Give Yourself a Virtual Makeover With Perfect365

23.04.2012
ArcSoft's Perfect365 is a fun, if limited, program that allows you to add a variety of makeup styles to a digital face to improve the complexion, get rid of blemishes, and pump up the color of the eyes, lips, and cheeks.

Like other facial enhancement software, such as , Perfect365 locates the key points of the face--the corners of the eyes and mouth, the edge of the cheeks, and the outer points of the nose--to recognize an individual face and then adjust it. With it, you can smooth out skin and change its hue, add eyeliner and shadow around the eye, and make many other adjustments. You can choose from an overall "look" to add a particular style of makeup to the whole face, or use the makeup à la carte, adding just eyeliner, just lipstick, just blush, and so on.

The makeup, while easy to apply by clicking the location on the face and adjusting the intensity on a scale of 0 to 100, is somewhat frustrating to use. Even after adjusting the key points to match the face I was altering, I found that Perfect365's makeup looked oddly painted on and swung quickly from looking like there wasn't makeup at all to looking garish. Lips were difficult to get to look right, as it was very hard to get the lipstick to match the natural lip line of the subject, even after adjusting the key points. I found myself taking the lipstick away more often than not.

Face contouring--lifting cheeks, thinning nose, and slimming face---is less extensive than in other programs, such as Portrait Professional, but what it does offer is fine for the casual users who are likely to use the program. After all, it's easy to go overboard and make the subject of the photo look surreal if you don't know what you're doing.

Perfect365 is clearly geared toward a very casual, young user. Some of the makeup styles are wild, and it offers the option of lip tattoos, so you can paint your lips in rainbow colors or leopard prints, and colored contacts to change the color and pattern of the eyes. It's fun to play around with, for sure, especially if you're under the age of 20. Once you're satisfied with your makeover, you can post your creation on Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr.

ArcSoft caters Perfect365's website to appeal to the young user. When I was researching for this review, the site was hosting a contest for users to submit a photo made up to resemble one of the characters in the movie The Hunger Games. The models it uses as examples throughout the site are mostly young women, and it branches out from the software itself to offer general makeup and beauty tips and trends and discuss makeup products.