Putting your best face forward in Microsoft Teams: L’Oréal and ModiFace bring digital makeup to meetings

Jeff Houghton, Chief Executive Officer of ModiFace, describes his job as, “the coolest in the world.” At ModiFace, a company that creates augmented reality technology for the beauty industry, Houghton and his colleagues spend their days bringing futuristic technology to everyday situations. “I get to take something that’s so digital, so cutting-edge, and make that tangible for people,” says Houghton. In a sign of its commitment to creating exceptional digital experiences, global beauty company L'Oreal acquired Modiface, enabling it to bring world-class digital try-on capabilities to its customers. “ModiFace partners with more than 30 L’Oréal brands in more than 100 countries, and we work with over 50 retail partners. Our goal is to meet customers wherever they are,” says Houghton.

But, in the world of hybrid work, customers are often at home, joining video meetings via Microsoft Teams. It’s a new way of working, one that poses new questions. For instance: how to optimize your look for video meetings? Now, with ModiFace and L’Oréal bringing their virtual try-on capabilities to Microsoft Teams, customers can choose from a wide selection of video effects to select the right look that works for them. It’s a seamless, simple pick-me-up. “Before you even enter a Teams meeting, you can choose different video effects and immediately see them on your face,” Houghton explains. “With Microsoft Teams, we’re getting even closer to where our users already are. There are 300 million people using Teams for meetings every single day. Being able to give them a richer experience inside Teams is something that’s very meaningful for ModiFace.”

“There are 300 million people using Teams for meetings every single day. Being able to give them a richer experience inside Teams is something that’s very meaningful for ModiFace.”

Jeff Houghton, Chief Executive Officer, ModiFace

Three industry leaders work together to create a new digital experience

Guillaume Pires, Global Modern Workplace Director at L’Oréal, takes pride in the fact that L’Oréal always looks to the future. “L’Oréal wants to be a beauty tech company that will change the future of the beauty industry. We’re not just creating projects,” says Pires. “We create experiences and services for our customers.” Increasingly, those experiences are digital. L’Oréal’s focus on “people, people, people,” as Peres puts it, involves reaching customers through the platforms they use on a daily basis. Adds Stephane Lannuzel, Beauty Tech Program Director at L’Oréal, “We started with virtual try-on capabilities to help people enjoy a more personalized, tailored beauty experience. We’re now going a step further and bringing digital makeup to the platform where employees spend most of their time while working away from the office.”

Because of their familiarity with Microsoft Teams as a day-day tool to collaborate, communicate and stay in the flow of work, L'Oreal employees were quick to identify the potential of Teams as an ideal digital platform for an entirely new beauty experience. Gustavo Peuriot, Global Endpoint Manager at L’Oréal, shares: “Every day, employees expect more from technology. To address those demands, we need to deliver the right set of tools to enable all possible use cases,” says Peuriot. “Teams is part of that strategy to help our people be more efficient, more productive, and more creative.” Houghton agrees that Teams is a platform with a unique scope and set of capabilities that has come to the forefront in the world of hybrid work. “Microsoft Teams was a natural pick for us to use to bring digital makeup to people,” says Houghton. “It’s where they’re connecting and wanting to put their best selves forward.”

ModiFace’s engineering team viewed the chance to work alongside Microsoft as an exciting challenge. “By joining together with Microsoft, we’ve really been able to push our technology to its limits,” says Houghton. The resulting solution brings natural-looking digital makeup beyond the static frame of a selfie and into the moving world of virtual meetings.

“By joining together with Microsoft, we’ve really been able to push our technology to its limits.”

Jeff Houghton, Chief Executive Officer, ModiFace

Helping meeting attendees feel prepared and confident

Lannuzel knows that hybrid work includes many moments when people must unexpectedly be camera ready. “Sometimes, you’re taken off-guard by an unscheduled meeting,” he says. And makeup wearers often find that everyday makeup doesn’t translate well on camera. Continues Lannuzel, “With ModiFace and L’Oréal technology in Teams, you just click to activate digital makeup in an instant.”

Edgar Maucourant, Director of Software Development at ModiFace, worked with his developers to create an application for Teams that would be totally seamless and lifelike. “The team I lead focuses on rendering,” he explains. “We make sure the virtual makeup looks really realistic, adapts to the light, and follows the movements of the person on camera.”

Houghton describes the finished product as somewhere between a filter and a digital makeup case. “What we’ve built together with Microsoft and L’Oréal is a super-seamless solution for trying on looks in Teams meetings,” he says. “When you connect to a Teams meeting, before you enter, you can browse different video effects with quick, simple previews, click one that’s interesting to you, and immediately see it on your face.”

ModiFace and L’Oréal are already exploring the potential for even more digital styling options. Maucourant notes, “Today, we’re focusing only on makeup, but tomorrow, we can do hairstyles and hair coloring. We’re very excited to investigate what more we can bring to the Teams platform with L’Oréal going forward.”

Lannuzel also looks forward to Teams users exploring different applications for digital makeup beyond the typical video meeting. “People use Microsoft Teams for business meetings but also for social interactions,” he says. “With the digital makeup solution, you can choose the right makeup for the right occasion with the click of a button.”

Combining the futures of beauty technology and hybrid work

Bringing digital makeup to Teams meetings is a perfect expression of L’Oréal’s ongoing drive to lead the beauty industry in innovation. “At L’Oréal, we want to build the future of beauty,” states Lannuzel. “We believe it will be at the crossroad of science and technology.”

The L’Oréal and ModiFace digital makeup project might be future focused, but it also embodies something more timeless: the way makeup sparks confidence. “I’m really proud of this project,” concludes Lannuzel. “People feel good when they use digital makeup because it gives them more confidence in their virtual meetings.”