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TL;DR
- An in-store AR mirror lets shoppers try makeup, glasses, jewelry, and headwear on a screen, removing the friction (and hygiene worry) of physical testers that stalls in-store buying.
- Banuba's AR mirror runs on the same TINT virtual try-on engine used online, so the in-store experience matches the brand's web try-on exactly.
- Banuba's TINT supports 16 makeup product types with skin-tone-aware application, plus glasses, jewelry, headwear, and hair color, so one mirror covers most of a beauty assortment.
- Skin-tone-aware rendering is the differentiator buyers ask for most, because inaccurate color is the top complaint about competing try-on tools.
- Oceane, a Brazilian cosmetics brand on Banuba's TINT, reached a record 32% add-to-cart rate, more than ten times the 3% industry average.
- A new collection can be digitized in under 48 hours, and the web-based widget behind the mirror launches in under 2 weeks.
- Gesture control makes the mirror no-touch, which cuts staff workload and lets groups try products together.
Why is in-store conversion hard for beauty retailers?
The shop floor loses sales at the testing step. Physical testers are slow to find, often used up, and, since 2020, many shoppers avoid them entirely. Staff can only help one customer at a time, so during busy hours, browsers leave without trying anything, and a shopper who does not test a shade rarely buys it. The result is a store full of foot traffic that never converts.
An AR mirror closes that gap by making testing instant and self-service. The shopper stands in front of the display, sees products rendered on their own face, and combines several into one look. Banuba's AR mirror lets people control everything with simple gestures, so the experience is hygienic, and they can keep a medical mask on while trying on headwear or eye makeup. Customers who have already tested what they want need less help, freeing staff to give better care to everyone else.
How does an AR mirror lift add-to-cart and reduce returns?
The lift comes from letting more shoppers try more products with zero friction. Virtual testing kits are infinitely reusable, so a store is never out of stock of a tester, and a customer can try a full face of makeup, then swap in sunglasses or earrings, in the time it would take to unbox one physical sample.
Two things make Banuba's mirror convert rather than just entertain.
- First, breadth: Banuba's TINT covers 16 makeup product types with skin-tone-aware application, plus jewelry, prescription glasses, sunglasses, headwear, and hair color, so one mirror serves most of the assortment.
- Second, accuracy: skin-tone-aware rendering directly answers the complaint buyers raise most about virtual try-on, that colors do not display correctly on darker or warmer skin. When the on-screen shade matches what the shopper will actually wear, they trust the result and buy, which is also why on-screen try-on tends to reduce returns.
What does the integration take?
The mirror is powered by the same web-based TINT widget used for online try-on, which can be launched in under 2 weeks, and a new product collection can be digitized in under 48 hours. Because it is web-based, it runs on standard connected hardware rather than custom devices, and the white-label option blends it into the store's own branding. Engineering teams can follow the Banuba SDK documentation and reference the public Android integration samples to deploy it on in-store displays and kiosks.
What results have beauty retailers seen?
Brands including Gucci, Schwarzkopf, and Oceane already use Banuba's AR mirror. Oceane, a Brazilian cosmetics brand, was an early TINT adopter: its pilot on concealer and foundation lifted the add-to-cart rate from the 3% industry average to 20.15% in the first month, a 600%+ increase, and it later peaked at a record 32%, more than ten times the industry baseline. You can read the full Oceane add-to-cart record story for the deployment detail.
Banuba's makeup virtual try-on for AR mirrors in action
Ready to test it in your store?
See what an in-store mirror does to your conversion rate. Start a free trial of Banuba's AR mirror and digitize your first collection within days.
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It uses real-time AR rendering on a live camera feed, so the shopper sees products move with them in the mirror, not a static photo overlay. This is the same real-time engine behind Banuba's virtual try-on for e-commerce.
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Banuba's mirror supports makeup, jewelry, headwear, eyeglasses and sunglasses, watches, and more, with hair color try-on available for in-store consultations. For optical-only setups, Banuba's glasses virtual try-on covers the eyewear use case in depth.
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The web-based widget behind the mirror launches in under 2 weeks, and a new collection can be digitized in under 48 hours through Banuba's TINT virtual try-on plugin admin dashboard. Timelines vary with store hardware and assortment size.
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Banuba prices an AR mirror rollout per deployment based on categories, store count, and integration needs, so the simplest path is to request a quote from the Banuba sales team rather than assume a fixed list price.
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Accurate, skin-tone-aware try-on helps shoppers buy the right shade the first time, which lowers the mismatch that drives beauty returns. Banuba's case studies, such as the Oceane add-to-cart record, show the same accuracy driving higher purchase intent in-store and online.
