Smart Mirror Spots Wrinkles, Makes You Look like You’re in Hunger Games

The above scenario is actually plausible when the mirror and the wall in question are a part of Panasonic’s showing at CES 2015, and that exact convo basically went down yesterday when I elbowed my way through the crowd of snaphappy smartphoners and one of the inventors behind the mirror’s magic (a super cool woman by the name of Rieko Asai) to try it out for myself.

The most you’ve probably heard about this Panasonic Beauty prototype is that it lets you virtually try on makeup, but that might be the least impressive trick up its reflective sleeve. You sit down and instantly your image appears on the mirror screen in front of you in a special circle a little bit above your actual reflection. Before it busts out the blush, the mirror performs a Skin Check Up, flashing a profile of your facial epidermis up for all to see. Talk about intimate. That thing mapped out my finest lines, plotted out my crow’s feet (look at those nice people laughing at my lack of sleep!) and thankfully told me I somehow had more translucence than wrinkles. Whatever you say, Mirror. Whatever. You. Say. It also analyzes the data it just pulled and makes recommendations based on your skin’s wants and needs that appear on the right with action options to buy or learn more about different products and programs.

Now onto the makeup application! Yeah. It’s as awesome as I thought it might be when I was just dreaming about it as a 14-year-old. Scroll through endless options for colors and types of makeup, even brow shapes and eventually hairstyles and it all appears on your faux reflection in milliseconds. Flutter your virtually applied, Effie Trinket-approved lashes in just-about-real time and really experience your makeover in action.

After you’re all gussied up, you can take your look for a test drive in different lighting settings. How do red lips, pink cheeks and feather (?) lashes look in warm restaurant lighting? What about in the harsh hues of a simulated office? Answers: “Cute!” and “Alert HR.”

Don’t worry, fellas, you’re not left out in this beauty experience. You can also try on facial hair — in Pencil, Deep and Copstash style. What, no Lumbersexual?! Coming soon, we hope.

Although the Panasonic people project this starting out in professional salons and beauty hotspots well before tech like this exists in your home vanity, the mirror is also equipped with ways to help you DIY the looks you try. It will show you where those darn “apples” on your cheeks exist or outline how to achieve that perfect cat eye. A mirror with built-in tutorials? Dream world, meet (augmented!) reality world.

This year’s CES has been unofficially renamed Tech IRL [by me] since it can best be described as a real life world that we’ve only been dreaming of (well, and reporting about) in the last year. We’ve talked a little bit about apps that let you try on makeup and even reported on Modiface’s augmented reality 3D mirror for Sephora, but testing it out did not disappoint. Stay tuned for more of Brit + Co @ CES 2015!

What would you use a mirror like this for? Share below!