Color Matching Technology by HP

Hewlett-Packard, one of the world’s top producers of computers and printers developed a color matching technology that will help consumers select the right make up.

“Our goal was to achieve the same competency as a make-up artist,” says Nina Bhatti, a principal scientist at H-P Labs.

They came up with the technology which matches colors that complement each other. It is targeted — at least initially — for use in the sale of cosmetics.

H-P’s technology relies on snapping a picture of a person’s face next to a specially designed color chart, typically using a cellphone camera as a customer is visiting a cosmetics counter. That picture is then sent electronically to special servers operated by a partner, the Palo Alto, Calif., company.

There the color of the person’s skin is adjusted for variations caused by lighting and camera differences to a standard color chart, and then compared to a database of skin tones. In seconds, H-P says, the system responds with a text message suggesting what shade of make-up would look best on them based on their skin tone.

Ms. Bhatti says the company came up with the concept three years ago after the company got feedback from H-P customers in the cosmetics industry looking for innovative ways to connect with their own customers through mobile phones. H-P pulled together scientists with expertise in fields that include imaging, color and networking, and relied on existing face-detection technologies inside the company.

H-P researchers also studied, photographed and stored images of 260 different women to build a database of skin tones. It then drew on makeup artists for recommendations about which shades would best fit specific skin tones.