It’s the end of the millennium and you still have disco hair. It’s time for a makeover, a new you, a much-needed 1999 upgrade.
The process of reinventing personal style used to be complex. First, the makeover subject has to find a trusted pair of eyes – someone who can judge whether bangs add perkiness or just draw attention to under-eye circles. To achieve a new look, the adventurous soul must take up part-time residence at a mall dressing room. Then there’s the yard-long list of new cosmetics to buy and learn to apply.
It’s a lot easier to take home a CD-ROM and let digital fashion consultants do the work for you. Some of the newer makeover and fashion products are so easy to use that you might find yourself changing your image weekly.
Here’s a look at what’s in the stores:
“Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover: The Collection” ($48, Segasoft). This is not just a makeover kit, it’s great entertainment. The Virtual Makeover requires users to put a digital picture of themselves on their hard disk (for those who don’t have scanners or digital cameras, Kodak offers photo disk film processing.) Once the picture is formatted correctly, it’s easy to change hairstyles, hair colors, glasses, makeup and even bridal veils.
Sometimes the looks are amusing (platinum blonde rasta braids?) but often the results are impressive. There also is no easier way to try on eyeglass styles. No myopic squinting at the mirror – you can see yourself in perfect focus. The Collection is the high-end version, which includes the most makeup colors, plus hats and eye-color-changing contact lenses.
The only caveat: Getting the perfect picture is not easy. No teeth can show in your smile (or you’ll end up putting lipstick on your teeth), hair must be slicked back, jewelry must be off.
Unexpected bonus: My 13-year-old son had a blast taking mom’s picture and making her look goofier than normal. ****
“Essence Virtual Makeover” ($30, Segasoft). This is the basic Cosmo CD-ROM with hairstyles and makeup colors for African-American women. Plenty of wonderful braided hairstyles are represented. No hats, glasses or bridal veils, however. Might an Asian version be next? ****
“Elle Beauty Guide” ($30, Grolier Interactive). Makeup tips, ideas for perfumes, instructions on applying self-tanners – it’s all here in this lushly designed CD-ROM magazine. Take many tests to learn whether your coloring makes you an Autumn, Winter, Spring or Summer. Then consult the many makeup shades that are appropriate to wear. By watching videos, makeup novices can learn such advanced skills as applying undereye concealer or adhering false eyelashes. The perfume test doesn’t make too much sense (I ended up matched with scents I hate), but the skin test is informative. ***
“Fashion Trip” ($40, Sierra Home). The concept is to take shoppers to the mall, where they can try on and buy clothing – while snuggled at home in a ratty bathrobe. However, users are doing little more than playing paper dolls with a dull range of clothing. After a seemingly endless installation process (this program is a great disk-space hog), all Fashion Trip really offers are bland, repetitive styles and a boring range of colors. Frankly, not too many women have trouble knowing whether a top will look good with a skirt, but they do need help visualizing the right shoes. Fashion Trip doesn’t let you try on shoes.
Major caveat: You can’t install Fashion Trip without installing Internet Explorer 4.0. If you already have Netscape, the addition of IE will take up a huge chunk of your memory. *
WEB SITES
Fashion has become a booming business on the Web, giving surfers a broad range of beauty advice:
* Lands’ End (www.landsend.com) is a surprisingly amusing site thanks to the new Personal Model program. Put in your body shape (well, a strange approximation of it, anyway) and try on khakis, sweaters and all those casual clothes that mini-van moms love.
* Women’s Wire (www.womenswire.com/style). The fashion area includes a Virtual Closet, with fashion tips, and the priceless runway report, with updates from all the latest New York shows. (The fashion movies don’t play on all computer configurations.)
* Cosmetic Connection (www.kleinman.com/cosmetic/advice.html). Ask the Makeup Diva is the major feature here, but there also are informative fact-finding reports on the biggest brand names.
* The Lipstick Page (www.users.wineasy.se/bjornt/lipmeny.html). An intrepid Swede has compiled all the lipstick colors from all the major brands and put the data on-line. Lipstick junkies, rejoice!
* Fashion Planet (www.fashion-planet.com). All the latest fashion news from New York, Paris and Milan.
