Makeup Mirror

Makeup Mirror is a make-up studio in front of a vanity mirror ringed with warm bulbs. Every client arrives with a brief laid out as picture cards: the occasion (a school day, a birthday party, a stage show, a costume party, a wedding or a day at the beach), a palette that goes with their outfit, a dial that runs from keep it natural to go bold, and two or three must-haves, like bold lips and a winged liner for the stage or a cat nose and whiskers for the costume party. Clients come with all kinds of skin tones, face shapes, eye shapes, hair, freckles, glasses and hearing aids, and the score only ever judges how well the look fits the brief.

The tray holds eighteen eyeshadows you can drag onto each other for a two-tone blend, three wing styles of liner, lashes, brow shapes and tints, blush you can place on the apples, lifted or sun-kissed across the nose, twenty-four lipsticks in matte or gloss, a soft glow, six face paint designs, stickers, glitter and a hair colour tweak. Tap something to put it on, drag it onto the face, or brush with your finger to build it up slowly. Every layer has a Wipe button and there is an undo, so nothing can go wrong. Press Done and the bulbs flash, a slider sweeps between before and after, and a style score out of 100 explains itself with icons for the dial, the palette and each must-have.

There is a new daily client every day with a streak to keep going, a style run of clients in a row that counts as your high score, and quick rounds that take a couple of minutes each. Free Studio drops the brief and the score altogether: pick any face, try any look, save your favourites to My looks in your browser or take a photo of the mirror to keep. A calm loop plays in the background, so it is a nice place to relax for ten minutes.