpful (make sure you’re in a wireless area before accessing these) when trying to recreate beauty trends. What is also useful are the online forums where you can ask questions and get
advice from a community of beauty experts.

5. mySkin (iOS)
After creating a mySkin profile, you are invited to complete a five-minute skin assessment which asks about your skin sensitivity, skin tone, skin conditions, and the types of products you use. The app then matches your skin to products as well as other mySkin users who you can then follow and engage with. This app boasts scientific, personalised, and unbiased skincare information with recommendations selected from hundreds of thousands of products. #TeamAndroid, a similar app is My Skin Advisor.