Makeup app showdown: Meitu versus YouCam

We compare China's top virtual makeup app with the best of the West

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From left to right: Original photo; MakeupPlus’s “Dawn” filter; YouCam’s “Exquisite” filter

Karen Chiu

Published: 8:00am, 9 Feb 2018Updated: 8:17am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Putting on makeup isn't easy. Not everyone is capable of contouring like Kim Kardashian or doing their own red carpet makeup like Zendaya. Sometimes I look at my own selfies and wonder what I’d look like with my own glam squad.

With a limited budget, my best answer seems to come in the form of makeup apps, which let you slap makeup on your selfies, or even use your phone camera as a mirror to see how certain types of makeup would look on you.

I decided to put two of these apps to the test -- one from China, and one from the United States.

Meitu’s BeautyPlus is one of China’s most popular apps, used to touch up selfies by removing blemishes or brightening your eyes. Its sister app MakeupPlus takes it one step further, including many of the same functions as BeautyPlus while letting users try on virtual lipstick and mascara. And it’s a big business: Meitu’s IPO in 2016 was the largest stock market listing in Hong Kong by a technology firm in more than a decade.

The United States has an answer to Meitu: YouCam Makeup. Developed in 2015 by California-based Perfect Corp., the app is touted as a smart cosmetic kit that harnesses “facial mapping technology for a true-to-life virtual makeover.”

Which one is better? I pitted the two against each other in three tests to find out.